summersdogs Posted August 1, 2011 Share #1 Posted August 1, 2011 Hello to all. From this weekend's haul, a WWI mess kit with what I'll call a "standard" type WWII fork and spoon. The spoon is silver (plate?) and moderately tarnished. It is unmarked except for the usual US on the handle. Was this spoon part of an officers mess kit ? Thank you, Lynne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12thengr Posted August 1, 2011 Share #2 Posted August 1, 2011 Picture? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeuceGI Posted August 1, 2011 Share #3 Posted August 1, 2011 Lynne I've never heard of separate officers' issue utensils for field use in a mess kit. There were some utensils that were galvanized--likely with a high tin content coating--that can look a bit like silverplate and tarnishes a flat gray: Later in the war 43-44 you saw a transition to stainless steel untensils. If you have some photos of your utensils it might help to ID them. HTH Tim Hello to all. From this weekend's haul, a WWI mess kit with what I'll call a "standard" type WWII fork and spoon. The spoon is silver (plate?) and moderately tarnished. It is unmarked except for the usual US on the handle. Was this spoon part of an officers mess kit ? Thank you, Lynne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
summersdogs Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share #4 Posted August 2, 2011 Hi, DeuceGI. Thanks much for the interesting information. I'll take a closer look at the spoon tomorrow. The "tarnish" on this one looks just like silverware that hasn't seen polish in a good while. I didn't know about the galvanized thing. Will post a picture as soon as I can. Lynne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11b inf Posted August 2, 2011 Share #5 Posted August 2, 2011 hi gang...does anybody know what cleaner ? to use on those ww2 tin plated steel KFS sets, to make them shine bright again...thanks ahead of time...vince g. 11B INF... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
summersdogs Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share #6 Posted August 2, 2011 Hello, everyone. Here are some photos of the spoon in question. The "tarnish" is iridescent in places and shiny black in others, as silver tarnish appears. The metal, silvery portion as well as the tarnished areas, has an overall shiny appearance, not flat or gray. Lynne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeuceGI Posted August 2, 2011 Share #7 Posted August 2, 2011 Great photos. It sure does look quite different from the tin-based plated utensils. Both then't tarnish colors and texture. I checked some of my reference books and didn't find any reference to silver plating. I'm curious if anyone else has any input. Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12thengr Posted August 2, 2011 Share #8 Posted August 2, 2011 Looks almost like they have been over heated. But I don't know if stainless reacts to heat that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11b inf Posted August 3, 2011 Share #9 Posted August 3, 2011 hi summersdogs...i really don't think any G.I. messkit spoons were silver coated,they and field gear were very expendable/throw away...that said i think your spoon was an early tin-plated spoon and was heated/thrown in a fire to make the metal react that way...vince g. 11B Inf.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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