Of all the household chores, cleaning silver seldom makes it to the top of the ‘to-do’ list. But over time silver will tarnish, and while it won’t affect the metal itself it can have a modest impact on resale value as well as being less pleasing to the eye.
We’re going to take a look at how to clean silver. Of course, you can go and buy specific products for the job at hand, but these can be expensive. The best thing about silver is that it can be cleaned using just household items and products.
Let’s take a closer look.
How to Clean Silver Jewelry
Gather up all your silver jewelry; all your neglected silver rings for men and women and any other silver trinkets you might have hidden around the house. Then follow these 6 simple steps for cleaning silver jewelry.
What You Need
Before you get started, let’s make sure you have everything you need:
Hopefully, you’ll already have most of these in your home. We recommend using a baking dish as the main container, but you can use some Tupperware or even a large bowl.
Step 1
Line your container with aluminum foil. Sulfur atoms which adhere to the silver creating silver sulfide are responsible for that tarnished look. The solution we’re about to make will carry the sulfur atoms from the silver and leave them on the aluminum where they form aluminum sulfide.
Step 2
Bring some water to the boil and fill your container with it. Make sure not to overfill it so you can fit all your silverware into the container without any spills.
Step 3
Add the salt and baking soda to the container and then slowly pour in the white vinegar. The mixture will probably start to froth and bubble, so keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t spillover. The vinegar speeds up the whole process, and you can actually omit it, but it will take a little longer.
Step 4
Place each piece of silver into the container, making sure that each piece is touching the aluminum foil, but not another piece of silver. If the silver is touching then the sulfur atoms can just travel from one piece of silver to the next. Let each piece soak for 1-3 minutes depending on how badly tarnished they are.
Step 5
The silver will be hot, so use the tongs to remove each piece from the container and set them aside. If there is any tarnish left on the silver you can just polish it off with the cloth.
Step 6
Rinse the silver under cold water to remove any baking soda residue. If you don’t rinse your silver then you might find small white spots all over your silver
Look at It Shine
It’s that simple! The products that you can buy from the stores are only really necessary for really tough tarnishing, but following the above steps on how to clean silver and repeating if necessary should have all your silver looking brand new in no time.
If you’re looking for more tips and tricks for in and out of the home just take a look at the rest of our site.
