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Polishing silverware help !
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Since retirement have been delegated 'head silverware cleaner' and am desperately seeking a GOOD silver cleaner because the ones so far have been given to use are hopeless and there just has to be a really good and simple one to apply and use easily somewhere - can anyone help me PLEASE ?
(If this is the wrong site please advise where I should be posting this plea !)
(If this is the wrong site please advise where I should be posting this plea !)
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Line a large jug/deep container with tinfoil shiny side showing, put what ever you want to clean inside the container 4 tablespoons of bicarb and a cup of vinegar then as it is fizzing fill up with the boiling water to the level you need.
when the first lot is done replace the tinfoil and pour the liquid into something else and heat in micro pour back into the tinfoil one and add a few more spoons of both vinegar and bicarb.
Keep doing until all your silver is done.
What I do is use an old coffee jar and recycle my bicarb and vinegar from cleaning jobs around the house and give it a blast in mocro and clean all my cutlery etc.
Hth
Yes, you can use this method to clean real silver as well - it works just as good but Plate or Real, you must completely immerse the item you want to clean. Leave for a couple of minutes in the solution and then rinse thoroughly. Dry with a clean, lint free (I use a linen tea towel) cloth and there you go.
(Ladies - if you're trying this at home, remember to wear rubber gloves. Washing soda is hellish hard on your hands and nails. I cleaned my silver plate last week and forgot my gloves. All week long, I've had splitting nails and sore hands).
I have a Viners canteen of silver plated cutlery. I've had it over 10 years now and I have always cleaned it using this method. I saw it once on television - one of those antiques restoration programmes - and was amazed. Talked it over with Dad and he confirmed that its what he does. I get beautiful, clean cutlery with no 'polish taint' and it even removes the tarnish that comes from me stupidly sticking it in the dishwasher the wrong way up!!
Dad has made a lot of silver items over the years and yes, they do tarnish - its to do with them being exposed to chemicals in the atmosphere. He uses Jeweller's Rouge on a fast spinning wheel but he's still polishing them about every couple of months. Unless you're going to wrap them in cling film, you can't avoid it.
The only other thing to add is that when you're done cleaning, THROW IT AWAY and start afresh next time. Why? Because for this to work properly, you need new foil (when you take the foil out at the end and have a look at it, you'll see that all the 'shiny side' has come off - its now on your silver plate ware) and you're not then introducing dirt from the last 'clean'. I know this is money saving but washing soda isn't expensive and you don't need more than two or three tablespoons full each time. For my cutlery, I use a large 'lasagne dish' with a piece of foil, shiny side up, covering the bottom. Add two tablespoons full of washing soda and cover with hot water. Drop in the items - MAKING SURE THEY ARE (A) COMPLETELY IMMERSED AND (B) IN CONTACT WITH THE SILVER FOIL - leave for a couple of minutes (I have to do this in batches) and then extract, rinse in cold water, dry and put away.
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