Tip for cleaning badly tarnished silver on the cheap!

mina626

Hey people, my mum recently showed me this trick for making valuable silver come up shining like new, without forking out for expensive cleaning materials...

1. Cover the bottom of a heat-proof dish in aluminium foil, shiny side up.
2. Place the jewellery on the foil and add a tablespoon or so of baking soda.
3. Then slowly pour boiling water over it till it's totally covered and the tarnish will collect on the foil.

Rinse thoroughly, polish and voila!

daphne_descends

I am always leaving silver exposed and not putting it away so I'll try this when my memory fails next

Toothpaste works quite well (tiny dab on a cloth) if the tarnishing is not too bad.

janb5

I always use this method but line a washing up bowl with the tin foil Actually a cup of washing soda is the preferred method. Add the very hot water to the utensils and when the ` bubbling ` stops, the items are ready! HTH

MickKnipfler

Brown sauce works a treat on coins. Dunno what it does to silver though (or the inside of your stomach!)

tawnyowls

Kim & Aggie had this (the baking soda + tinfoil) method on the programme with the Fulfords. Very impressive.

carolt

Does baking soda mean bicarb of soda?

I need to know this urgently!

Thistle-down

tawnyowls wrote:

Kim & Aggie had this (the baking soda + tinfoil) method on the programme with the Fulfords. Very impressive.

It was washing soda when they did the Fulfords house.

squeaky

Yep, washing soda is mentioned in these threads:-

Silver:
- Cleaning silver jewellry
- Silver cup
- Sterling Silver

skintlass

What about jewellery with frosted finish - I have a bracelet which is showing tarnish but the style of the jewellery means that the surface is very uneven and parts of the surface have a sort of frosting. Its a nice bracelet so I don't want to damage it. Do jewellers who clean the tarnish off use a sonic cleaner as someone mentioned that they may?

Debbie_S

I just heard on tele that you can clean silver with rhubarb! Also Brown Sauce for copper. Has anyone tried the rhubarb one?

Seakay

Debbie_S wrote:

I just heard on tele that you can clean silver with rhubarb! Also Brown Sauce for copper. Has anyone tried the rhubarb one?

This one was news to me when I saw it on QI, but I'd trust Stephen Fry to tell the truth!

The only cleaning tip I had previously come across was this:

If you have burnt a saucepan black by letting it boil dry, there is a surefire easy method of cleaning it. Use the ends and peelings from when you prepare rhubarb. Just boil them up in the pan for a few minutes and the pan will come up as clean and bright as new.