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How can I clean some heavily tarnished silver jewellery?
I have some pieces of silver jewellery I want to clean preferably with household products although failing any good suggestions I wil have to take them to a jeweller!
This is easy if you have a piece of aluminum foil and baking soda, and a glass heat resistant bowl or casserole dish.
Place a piece of aluminum foil in the bowl and sprinkle a fair layer of baking soda on the aluminum. ( about 1/4" deep )
Pour boiling water in the bowl and place the jewelry in so that it touches the aluminum foil.
The process only works while hot and if necessary you can place the bowl on the stove to keep the liquid hot.
If you are going to have your hands near the liquid, I would recommend wearing household rubber gloves to prevent burns.
The process only removes the tarnish which is silver sulphate and you might smell the rotten egg odor of the sulphate being released into the air. The solution will not remove any of the metal from the jewelry so stops when the tarnish is removed.
This method is better than abrasive cleaners in that it doesn't remove any of the metal as do polishing agents.
When the tarnish is gone simply rinse and dry.
For large amounts of silver it is a good idea to store it in Pacific cloth to prevent future tarnish. It is available on line for about $16 /yd. For your jewelry a good solution would be to keep the items in a Zip Lock baggie to slow the tarnish process.
GL ? ?
6 Responses to “How can I clean some heavily tarnished silver jewellery?”
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April 29th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
You could buy a product called "silver dip" it comes in a smallish glass "tub" and is a clear gel to liquid type cleaner, you simply dip your jewellery in to it - leave for a while then rinse off with water. very large surfaces such as a prize winning cup or stubborn inground tarnish, you can use a toothbrush or similar. Excellent stuff bought at many hardware stores or jewellers shops (this is what jewellers use and charge you the earth).
Never tried it but have you seen the advert for Cillit Bang where they dip half a coin in the product and it comes out half sparkling? - also if the ingredients are the same nowadays, my wife used to dip silver in brand name Coca Cola and even that removed tarnish.
Happy cleaning
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April 29th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
silver cleaner and elbow grease work best.
References :
April 29th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
This is easy if you have a piece of aluminum foil and baking soda, and a glass heat resistant bowl or casserole dish.
Place a piece of aluminum foil in the bowl and sprinkle a fair layer of baking soda on the aluminum. ( about 1/4" deep )
Pour boiling water in the bowl and place the jewelry in so that it touches the aluminum foil.
The process only works while hot and if necessary you can place the bowl on the stove to keep the liquid hot.
If you are going to have your hands near the liquid, I would recommend wearing household rubber gloves to prevent burns.
The process only removes the tarnish which is silver sulphate and you might smell the rotten egg odor of the sulphate being released into the air. The solution will not remove any of the metal from the jewelry so stops when the tarnish is removed.
This method is better than abrasive cleaners in that it doesn't remove any of the metal as do polishing agents.
When the tarnish is gone simply rinse and dry.
For large amounts of silver it is a good idea to store it in Pacific cloth to prevent future tarnish. It is available on line for about $16 /yd. For your jewelry a good solution would be to keep the items in a Zip Lock baggie to slow the tarnish process.
GL ? ?
References :
April 29th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Ive always removed the tarnish with 1/2 tsp cream of tartar mixed with 1tsp lemon juice.
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April 29th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
I just use tooth paste and a old toothbrush or nail brush, anything with bristles and won't stratch should work.
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April 29th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
There is a cleaning product just for jewelry. You can find it in the jewelry dept at Walmart. Read the label.
After you clean and dry the jewelry, store it in a zip lock bag
and a strip of this - http://www.firemountaingems.com/shopping.asp?skw=KWTOOLANTITARNISH
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