Another great way to clean your sterling silver jewelry is with Windex. Yes… Windex. You can either spray the Windex directly on the item to be cleaned or on a soft-bristled toothbrush or soft cloth.
Glass cleaners like Windex can also be used to clean silver. Spray some glass cleaner directly onto a soft cloth or soft-bristled toothbrush. Use the cloth to clean the silver, and then either rinse the piece under warm water or wipe off the excess cleaner with a damp cloth. Dry and buff the silver with a soft cloth.
Quickly restore your jewelry or tableware with vinegar, water and baking soda. This cleaning agent is a great option for many things, including your tarnished silver. Mix 1/2 cup of white vinegar with 2 tablespoons of baking soda in a bowl of lukewarm water. Let the silver soak for two to three hours.
Pour ½ cup of white vinegar into a bowl, and add two tablespoons of baking soda. As the mixture froths up, pop in your silver jewelry and let it sit for two to three hours. Remove from the mixture, rinse, dry, and slip your shimmering jewelry on!
It is a common myth that toothpaste is a good way to clean your jewellery. This is actually false. Toothpaste can damage your diamonds, gemstones, gold and silver. Toothpaste is abrasive and has a hardness of around 3/4 on the Mohs Scale of Hardness.
Use the multipurpose WD-40
Spray it on the silver jewelry and use a clean microfiber cloth to polish it in a circular motion. You will slowly see the tarnish disappear. WD-40 is an excellent cleaning agent that you can use to clean and shine your jewelry and several other items.
White Vinegar & Baking Soda
If you're wondering how to clean a sterling silver ring, this combination is an excellent gentle cleaner that removes heavy tarnish. Soak your tarnished jewelry in a ½ cup of white vinegar with 2 tablespoons of baking soda.
The vinegar will remove heavy tarnish, and the bicarbonate of soda will lightly buff your silver to a wonderful shine! We hope these tips on how to clean silver at home help you remove tarnish and bring the shine back to your silver jewellery and tableware.
Fortunately, it is possible to easily deal with tarnishing on silver, and, of all things, using coke. Coke is an ideal cleaning substitute for cleaning chemicals for both sterling and plated silver. The acids in the drink cut through grime or rust that has built up and can leave the pieces looking as good as new.
Besides being an excellent remedy against bad smells and the ideal way to clean an oven, you can also use lemons to clean your jewelry. Dip a toothbrush in lemon juice and gently scrub your silver. It will quickly regain its natural shine.
Use a soft cloth or cotton ball and pour lemon juice on it. Then dip it in the ash and start rubbing your silver clean. Once your silver is tarnish free, rinse it and dry it.
Tarnish can be removed from silver mechanically with a polish, chemically with a dip, or electrochemically. This Note describes these three methods for removing tarnish from silver, and explains how to store and display silver objects.
Soak your jewelry in a mixture of liquid dish soap and warm water for 5-10 minutes. Use a soft-bristled toothbrush and gently scrub the surface and any crevices. Once you've finished, rinse the piece in warm water and pat to try.
You can easily clean silver with aluminum foil, baking soda and hot water. This method uses electrolytic action instead of chemical-polish abrasion and removes the tarnish from oxidized silver without removing any of the underlying metal. This is great for heavily tarnished silver.
Put the silver items in a bowl of appropriate size and cover them with white distilled vinegar. Add baking soda into the bowl – the approximate proportions are 4 tablespoons of baking soda for every cup of vinegar. Leave the silver in the mixture for 1 hour. Rinse with clean water and dry well with soft cotton cloth.
Wash your silver under warm water using a cellulose sponge (which isn't abrasive) and a mild dish soap (one that has a neutral pH and is free of phosphates), like citrus-free Dawn Dishwashing Liquid. Rinse the silver with water, and dry it thoroughly with a clean cotton towel. Never let it drip-dry.
Simply pour the coke into a bowl and submerge your silver into it. The acid in the coke will quickly remove the tarnish. Keep an eye on it – just a few minutes should be enough. Rinse with warm water and dry carefully with a soft cloth.
You should remove your sterling jewelry when swimming in saltwater as the saltwater harms sterling silver. The salt will start to corrode the jewelry and cause it to lose its luster.
To clean plain silver jewellery we recommend using a soft cloth and warm water with a mild detergent (washing up liquid). Rinse jewellery in water after cleaning and dry with a soft cloth.
1 to 2 cups of boiling water (You need enough to completely submerge your silver.) ½ cup of distilled white vinegar. 1 tablespoon of baking soda. 1 tablespoon of sea salt.
The higher tarnishing rate of sterling silver is due to the copper in the silver-copper alloy. Copper is more reactive than silver (Graedel 1992). In general, the tarnishing rate of silver-copper alloys increases with increasing copper content (Selwyn 1990).