If you need clean silver now, pour lemon juice over the tarnished pieces. Polish with a soft, clean cotton cloth. The acid begins cleaning as soon as it hits the silver's surface. Rubbing it around only strengthens its cleaning power.
Cleaning silver with lemon and bath salt
For bigger objects, use lemon juice (a cup or more depending of the size of your silver) and half a cup of bath salt and leave it to soak for 5-10 minutes. Take it out and rinse it under water, then dry it with a cloth.
If you need a quick silver cleaning solution, use undiluted lemon juice. Pour it over your tarnished items and immediately begin polishing. The tarnish will react to the acid in the lemon juice quickly; rubbing it into the metal cleans even more. Dry the silver and then buff it to a shine with a dry microfiber cloth.
By simply applying lemon juice all over your jewels and rubbing the pieces with a dry cloth, the lemon will naturally brighten up your pieces. For more heavily tarnished items, try adding some baking soda to the lemon juice for an extra helping hand. Rinse with warm water and dry thoroughly.
Great in a Pinch: Lemon Juice & Baking Soda
"Oxidation on silver can be cleaned off with lemon juice and baking soda," Rebecca Harvey shared. Easy enough to just reach in the fridge and pantry for these supplies, we set to work.
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.
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.
Lemon juice.
Mix one part water and one part lemon juice to create a soak for your jewelry. Place item in the bowl for 10-15 minutes.
Thanks to its natural acidity, using lemon as a homemade jewelry cleaner helps remove the oxide layer which forms on metals over time, causing it to darken. By simply applying lemon juice all over your jewels and rubbing the pieces with a dry cloth, the lemon will naturally brighten up your pieces.
Hand sanitizer will take the tarnish off of even the oldest silver you have. Just grab a soft cloth, squirt a few drops of sanitizer on it and go to town! Rub away the tarnish, and rinse with warm water.
For silver that is heavily tarnished, mix a paste of three parts baking soda to one part water. Wet the silver and apply the cleaner with a soft, lint-free cloth (not paper towels). Work the paste into the crevices, turning the cloth as it gets gray. Rinse and buff dry.
Relative humidity (RH) also affects the tarnishing rate. For a given concentration of hydrogen sulfide, silver tarnishes faster as the RH climbs. As a result, silver is best stored in dry conditions (below 50% RH).
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.
Moreover, lemon juice is considered to be highly corrosive. If lemon juice comes into an extensive contact with the metals or metallic containers (even metals like stainless steel quality), containers can lead to micro-particle metal leaching.
Vinegar. If your sterling silver jewelry or silverware has lost its shine and luster, try soaking it in a solution of ½ cup of white vinegar and 2 tablespoons of baking soda. Allow it to sit for two or three hours, and then remove it and rinse with cold water.
Lemon juice is incredibly acidic. While this might be okay for sturdier jewelry, for anything soft or plated, you're asking for trouble. It's too abrasive for your delicate jewelry and you'll end up with chips, scratches, and discoloration. Don't weaken your jewelry with lemon juice.
2 Don't do the Duo of Lemon Juice and Vinegar
Their chemical make-up can do wonders on a number of cleaning projects but your jewelry shouldn't be one of them. Sure it can get your jewelry clean, but the acidity and abrasiveness can damage silver. Some precious stones can be damaged too.
Cover the jewelry with half a cup of white vinegar and one drop of tea tree oil. Leave the jewelry to soak in the mixture overnight, or for eight hours while you are at work. If you see debris floating around in the solution, you know it is working.
Mix 1 teaspoon dishwashing liquid and 1 cup warm water. Add 1/2 teaspoon of ammonia based household cleaner (like a glass cleaner such as Windex) Soak your jewelry in the solution for about 5 minutes & then gently scrub with a soft-toothbrush. Air dry or carefully towel-dry with paper towel or regular cloth.
Silver becomes black because of hydrogen sulfide (sulfur), a substance that occurs in the air. When silver comes into contact with it, a chemical reaction takes place and a black layer is formed. Silver oxidizes faster in places with a lot of light and high humidity.