A mild dish soap: The pros recommend using citrus-free and phosphate-free dish soaps like Dawn Dishwashing Liquid. Cotton balls, pads, or swabs: These are best for applying hand sanitizer or polish to your silver to remove tarnish.
When cleaning the whole piece of jewelry, the jeweler typically washes it under a strong blast of steam to get rid of all the grime and dirt. Also, it is widely accepted that steam brightens further up the metal.
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.
Polishing Silver
The most common is using a soft towel and a silver polish cream like Hagerty's or Miror.
To polish silver jewelry, Lieblich says to use a silver polishing cloth and rub back and forth gently until the tarnish is removed. "Some pieces of silver jewelry are patterned in such a way where a small amount of tarnish is best left on it as it adds depth to the design," she notes.
Combine Vinegar and Baking Soda: Mix 1/2 cup white vinegar and 2 Tbsp. baking soda together, then let your silver jewelry soak in the mixture for two to three hours before rinsing and polishing.
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.
In museums, important collections of silver are cleaned of tarnish using a slurry made of specific abrasives such as precipitated calcium carbonate (chalk) and water, applied with cotton or soft cloths.
Brasso is not suitable for cleaning silver – it is far too abrasive and will damage the metal. There is a less abrasive silver polish called Silvo that would be more suitable for cleaning tarnish, but cleaning and polishing collectible pieces are not recommended.
For heavily tarnished silver, you could use polish wadding such as Silvo. Just be careful because it is more abrasive than a liquid cleaner. You don't need to rub hard with wadding - a light touch may be all that's required to bring back the original colour.
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.
From fine silver plates, platters, and trays to everyday silverware, WD-40 Multi-Use Product works quickly to polish and protect thanks to its oil compounds that help to break up grime, leaving a thin layer of protection against tarnish.
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.
Propriety polish - Silvo
Cons: As a proprietary polish, this does abrase the surface of the silver and chemically remove a small amount of the silver. Overuse can lead to the wearing down of hallmarks, a lack of crispness in decoration and the thinning of edges and high points, which can lead to holes.
While Brasso is used to clean brass and copper, other polishes such as Silvo® are designed to clean silver.
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.
In a publication from 1913 called The Boy Mechanic, people were encouraged to clean silver, gold, bronze and brass using a saturated solution of cyanide of potassium.
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.
A thin layer of dark tarnish can quickly destroy the surface lustre of silver. This layer consists mainly of black silver sulphide, and is caused by sulphurcontaining compounds such as hydrogen sulphide in the air.
6 Toothpaste
This is a classic, easy DIY silver cleaning recipe. Use non-gel and non-abrasive toothpaste. Squeeze a small amount of it on a soft cloth or paper handkerchief. Rub onto the jewellery or silverware with circular motions to polish it and clean off the tarnish.
Cleaning silver with vinegar is safe for your silver, you, and the environment, and it's great for bringing back the sparkle. Vinegar is a natural cleaner, disinfectant, and deodorizer that is tough on tarnish. Here's how to polish silver and get back that sparkling shine with vinegar and baking soda.