Why is it worth knowing homemade silver cleaning methods?
First, blackened silver and silver-plated items do not look nice, so you should think about cleaning them. And you will be touched by this problem if you have such family souvenirs or completely new silver or silver-plated items, because the development of civilization has its own disgraceful consequences. One of the most negative factors in the economic exploitation of the planet Earth is the strong environmental desensitization. Poisonous fumes from factories and enterprises affect negatively not only our health. They cause that phenomena arise, which until now had no reason to exist. One of them is the so-called oxidation of silver. Even 200 years ago the occurrence of a black or gray raid on ancestral silver (stale silver) did not exist.
– How to clean silver: a solution with baking soda and vinegar
A popular method, commonly known among amateurs of home-made methods, is purifying silver from coating with soda and vinegar solution. In proportion:
- 1 tablespoon of vinegar
- 1 tablespoon soda
- 1 liter of water
we prepare a solution. Silver dulled object to be cleaned is immersed in the solution in about 15 minutes. Then wash the silver removed from the solution under running water.
– How to clean silver: toothpaste and ash paste
For the purpose of cleaning silver, to get rid of the unpleasant coating, also a toothpaste is used, rubbing it with silver trinkets until obtaining the desired shine. However, this method, due to the form of the paste, not the liquid, is not able to effectively penetrate into all bends and profiling of the silver object, which is guaranteed by the method of immersing it in the solution.
A similar effect to that obtained with the use of a toothpaste is obtained by cleaning silver with a paste made from a combination of ash and lemon juice.
-What to clean silver: where to start?
To start the effective cleaning of silver with a home-made method, prepare:
- a large vessel (at least 2 liters or more) made of plastic or glass (never metal!)
- Kitchen aluminum foil for lining the bottom and sides of the dish
- hot tap water or (for better effect) distilled water
- kitchen salt (5 teaspoons of salt per 1 liter of solution)
– Silver cleaning STEP BY STEP
STEP 1: preparation of the unsaturated solution
Lay half-empty (from the inside) with aluminum foil on the inside with boiling water (in the proportion of 1 liter of water per 2-liter container). Put in 5 teaspoons of table salt and mix thoroughly.
STEP 2: water and soap
A stale silver object prepared for cleaning should be washed with ordinary water and soap beforehand. This will help you get rid of extra dirt, such as fat.
STEP 3: salt baths
After washing the silver object with soap, dip it in a container with the prepared saline solution and leave it in the bath (depending on the degree of bleaching) from several minutes to several hours. Because the process (redox reaction) is very aggressive, we can observe the degree of purification of our silver object during the process.
-Check the cutlery we recommend:
Try not to throw all the silver items to be cleaned at once – too many of them will weaken the process and destroy the effect. It is better to replace individual items (larger) or insert individual elements of the cutlery set (first spoons only, then only forks, etc.) and replace the solution and aluminum foil when it ceases to fulfill its function. We will get to know this moment not only because the immersed silver will not be lightened. Aluminum foil, which is lined with a vessel, taking over in the redox reaction process any sulfur oxide contamination, will gradually overlap with a dark grayish coating. This will be a sign that it’s time to prepare a new batch of solution on a new foil.
Picture Credit: jill111