by Jennifer Searle

Created on: February 05, 2008

Does cleaning your silver items seem like a daunting task? Are your silver tea sets, pure silverware sets, silver picture frames and silver jewelry all turning brown and black, and smelling funny? If they are and you just don't want to spend hours with nasty smelling silver cleaner trying to polish them off, then here are some quick and easy tips for you to get those silver pieces looking bright and shiny new!

-Large quantities of silver done at once: What you will need-

1- Glass baking pan 9x13 or larger
1- Sheet of aluminum foil to cover bottom of pan
2-Cups of Baking Soda
1/4 Cup of non-iodized Salt
Enough hot water to cover silver, bring water almost to a boil in a pot before using.
A Micro-fiber cloth.

For this method you will take your silver and place it on top of the aluminum foil in the pan so that every piece is touching the foil. Pour water in after it is hot to just cover the silver pieces. Then add the salt to the water and then add the baking soda sprinkling it across the entire contents of the pan. You may also use the sink for this project if you have large pieces like tea pots to be cleaned. You may have to turn them over a few times in the sink to remove all tarnish.

Fine silver 99.9% silver will take longer to de-tarnish than sterling pieces-92.5% silver. Pieces with oxidized etchings that are meant to be black should be watched carefully and should be removed before the parts that are supposed to be black are cleaned.

Once the tarnish has disappeared from the pieces, remove them and shine them with a micro-fiber cloth. Micro-fiber will not scratch the surface of the silver and will buff it to a sparkly finish.

-One piece at a time that is not 99.9% fine silver: What you will need-

1-Cup of Baking Soda
1/4 Cup of Pure Lemon Juice (this can be the bottle kind.)
1-Clean soft-bristled toothbrush.
A micro-fiber cloth.

With the Baking Soda in the bowl, pour the lemon juice in and wait for the foam to settle before mixing into a paste. Then with the toothbrush take a small amount of paste and gently rub the silver in a circular pattern. Rinse after the piece has been thoroughly cleaned and buff with the micro-fiber cloth.

Warning: Always test this method on a small spot that is unnoticeable on the piece, for it may cause scratches. Also, using this method may increase the speed in which the piece tarnishes in the future due to small micro abrasions that occur from scrubbing with Baking soda.

-One piece at a time; fine silver and all soft silver that is unable

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