Polishing Silver with milk Don't cook up delicious food only to serve it with tarnished silver. That's right, you can polish your silverware with milk!
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 sour milk into a flat dish or bowl, and soak copper bottom for an hour. Then rinse and dry. - Remove tarnish from silver by covering it with sour milk or buttermilk and letting it stand overnight. In the morning, rinse with cold water and polish dry with a soft cloth.
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 general, a few drops of good old Dawn dish soap in warm, not hot, water will do the trick to keep most gold and silver jewelry clean. Let your pieces soak for about five minutes in the solution and rinse in lukewarm water. Then place them on an untreated microfiber cloth to buff dry," says Levitt.
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.
Fill an aluminum pan (or one lined with aluminum foil) with hot water. Add 1/2 to 1 cup of baking soda and 1/2 cup salt, and stir to dissolve. Working in a ventilated area, submerge the silver pieces in the solution. A chemical reaction will occur, removing the tarnish.
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.
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.
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.
Method #3: Boil Silver in Baking Soda, Salt & Foil
Some people might remember this magic trick from science class. Dirty silver goes into a foil-lined pot with baking soda, salt, and water, and as the water boils, the silver gets clean and the aluminum foil gets tarnished – right before your eyes.
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.
Toothpaste contains abrasive particles that can polish off tarnish.
You can clean tarnished silver (even heavily tarnished pieces) with a simple homemade solution, and you likely already have all the ingredients that you need. Cleaning silver with a combination of aluminum foil, baking soda, and salt typically does the trick for both small and large silver pieces.
Restore shine to coins and jewelry
Coins and jewelry that have started to gather an unsightly tarnish can be cleaned with nothing more than a can of Coke. If, for some reason, you care about how shiny your pocket change is, simply drop the grimy coins in a Coke bath and leave them overnight.
Real silver turns black gradually and relatively slowly, but vinegar can step it up a notch and speed up the process. So, if you put silver bars in vinegar and leave them for 48 hours, a black residue will form on the surface of each piece. Acidic acid induces oxidation, making the tarnish more pronounced.
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.
You can use vodka as a soaking solution for your silver. This method won't remove heavy tarnish, but it does a good job of bringing lightly tarnished silver back to life. Just pop your vodka in a cup and soak your silver for about 5 minutes. Then dip a cloth into the mixture, remove your jewellery and wipe it.
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.
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.