Boil four cups of water with one tablespoon of baking soda and a hand-sized piece of aluminum foil. Toss in your silver items and let them boil for about 10 seconds. You may let your silver boil a little longer if it's heavily tarnished. Remove your items with kitchen tongs, rinse them, and lay them on a towel to dry.
Pour one small cup of detergent into a bowl of hot water and place the silver jewelry inside. Leave for 5 minutes, remove and rub with a soft cloth. The laundry detergent reacts with the water creating a foamy substance a little like how the baking soda reacts, but much foamier.
Our favorite is Goddard's Silver Polish Foam because it's an expert-approved formula that's versatile and effective at removing tarnish. Whether you're dealing with jewelry or flatware, polishing silver is essential to maintain the look and lifespan of this delicate metal.
Use the multipurpose WD-40
All you need to do is to buy a can of WD-40 multi use spray and use it. Spray it on the silver jewelry and use a clean microfiber cloth to polish it in circular motion. You will slowly see the tarnish disappear.
The first step is to put and soak the jewelry in an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner. The high vibrancy of ultrasonic waves with a chemical cleaning solution dislodges the tiny dirt particles adhering to the metal or gemstones. The second step is polishing.
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.
Silver is a common metal used in jewelry or dinnerware. If you don't have any chemical cleaner, you can use Coca-Cola, or Coke, as a simple cleaning substitute for sterling or plated silver. The acid in Coke works to cut through any grime or rust on the silver's surface.
Mix a paste of roughly 3 parts bicarbonate of soda to one part water and apply to your silver jewellery, taking care to avoid stones or pearls. Rub the paste into the silver with a lint free or microfibre cloth until you see the shine starting to return.
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.
Polishing Silver
The most common is using a soft towel and a silver polish cream like Hagerty's or Miror. Another option is to line a ceramic or glass (never metal) dish with aluminium foil. In a separate bowl, mix together one tablespoon of salt, one tablespoon of baking soda, and half a cup of white vinegar.
Silver can take two months or two years to tarnish. Silver tarnishes faster the longer it is exposed to the air, humidity, pollution, and chemical substances. Also, the speed in which silver tarnishes depends on how much sulfur-containing gases are in the air. But, it is essential to remember that it is not permanent.
Silver turns black when kept in the air because it reacts with sulphur compounds such as hydrogen sulphide (H2S) present in air.
Cleaning silver with Lemon juice and powdered milk
Get a pot and fill it with 3 cups of water, then add two table spoons of lemon juice, one cup of powdered milk. Mix the content and add your silver object and leave it to soak in overnight.
Sterling silver can be cleaned with baking soda and aluminum. Mixing baking soda, boiling water, and vinegar in a aluminum-lined tray will help remove tarnish from silver. Soak your silver in boiling water for about 30 seconds before polishing it to remove any stains.
Toothpaste contains abrasive particles that can polish off tarnish. These same particles can scratch silver up as well. In particular, you should avoid using toothpaste on sterling silver, highly-polished silver, or anything that is silver-plated. These items are very soft and can be easily damaged by the toothpaste.
"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.
Silver heirlooms lend a luxurious touch to table settings, but over time, exposure to light and air can make the shiny finish appear dull or tarnished. Fortunately, cleaning silver doesn't have to be tedious. With a few pantry ingredients, such as salt and baking soda, you can easily remove tarnish from silver items.
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.
When silver tarnishes, it's a surface discolouration caused by the interaction of oxygen (air) with the silver. As the British Assay Office explains it, “silver naturally interacts with oxygen and sulphur-bearing pollutants to create silver sulphide, resulting in a visible discoloration of the metal's surface.