How To Clean Silver At Home: 7 Easy And Effective Methods

by John Griffith Jan 10, 2023 @ 16:01

Silver is used to create a ton of different and beautiful pieces, such as vases, rings, serving platters, necklaces, cutlery, candlesticks, and more. These elegant metal accessories add a luxurious touch to your outfits, table, and shelves. However, over time too much exposure to air, water, light, and dirt can make their beautiful shiny finish look tarnished and dull. Don’t worry! This is easily fixable, you just need to know how. Silver items need some upkeep from time to time, but that doesn’t mean that the process has to be tedious. With a few common pantry ingredients and some free time, you can easily remove any tarnish from your silver items. Here is how to clean silver easily at home.

Too much exposure to air, water, light, and dirt can make their beautiful shiny finish look tarnished

In this article
How To Clean Silver
#Aluminum Foil
#Vinegar and Baking Soda
#Dish Soap
#Acidic Foods
#Toothpaste
#Cornstarch
#Hand Sanitizer
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How To Clean Silver

Tarnish is the result of a chemical reaction between the metal and sulfur in the air. While most silver items have a layer of rhodium to protect them and keep them shiny and right, it eventually wears off which means it’s much easier for them to blacken. But silver doesn’t just react with the air. It also reacts with creams, cosmetics, perfumes, oils, and foods. On the bright side, you can get the beautiful shine back. Let’s see all the best methods to get tarnish off.

Most silver items have a layer of rhodium to protect them

#Aluminum Foil

This is one of the most effective methods of cleaning silver at home. All you need for this method is aluminum foil, boiling water, baking soda, salt and a soft cloth. Line a pot, pan or your sink (depending on the size of your silver items) with aluminum foil. Make sure you cover the whole surface. The fill it with boiling water. Add a quarter of a cup baking soda and two teaspoons of salt to the water. Stir until bubbles have formed. Mix the solution and place the silver pieces inside, but make sure they don’t ram into one another. Then let them sit and cool for around five minutes. Once they are cool, remove the silver items, dry and buff with the soft cloth.

This is one of the most effective methods of cleaning silver at home

#Vinegar and Baking Soda

What can’t vinegar and baking soda clean? If you need to give a good clean to your silver pieces, then use this method. All you need to do is mix half a cup of vinegar, two tablespoons of baking soda, and some lukewarm water. Then submerge your silver items in the solution for at least thirty seconds and up to three minutes. Finally, remove them from the solution, dry them and buff them out nicely with a microfiber cloth.

What can’t vinegar and baking soda clean?

#Dish Soap

Dish soap does wonders both for your dirty dishes and your dirty silver pieces. Just take a bowl, some warm water, a few drops of dishwashing soap, and a soft, microfiber cloth. Then just dip the cloth in the soap water and rub with it the silver pieces. This method is great for slightly tarnished pieces, and may not be as effective for more heavy-duty tarnish.

Dish soap does wonders both for your dirty dishes and your dirty silver pieces

#Acidic Foods

In addition to cleaning powerhouses, like vinegar, other acidic foods can also be quite effective when it comes to getting rid of tarnish. And it’s super convenient as they are very common and most people have them lying around the house. Two greats examples of acidic foods are ketchup and lemon. The acid content in these foods helps to break down the tarnished later on the silver’s surface. Just dab a few ketchup drops on a paper towel and rub it on the silver. Leave it for fifteen minutes, and then rub with a damp cloth. For lemon, just dip a cloth in some lemon juice and polish the silver pieces. You can use a toothbrush to get into all the hard-to-reach crevices.

Acidic foods can also be quite effective when it comes to getting rid of tarnish

#Toothpaste

There are plenty of things you can use toothpaste for, other than brushing your teeth. This includes cleaning silver. Ordinary whitening toothpaste, the one that has hydrated silica, will get the job done in a jiffy. Just take your tarnished silver piece and use a dab of toothpaste and a clean, soft cloth to gently rub it. It is important to first test your toothpaste on a smaller, less visible part to see how the piece reacts, as this method may be more abrasive than some others.

There are plenty of things you can use toothpaste for, other than brushing your teeth

#Cornstarch

If you thought cornstarch is only for cooking, think again. This handy little silver cleaning is hiding away in your pantry just waiting to be used. All you need to do is to mix one part cornstarch and two parts water to make a paste. Then coat your tarnished silver pieces with the paste and let them sit for around fifteen minutes. Finally, gently rub away the dried paste with a cotton pad, or a microfiber cloth.

If you thought cornstarch is only for cooking, think again

#Hand Sanitizer

This one is a quick solution and is very useful if you don’t have a lot of time, or you are on the go. All you need is some hand sanitizer, a paper towel (or cloth), and your tarnished silver item. Then just squeeze a small amount of the sanitizer onto the towel or cloth and gently rub it onto the silver items. The mat and tarnish will be gone. Keep in mind that this trick works for silver that is slightly tarnished and make sure to not use it on jewelry with encrusted mineral stones.

All you need is some hand sanitizer, a paper towel, and your tarnished silver item

These were the best methods on how to clean silver at home. We hope you found this article useful. Now you can go and polish all your beautiful silver jewelry and return it to its former glory.

These were the best methods on how to clean silver at home

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John Griffith

John Griffith is a young, passionate journalist. Writing has been John’s hobby ever since he was a boy. He has worked in some of the UK’s most successful news portals over the course of his professional career but found his forever home at Archzine.