How to Clean Silver Without Chemicals
by
LA Murano
2 Materials
$2
10 Minutes
Easy
I hate cleaning silver jewelry. All that rubbing, polishing and trying to get into all the nooks and crannies. Plus the smell and feel of silver polish...Yuck! I have looked for years for a better solution and nothing really worked as well as I'd like it to. Until now.
I finally found a great way to clean Sterling Silver jewelry. It's simple, cheap and does not use any heavy chemicals. In fact, you should have everything you need in your kitchen.
Here's what I used:
- Glass baking pan
- Baking Soda
- Aluminum foil
- Boiling Water
All you need to do is line the baking pan with the aluminum foil. (I used the kind that's already cut into sheets and it worked great) Place jewelry on top of the foil. Try not to overlap pieces and spread out chains so as much surface as possible is touching the foil. Sprinkle with baking soda. Pour boiling water to cover the jewelry in the pan and let it set for a few minutes.
Fish the jewelry out with some tongs and rinse under cool water. I wiped it off with a soft cloth to remove any residue and it was good as new! You shouldn't have to buff the jewelry at all, but if some tarnished spots remain you can either buff them or return them to the solution for another minute.
I honestly couldn't believe how well this worked! I mean, some of this jewelry was old and hadn't been cleaned in years. (probably since the 80's 😂) I had quit wearing it because the color had looked so dull, and even dirty in some cases. Now it sparkles like new. Best of all, I didn't have to rub with silver polish and a rag for hours or get my hands coated in that weird smelling polish.
Complete instructions are on the blog, plus there is a video where you can actually watch it working! If you're looking for more cleaning hacks check out my 8 Different Uses For Denture Tablets which are absolutely A-mazing for cleaning difficult items.
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Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Comments
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2 of 12 comments
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Great recipe, I've been using it for a couple of years now. I have a lot of vintage silver souvenirs and this works great. Previously, I constantly gave them for polishing and paid money for it. But here, as with writing, for example, you can write yourself, or you can paying someone to write your essay. Now I choose to do it myself. Moreover, the recipe is very simple.
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At these weekends I'll try it. Thanks for the advice.
Frequently asked questions
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Hi, great post! Do you know would this work for silverwear? I have an antique tea set that badly needs polishing but I'm with you with the smell and feel with cleaning silver, so if I could do it this way it'd be Fantastic. Thank you.
Susan
I have a set of silver candle holders that need cleaning. But I would need a solution deeper than what you would need for jewelry. What would be the ratio of water to baking soda in order to clean these pieces?
Do you place the silver jewelry on top of the shiny or dull side of the aluminum foil? Thanks for the great tip