Help please. Can someone tell me how to remove tarnish from silver? I don't want to purchase professional tarnish removing chemicals at the store. Would like a home remedy if possible.
If it's plain w/no deep engraving, line a large glass bowl or pan w/aluminum foil shiney side up, place your silver in it. Carefully cover w/boiling water & add a couple of heaping tablespoons of baking soda & swirl around. Say goodbye to the tarnish.
I'm not an advocate of using harsh chemical tarnish removers on jewelry. Your best choice is a polishing cloth from your local jeweler. If you can't go buy a polishing cloth toothpaste (not gel and preferrably not a whitening formula) can be used.
The toothpaste works rather well. I have used it several times myself when in a pinch.
...toothpaste, I use Colgate paste.
any particular toothpaste recommended for tarnish in grooves??
If you want the grooves completely cleaned out, I recommend the foil/water/soda application above. If you want the dark areas, then no.
Don't use a whitening toothpaste, the bleaching agents can turn the metal black. baking sod treatments work. But I agree, a polishing cloth would be pretty much ideal. You should be able to get one from any jeweler who sells silver, or from a jewelry supply/lapidary, or online. They are fairly cheap, and last pretty much forever.
Quote from: Auryn on September 21, 2009, 01:33:09 PM
any particular toothpaste recommended for tarnish in grooves??
Crest seems to work the best. Because it has low abrasives, it doesn't sratch the metal. I've used Crest and a soft bristle tooth brush to clean jewelry and coins I found metal detecting. They come out looking almost good as new.
You can get a silver polishing cloth in the jewelry section of Wal-mart. Another cleaner to try is Bonami. It has a Feldspar base instead of a Silica base so it's softer. Just a couple of suggestions.