How to Clean Silver With Soda and Aluminium Foil

Silver serving dishes and candle holders add elegance to any place setting and bring a touch of excitement to holiday gatherings. Unfortunately they tarnish easily and require regular maintenance to keep up the original luster and shine. With simple household baking soda and a piece of aluminum foil, you can restore the natural sheen of silver in minutes.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Aluminum Foil
• Baking Soda
• Tarnished silver

1. Prepare a cleaning solution of 1/4 cup of baking soda to a gallon of water and heat until boiling.

2. Line a pan with aluminum foil. Be sure the pan is large enough to accommodate the item you wish to clean.

3. Add the tarnished silver items to the foil lined pan. Spread the items out to get the maximum benefit from the cleaning.

4. Pour the cleaning solution into the pan covering all silver items.

5. Allow to cool. Remove the silver items from the pan and rinse with cool water. Dry with a soft cloth.

6. Discard soiled water and aluminum foil.

7. Spot clean any crevices that are not completely clean.

[fastfreddie]

on 1/23/2009 I KNOW this process is scientifically proven to remove tarnish but let me warn you and I learned this from experience, it can remove the silver plate from your items as well as the tarnish! I learned this the hard way! I had antique silverplate flatware and over time, this process turned it gray. I took it to a silversmith and he told me that it removed the silverplate and I had to have it replated! He told me to buy a liquid silver polish called Silvermate to clean and polish my silverplate, sterling silver, gold and platinum. It is a liquid so there is no buffing at all and only takes about 20 seconds to completely clean and polish an item. Thanks for the tip James S.