How to Clean a Silver Salt Shaker

Silver salt shakers make an elegant addition to any table. However, salt is very damaging to silver. These require special care to ensure that they remain in excellent condition and can one day become a family heirloom.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Non-lemon dish liquid
• Water
• Rubber sink mat
• Low abrasive silver cleaner
• Ammonia

1. Unless used very frequently empty the salt out after each use.

2. Place a rubber sink mat in the bottom of the sink if there is not one already there.

3. Wash the salt shaker in the sink with a mild dish liquid. Use one that does not contain lemon because acid is harmful to silver.

4. Towel dry and store in a low humidity area.

5. If the silver has tarnish use a low abrasive silver cleaner. Stay clear of heavy silver cleaners that can scratch and ruin the piece. A low abrasive product will usually say to rinse off after use.

6. If the piece is crusty due to salt corrosion it will need to be removed. Do this by submerging the salt shaker in ammonia in a covered container. Check it in about 10 minutes. If the corrosion is not gone allow another 10 minutes. Do not go over 30 minutes. Sometimes the corrosion will be beyond repair. It might be necessary to have the piece refinished.

7. Proceed to clean the silver with a low abrasive cleaner and polish to restore the luster of the silver salt shaker.

Tips & Warnings

• Never use toothpaste, baking soda or other house hold abrasives to clean silver.
• Silver Cleaners and ammonia should be used in a well ventilated area. Do not inhale the cleaners.

[powergirl]

on 8/11/2009 I have an easier solution. I sprayed a tiny bit of WD-40 into the space under the silver cap on my corroded silver and crystal salt shaker and held the shaker upside down for a bit so the WD-40 could work its way under the cap. The cap was loose in less than a minute. I immediately washed the silver cap and crystal base in soapy water and then polished the silver cap with regular silver polish. The shaker now looks amazing and is usable again.

To think I was going to throw it out because it had been corroded for years and nothing I had tried had ever worked. Hurray for WD-40!