How to Clean a Silver Polishing Cloth

Silver tarnishes when it reacts with oxygen in the air, creating a layer of silver oxide or silver rust on the surface. Removing this rust involves rubbing it away with a specially formulated silver polish containing a silver-oxide-reducing agent, or minute grains of abrasive powder that scour the rust layer. The black residue that accumulates on the polishing cloth is that silver oxide, so cleaning the cloth requires a chemical to neutralize or dissolve silver oxide.

Things You'll Need

• Household ammonia
• Baking soda
• Rubber gloves
• Liquid detergent
• Plastic bucket or washing machine (optional)

Instructions

1. Apply a mixture of 4 parts water and 1 part household ammonia to the most-soiled areas of the cloth. Soak for an hour in a well-ventilated area. (If the cloth is heavily stained, soak first, then sprinkle baking soda over the whole cloth and rub vigorously before adding to the wash. Ammonia can irritate skin, so wear rubber gloves.)

2. Place the cloth in a sink, plastic bucket or washing machine (on small load with no other articles of clothing except other silver-soiled cloths). Fill with water to just cover cloths and add 4 cups of household ammonia, ¼ cup baking soda and 1 tbsp. liquid laundry detergent per gallon of warm water. (This a suggested amount for very soiled cloths—household ammonia may be used in smaller concentrations down to 1 cup per gallon of water.)

3. Wash the cloth by hand (wear rubber gloves to avoid skin irritation) or in the washing machine on extra-soiled-clothing setting. Repeat if necessary.

4. Rinse the cloth and hang to dry.

5. If you used the washing machine, run it on empty with a small amount of detergent and ammonia before using it again for regular clothing.

Tips & Warnings

• Some people have success using sour milk or vinegar instead of ammonia, but as these are acids (lactic acid in milk and acetic acid in vinegar) do NOT combine them with ammonia, which is an alkaline or base substance. Toxic gases may result.

• Some homemade silver-polish recipes include ammonia as a main ingredient, but you should never use PURE or anhydrous ammonia in contact with silver or silver oxide. Explosive compounds may be produced, as stated in the Material Data Safety Sheet on ammonia. Ammonia in homemade recipes is ordinary household ammonia (ammonium hydroxide) containing about 12 to 44 percent actual ammonia in water, and is apparently safe to use.

References

• Tanner Industries: Material Data Safety Sheet-Anhydrous ammonia
• The Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, Oxford University: Safety Data for Ammonium Hydroxide

Resources

• Blitz: How to Clean Silver and Silver Jewelry
• Delaware Health and Social Services: Silver FAQs
• Wipe Ease: Silver Polishing Tips