Homemade silver cleaner costs less

Published 12:01 am Sunday, September 18, 2011

We frequently share home-grown recipes for a multitude of our favorite cleaning formulas. We have found the concoctions we use clean as well as, or better than, most of their store-bought equivalents, and ours are available for a ton less dough.

For homemade silver cleaner you will need:

Dish soap.

A glass container that can be used to boil water. The size of the container must be large enough for the silver being cleaned to be completely submerged.

A sheet of aluminum foil large enough to cover the bottom and sides of the glass container.

Baking soda. For small containers (such as for cleaning jewelry) you will need about two tablespoons. For a gallon or so of water you will need approximately two cups of baking soda.

Rubber tipped tongs.

Silver cleaning is simple, but each cleaning step is very important to the ultimate success of the process.

Here’s what to do:

1. Wash the silver with the dish soap and water. This will remove built-up oils and grit that can reduce the effectiveness of the cleaning agents.

2. Lay the sheet of aluminum foil into the glass container and then fill the container with water and the baking soda.

3. Place the container on your stove top and bring the cleaner to a boil.

4. Remove the container from the stove and carefully place the silver into the cleaner. For best results each piece of silver should be in contact with the aluminum foil.

5. Once the silver is bright it can be removed and polished with a soft cloth. You may note that the aluminum foil has turned black. This is normal.

Badly tarnished silver may have to be cleaned several times. Never reuse the previous mixture. Always use fresh ingredients for each cleaning.

“How does it all work?” you ask. It’s simple. The solution of baking soda and water separates the tarnish (sulfur) from the silver and transfers it to the aluminum foil.

This happens because sulfur is more chemically attracted to aluminum than silver. Who knew?

If you are in a hurry and don’t want to do a second dip then silver cream can be used to finish the job.

We use a very damp sponge to apply the cream in a diluted form. It saves on cleaner and money.

We don’t recommend spending the money on a commercial product unless time is an issue.

We know the boiling process can take time, so if you are giving a party clean your silver a week in advance and leave it out on the counter.

Don’t put it back into the felt covered wood box. Wood and felt actually accelerate the tarnishing process.

Also, please keep in mind that commercial silver cleaners contain ammonia and petrochemical derivatives. So whatever you do be sure not to use bleach.

In combination, bleach and ammonia create a poisonous vapor similar to nerve gas.

For tips from James and Morris Carey, go to www.onthehouse.com or call the listener hot line, 800-737-2474, ext. 59. The Careys are also on KRKO (1380-AM) from 6 to 10 a.m. every Saturday.