The appearance of blackness on silver products is a natural process as a result of a chemical reaction – oxidation. We talked about this in detail earlier in the article explaining why silver blackens on the human body . Don’t worry, it can be fixed and restore the shine to your jewelry easily at home. Now I will tell you several ways to clean silver from blackness.
The cleaning options listed below assume the use of improvised means taken from the kitchen or first aid kit. If your silver jewelry is dear to you and you are afraid of spoiling it (which is unlikely if you follow the instructions), or if it has stones or other precious metals on it (it is not known how this or that stone or metal will behave with substances suitable for silver cleaning), then it is better to take the product to a jewelry workshop. A jeweler will clean silver with high quality, but the cost of his work will be higher than buying a pack of soda or a jar of ammonia.
How not to clean
On the Internet, you can find a lot of life hacks for cleaning silver, but not all of them should be believed. Some advice will only harm silver. So, how can you clean silverware:
- Do not rub silver with soda, salt, citric acid and abrasive powders when dry or even wet. Baking soda and salt are abrasives that will scratch your jewelry or cutlery. As a result, you will clean off the blackness, but unattractive furrows and scratches will remain on the product.
- Be careful when choosing a toothpaste or powder if you want to clean silver from blackness in this way. Many dental hygiene products contain abrasive polishing microparticles. It turns out that in the process of cleaning you risk scratching the product. Unlike using salt, scratches will be less noticeable, but they will still be there, and this will lead to faster blackening next time.
- Do not use hard brushes for cleaning. Again, due to possible damage to the silver.
As you can see, my advice is to avoid using abrasive substances and hard brushes. Damage to the surface of silver, even minimal, leads to the fact that the product will oxidize faster each time. At the same time, it will be more difficult to clean the blackness, you will have to rub harder to clean the scratches, as a result – the scratches will increase.
Ammonia
Nasathyr is a unique substance that is used not only in medicine, but also as a universal means for cleaning any impurities, including black spots on silver. The method is suitable for regular cleaning:
- Take 1 liter of warm water and mix 2 tbsp. l. ammoniacal alcohol. You can take less water, if you will clean only one product, according to the proportion, reduce and dilute the volume with ammonia (per half liter – 1 tablespoon, and 1-1.5 teaspoons are enough for a glass of water)
- Dip the silver items that need cleaning into the prepared solution.
- Leave the silver in the solution for 20-30 minutes to allow the chemical reaction to begin.
- Take a lint-free cloth, remove the jewelry one by one from the solution and wipe thoroughly. For hard-to-reach places, use ear sticks or a soft toothbrush.
- Wash and dry the silver.
As a rule, one such procedure is enough to clean a silver product. However, this method will be difficult to clean jewelry that has been tarnished for years without care. Or you will have to repeat the procedure again and again until you clean everything. For difficult cases, another cleaning method is suitable, which we will talk about below.
Vinegar, soda, salt, foil
As you can see from the title of the subtitle, you need to use a number of cleaning products. However, this method can be used to clean even old silver jewelry that has been lying in the closet for years.
Important ! During cleaning, a sharp unpleasant smell will be released, so I recommend turning on the hood and opening the windows for ventilation.
Note ! Mandatory ingredients are soda, foil and water. Salt and vinegar can be added as desired to enhance the effect. If you do not pour vinegar, then pour hot water over the silver.
- Take a pan corresponding to the size of the product to be cleaned. As a result, the silver should be completely immersed in the cleaning solution.
- Put a sheet of foil on the bottom of the pan (if you are not using special food foil, but used, for example, from chocolate, then make sure that the section is clean, without pieces of food).
- Place the silver on the foil.
- Pour 1 tbsp on top. l. salt and soda.
- In equal proportions, mix water and vinegar so that the amount of solution completely fills the container. Pour the vinegar solution into the pan.
- Leave the solution for 10-15 minutes for the chemical reaction. After that, it will be enough to wipe the product with a lint-free cloth.
Useful advice ! Foil is an excellent packaging for storing silver.
Tips for storage and care
The following recommendations will help you keep silver clean for a long time:
- Remove silver jewelry before cleaning, taking a shower or bath, while applying makeup, before going to bed.
- After use, wash silver cutlery, dry it and hide it in a special box (in which it was sold) or wrap it in foil and put it in a dark place.
- Store silver in a dark, dry place. Now it is very popular to buy beautiful organizers for jewelry that will stand on the bedside table or hang next to the mirror. It is beautiful, I do not argue, but this method of storage is suitable only for jewelry. Remove gold and silver and store them in special boxes. It is desirable that each decoration has its own cell.
- If the silver gets wet (for example, you got caught in the rain or forgot to take it off before taking a shower), it is important to dry it quickly with dry napkins so that the oxidation process does not begin.