I recently acquired a few small silver platters from my grandparents’ estate. They were not badly tarnished but did look like they could use a little clean up and I’ve been curious about this baking soda and aluminum foil method for cleaning silver so this was a great opportunity to test it out. I mean seriously, less chemically than silver polish and no elbow grease needed, as long as it works what is not to love? But will it actually work?
Silver Pieces Before Cleaning
What you’ll need:
- large pot
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 4″ (approximately) piece of aluminum foil
- tongs or something similar to get the silver in and out of boiling water
Fill the pot most of the way with water and put the aluminum foil, baking soda, and salt in the water. Bring the water to a boil.
Getting the Pot Ready to Clean the Silver
Place your silver in the pot and boil for 2-3 minutes. The largest of my platters (which is still not very large) didn’t fit in the pot all at once so I did 3 minutes and then turned it over and did 3 minutes on the other end.
Silver in the Pot During Cleaning
Here’s a picture halfway through cleaning that platter so that you can see the before and after difference.
Silver Partially Cleaned - tarnished on the left, untarnished on the right
After your silver is done cleaning in the boiling water, let it cool off a bit and then rinse in clean water and dry with a soft cloth to remove the baking soda residue (like you see on the right side of the above picture).
This method worked fantastically. It was super quick, simple, and green and got the silver looking as bright and shiny as new.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve always wondered if this method worked… but was too lazy to try!!! I will now!! I have a serving dish from my mother in law that needs a cleaning badly… but has very intricate etching on it… thus the laziness… will try when I get home!
Thank you!
Oh, I love this. I’ve never heard of it before. I wonder if there is something similar for cleaning brass.
That’s a fascinating way to clean silver, I wonder who comes up with these ideas, I mean a piece of aluminum foil?
Gretchen, I have told not to use this method on elaborately etched pieces. The method will remove the treasured etching. I have a “silver man” who puts thepatiana back on! He only recommends Wright’s or another mild silver cream. In fact, he prefers just rubbing off the tarnish with a rag. That said, I am going to get some heavy duty stuff because my silver is so tarnished. I have used Simithocone (sp) in the past, but there are others. Simithocone is really for cleaning motorcycles and shining them. I will look further into it.
Hi, I love this idea and linked to your page. Could I have permission to use one or two of the photos along with the link?
Hmm, very interesting. At first I thought you were going to rub the silver with the aluminum foil and thought that sounded like a risky thing to do – it is interesting that the chemical reaction with the aluminum foil and baking soda does the trick all by itself. Great tip!