I have a Sunday to myself today like I did last week. When that happens, I do stuff I normally wouldn’t do. Last week? I did a kitchen experiment that did not include food. I know! Shocking…
My mother-in-law Lorraine gave me this stunning silver antique tea set. When we saw her recently she asked me about it and how often I cleaned it. Dang, I realized I had totally forgotten about it! So last week I pulled it down off the top shelf and saw a ton of tarnish! Crap!
Lorraine also had given me a newspaper article about cleaning silver in a non-toxic way with just boiling water, aluminum foil and salt. Really? I mean, really? I decided to put it to the test.
Now most people have a stainless steel sink (lucky you!) but I have a white sink that is the bane of my existence. I didn’t know if it mattered or not but just in case I got my humungous stainless steel bowl, loosely lined it with aluminum foil, added a few tablespoons of salt and proceeded to boil a TON of water. If you do this, do not bother with the kettle. Get out the big Dutch ovens and boil away.
I could not believe it. As I tilted the teapot on its side to see if it was working, it was like night and day! With no effort on my part at all. Absolutely amazing!
The teapot got so shiny and reflective I had to crop myself wearing lazy Sunday lounge wear out of the photo. So shiny and tarnish-free, you can see my cluttered kitchen in the reflection. There were still some trouble spots of tarnish that were resistant to this method but I got out my polishing cloth and it cleared right up.
I am so happy that this method works because upon covering the tea kettle in plastic wrap (Lorraine’s suggestion) and returning it to the top shelf I realized I had forgotten to clean the milk and sugar containers. Guess what I am doing today?
Happy weekend everyone!
You know what else can remove tarnish? Toothpaste! It’s great for a really intricate spot because you can slather it on, polish it off and then the residue in the intricacies dissolves and washes off easily (unlike Silvo). I use toothpaste when cleaning silver earrings especially.
Does it really? I will have to give that idea a shot too, thanks so much and yes, I hate using Silvo, wanted to avoid using it so thanks!
That’s so cool Suzie, now if only I actually had some silver treasures to polish lol.
I’ve also heard of the toothpaste thing, but I think it actually has to be a no frills kind of white basic paste, none of these fancy gels, mouthwash enhanced and whitening kinds.
This is a first for me Ava! Actually I would prefer stuff that did not require any maintenance at all but it is a treasure. Good to note about the toothpaste, that makes sense!
Susie, I attempted something similar way back and wasn’t as successful. I was told to make a ball with the aluminum and boil the lot. It ended up scratching the silver. Your method seems much safer and works beautifully. It’s also an inexpensive way to get perfect results. I guess after my bad experience, I would also be leery of the toothpaste suggestion which might prove abrasive.