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Clean Your Silver with Household Basics
By Annie B. Bond
Sparkling clean silver is a delight on any table. Even better is knowing you didn’t use any harsh, toxic chemicals to get them that way.
It shimmers in the light, and dresses up any decoration. You can clean silver very successfully using kitchen cupboard ingredients instead of
products with synthetic chemicals.
The secrets of silver cleaning using household basics may surprise
you, but the techniques are easy, tried, and true!
If you have a small job, the best silver polish is white tooth paste. Dab some on your finger, and rub into the tarnish.
For bigger pieces, use baking soda and a clean, damp sponge. Make a paste of baking soda and water. Scoop the paste onto the sponge, and rub the paste into the silver. Rinse with hot water and polish dry with a soft, clean cloth.
For badly tarnished silver, leave the baking soda paste on the silver for an hour or so, before cleaning off with the help of the sponge and hot water.
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Better Basics for the Home
Natural living has reached the mainstream: we are now far more concerned about the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the chemicals that surround us, and recognize that government regulations all too often fall short of safeguarding our health. Enter Annie Berthold-Bond, whose Better Basics for the Home is a compendium of practical information -- recipes, tips, and guidelines -- for creating a simpler, cheaper and environmentally safer lifestyle.buy now
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27 comments
add your comment »Toothpaste will sure make your silver shiny, as will baking soda because these are both mild abrasives and silver is a porous metal, so using these on your silver on a regular basis will actually cause permanent damage. If you need to clean a piece that you care to keep for some time, I would not recommend either of these methods.
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My family owns a party rental company and we have thousands of pieces of silver plate to clean. We have alot of upcoming parties for the hollidays planned and we do NOT wait until the last minute to have the silver cleaned properly. There is nothing like pulling out the silver and it is not presentable. We have been using Silvermate liquid silver cleaner for years and it removes the tarnish in less than a minute and it polishes the piece too. We have been satisfied with Silvermate because it requires no rubbing or dirty hands and leaves no residue on it. The people at Silvermate are very nice and I speak to them quite often. www.silvermatecompany.com if you are interested.. Thanks
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Toothpaste worked great on an old silver ring that I found that I hadn't worn in years. Looks like new!
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Silvermate is a great product and has been around since 1952. I requested a document that told of the ingredients because I have very sensitive skin and it says its 96% water! Wow! I'm surprised because it works in seconds and is so mild.
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I just ordered SilverMate and the label on the bottle says it contains a cancer-causing substance. I'm returning mine.
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Wow! I cleaned my silver so easily w/ Silvermate silver cleaner! There is no polishing at all. I followed the directions and all my silver looks brand new. Thank you Johann!
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Johann, I bought a silver cleaner in a spray and found out it was poisonous from the Silversmith website! Then, I used a paste and it hurt my hands too bad for me to use. I decided to buy Silvermate but I haven't tried it yet. Thank you for the tip! Rose
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Silver cleaner is a tricky subject. I use Silvermate because its a non-hazardous liquid that cleans and polishes your silver in less than 30 seconds without scrubbing your hands off. What kind of cleaner have you been using, Rose K?
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I buy a silver cleaner but it hurts my hands. Johann, can you tell me more about Silvermate?
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Being an Executive Chef at a Marriott, I buy silver cleaner. It is a liquid called Silvermate and I can honestly say, I have never rubbed dirt on or stuck our 11,000 pieces of silver plate in the ground to clean them. It very well could work but it does seem like it would scratch your silver. I just found Pam E. comment very interesting.
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