Cleaning and caring for silver jewelry
Over the millennia, cleaning and polishing silver has demanded a lot of time and effort from many maids or housewives. Because whether silver candlesticks, tureens, silver cutlery or silver jewelry, over time silver almost inevitably gets an unsightly black coating.
Why does silver tarnish?
Even though silver is counted among the precious metals, it oxidizes with oxygen or other oxidizing agents in combination with hydrogen sulfide to silver sulfide. Since both gases are elementary components of our atmosphere, tarnishing ofSilver jewelry almost inevitable. So no matter how often you clean and care for your silver, sooner or later it will tarnish again. However, there are some tips on how to delay or reduce tarnishing of silver.
Prevent tarnishing of silver
Depending on the item, there are different methods for reducing the oxidation of silver.
Silverware
The three golden rules for silver cutlery are
- do not clean in the dishwasher
- use
- store dry
By the way, you should never eat your breakfast egg with a silver spoon. The sulfur contained in the egg yolk will turn the spoon black within seconds.
Silver jewelry
Your silver jewelry will thank you if you heed the following tips
- do not wear silver jewelry when doing housework or gardening
- do not wear silver jewelry during sports
- do not wear your silver jewelry in the shower
- put on your silver jewelry only after doing your hair / makeup
Both cleaning agents and personal care products contain substances that can accelerate tarnishing of silver jewelry.
Store silver properly
To prevent your silver from tarnishing excessively quickly, you should always store silver in a dry place. It has proven useful to place silver cutlery or silver jewelry in cotton cloths. People also like to put a piece of chalk in the cutlery tray or jewelry box.
If the silver is tarnished, a few tricks will help to make it shiny again.
Cleaning silver jewelry
When cleaning silver, a basic distinction is made between chemical and mechanical processes. Mechanical processes use very fine-grained material to grind off the surface of the silver, i.e. to polish it.
Polishing silver jewelry
Popular home remedies for polishing are, for example, whiting or toothpaste. But also cigarette ash is occasionally used to polish silver. All three polishes, of course, strongly diluted with water. Basically, this method is mainly suitable for shiny jewelry. Dull silver jewelry must be roughened again after polishing, e.g. with the rough side of a rinsing sponge. It is essential to work in the direction of the structure of the matting. There are a number of silver cleaning pastes and polishes available in the trade which have a particularly fine structure and thus promise a high gloss.
All mechanical processes have the disadvantage that a small amount of material is always removed. Particularly with cheap, silver-plated jewelry or even with only very sparingly silver-plated cutlery, there is sometimes almost no silver left after a short time.
Silver cleaning cloths
This problem has the commercially availableSilver cleaning cloths a little better handle. These are impregnated with chemical substances that dissolve the silver sulfide. That is why silver polishing cloths are also black after use. The material removal is less, because not "indiscriminately" abraded as with the polish.
Silver baths
Also available in stores areSilver bathswhich are based on a similar principle. These make the silver sulfide soluble and thus washable. But be careful, most silver baths contain substances that are suspected of being carcinogenic and fruit-damaging. Also, the remains of most silver dipping baths must not be put into the sewage system. An unmistakable sign that these agents are not exactly harmless.
Cleaning silver jewelry with salt and aluminum foil
Also often used for cleaning silver jewelry is theSalt bath with aluminum foil. For this purpose, aluminum foil is placed in a small bowl and doused with hot salt water (about 20 grams of salt per 0.1 liters of water). The silver jewelry is then placed in this solution. Unlike polishing or silver dipping, the black layer on the silver is not removed. For this reason, when cleaning bracelets or silver chains, all parts of the silver jewelry must come into contact with the aluminum foil. The aluminum foil must also not be plastic-coated. The effect can be intensified by adding a little citric acid or acetic acid to the salt solution.
But be careful:
This is a galvanic process not unlike silver plating. Therefore, this method is not necessarily suitable for silver-plated jewelry or other silver-plated objects. Here, the entire silver plating can detach from the substrate.
The method with salt and aluminum foil is also unsuitable for silver jewelry with embedded pearls or stones. These can become discolored or detached.
It is also important to ensure that the silver jewelry is not left in the salt bath for too long. This can lead to accelerated tarnishing or even darkening of the silver. The latter should occur less frequently if soda is used instead of salt.
Silver jewelry from International Connection
Our silver jewelry is made through and through from high quality925 sterling silver. If you treat this well, avoid damage and harmful chemical influences (see above) as much as possible, then it will give you pleasure for a long time. Many of our creations, including numerous finely crafted silver charms are rhodium plated. This promises long-lasting and enchanting shine completely without polishing.
And should a piece of jewelry from our company have developed an unsightly patina and you are unsure about the selection of suitable cleaning agents, please do not hesitate to ask us. Our team will be happy to assist you.
