How Do I Clean Silverplate?

[donnabates1]

I have seen on YouTube people cleaning silverplate with tin foil baking soda and going water. Is this advised and should I clean before I sell?  Thank you

[janetpjohn_la]

I think you need to clean it to see if it's pitted. If you're talking about the total immersion cleaning, which I think I did once on a huge batch, it worked almost too well. It didn't leave any of the tarnish that made it look old. I threw those aluminum miracle sheets away after that and went back to paste for everyday.
Janet

[bonjourami]

Tarnish is corrosion..patina is the soft glow that comes from vintage items.

[bonjourami]

A soft jewelers cloth will clean the corrosion and leave the patina.

[janetpjohn_la]

I think I did mean tarnish--the black stuff around the edges of the design that doesn't come out with regular polishing. Do normal people get all that out? Maybe I should have been delighted with my blindingly bright silver.
Janet

[divwido]

That's a great method to pit your silver.  They make silver cleaning cloths and products like Wrights Silver polish.  You can buy Wrights at the grocery store.

[argon38]

"You never want to submerge silver plate completely in water because the base metal can corrode."

"When dealing with plated pieces, especially those that are already showing signs of lost plate, I do not like to fully submerge them in water. Particularly tea sets and other objects that have an untreated or unplated interior. These are hard to properly dry after being fully submerged which can lead to mildewing, further tarnishing, and in some cases rust."

https://web.archive.org/web/20120323201653/http://ohiohistory.wordpress.com/2011/06/02/making-it-shi...

[janetpjohn_la]

I'm afraid I will have to submerge my flatware in order to wash it, Argon.
Janet

[maxine*j]

What?  You mean you don't use polish and cloth to get the egg off the spoons,  the butter off the knives, the potato bits from betweeen the tines of the forks? 

I agree with you:  If you can't put your flatware in warm soapy water to wash it, you can't use it for the purpose intended. 

[argon38]

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@janetpjohn_la wrote:
I'm afraid I will have to submerge my flatware in order to wash it, Argon.
Janet

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You should just switch to stainless steel, less trouble all round.

[maxine*j]

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@argon38 wrote:

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You should just switch to stainless steel, less trouble all round.

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I did.  Years ago.  Made my life easier.  Got rid of the silver and silverplate, crystal, delicate porcelain, linen tablecloths, everything else that requires special care.  I had other things I wanted to spend time on, and I couldn't afford to hire someone else to clean the fussy stuff.  Worked for me!   

[argon38]

In fairness to the person I was quoting, she was a museum curator talking about items that require a higher degree of care. I expect most of us leave the cleaning to the butler, anyway.

[maxine*j]

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@argon38 wrote:

In fairness to the person I was quoting, she was a museum curator talking about items that require a higher degree of care. I expect most of us leave the cleaning to the butler, anyway.

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And she probably wasn't talking about flatware.  I mean, really, you do have to wash the knives and forks and spoons you use to serve and eat food.

[lacemaker3]

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@maxine*j wrote:

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@argon38 wrote:

In fairness to the person I was quoting, she was a museum curator talking about items that require a higher degree of care. I expect most of us leave the cleaning to the butler, anyway.

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And she probably wasn't talking about flatware.  I mean, really, you do have to wash the knives and forks and spoons you use to serve and eat food.

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Yes, indeed. And you wouldn't want to eat with knives forks or spoons if the plating was so loose and fragile that it would come off just by immersing them in water. You'd end up swallowing some of it.

[sonomabarn67]

She's not a butler, she's a maid!