How to clean silver spoons at home?

Silver tableware is beautiful! It can be presented for an anniversary, a year old for a child or for a wedding, because such items can become a family heirloom, which is transmitted from one generation to another. Any housewife has at least several tableware made from this precious material. However, unfortunately, silver can turn black, so before an important holiday event, you may be unpleasantly surprised to find that your favorite cutlery has lost its former attractiveness. In this article, we will share practical recommendations on how to clean silver spoons at home.

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Why does silver turn black?

Why do spoons go dark? Before cleaning silver objects, we need to understand why this metal blackens? Only by understanding the causes of the problem, you can prevent its recurrence in the future. If you adhere to the basic rules for the use and storage of silver products, then by the next important date you only need to wipe to a shine and arrange the cutlery.

In most cases, the blackening of silver indicates its entry into a chemical reaction with other substances. Such troubles can be avoided by observing a number of simple rules for storing precious metal products.

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How to care for silver so that it does not darken?

What to do if the spoon or fork is blackened? Compliance with simple rules for the care of metal products will help you get rid of the need to look for ways to clean a silver spoon:

1. You can not clean and wash silver with hard brushes, sponges, and even more so metal brushes and washcloths. Silver is a noble soft metal that can suffer from such handling, covered with numerous scratches.
2. It is necessary to store and clean silver products separately from other metal objects. The fact is that the precious material oxidizes when interacting with other metals, and the result of this reaction is the appearance of blackness on its surface.
3. To clean large silver items such as jugs, trays or candelabra, use special detergents in the form of sprays. To clean small products, such as rings, saucers, forks or spoons, paste-like cleaning compounds will help.

Important! The blades of silver knives, excluding fish knives, are made of stainless steel, therefore their cleaning is different from cleaning all other silver products.

4. Silver cutlery that has enamel or blackening must be cleaned with extreme care.

Important! When cleaning, such decorative elements must be avoided, because otherwise there is a high probability of their damage.

5. It is not recommended to wash silverware in the dishwasher. High-quality cleaning of precious metals is still manual work.

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How to store table silver?

• Silver items should be stored away from other metals so that they do not come into contact with each other.
• You should also limit the access of oxygen to silver, otherwise - the metal will again darken.
• Experts recommend storing silver cutlery and jewelry in special boxes with a bottom covered with fabric. Such containers usually have separate cells for each item.
• It is also allowed to store silver in bags, but for this it is necessary to wrap each product in foil, film or shift it with clean, dry napkins.

Important! Store cutlery and jewelry made of precious metals in a dry, cool place. Be sure to avoid direct sunlight to products made from similar materials.

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How to use silverware?

You may be surprised by all of the tips below, but using silver dishes is highly discouraged in the following cases:

1. Dishes made of silver are not suitable for serving very cold dishes. In silver cups it is better not to make jelly and not to offer guests ice cream.
2. The same ban applies to hot snacks and soups.

Important! Otherwise - silver is covered with hard to remove dark spots.

3. It is forbidden to serve caviar in silver dishes. This is due to the fact that fish caviar provokes the appearance of black hard-to-remove spots on table silver.

Important! If you do not want to spoil the dishes from silver, then in some cases it is better not to use it.

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How to clean table silver at home?

If your silver products still have unpleasant dirt and dark spots, then you can use the following cleaning methods to achieve the desired result.

Dentifrice

If you have preserved tooth powder, know that it is great for cleaning silver spoons at home. They can not only clean your favorite spoons, forks and saucers, but also perfectly polish them. A similar effect is easily achieved due to the abrasive properties of the powder.

Important! However, it is precisely because of the abrasiveness that toothpowder is not suitable for cleaning silver jewelry - it can scratch them. But they can perfectly clean the gold at home.

To achieve the highest quality cleaning result, use the product as follows:

1. Apply the tooth powder to a damp silver product and rub it thoroughly with a soft cloth.
2. Rinse the product thoroughly in clean water.

If necessary, the procedure can be repeated as many times as necessary.

Important! If your silver product has decorative elements, then you should use a toothbrush with a soft bristle that penetrates into all inaccessible crevices and places.

Toothpaste

For thin silver products, toothpaste is the best cleaning agent, which removes dirt no worse than a powder, but acts softer. This means that after brushing with toothpaste, the product will sparkle like new, and you will not be able to accidentally damage the family relic.

The principle of cleaning products can be combined in the following algorithm of actions:

1. Apply the toothpaste evenly on the wet product.
2. Rub the cleaning agent over the surface using a toothbrush.

Important! If the product needs only to give shine, then you can use a rag or sponge.

3. After completing the entire procedure, thoroughly rinse and wipe the silver products dry.

Important! Compared to powder, toothpaste has a milder, cleansing property, so it must be used with a toothbrush.

a piece of chalk

Another potent enough tool to clean silver spoons at home is chalk paste. To get the desired result:

1. In a small amount of water, add powdered chalk.
2. After that, using a rag, we rub the resulting gruel on silver products.
3. Then we wash the silver under running water and wipe it dry.

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How to wash a lot of silver appliances at a time?

All the methods of home silver cleansing that are presented above are great for cleaning single items, but what if you need to quickly and efficiently wash a large number of precious metal cutlery to a lavish feast? Is it really necessary to rub each item from the service separately?

To get rid of darkening and pollution on several silver products at once, use one of the following cleaning methods.

Method number 1

To clean the precious material from contamination, you can use a potato broth. To achieve the desired result, you must act in the following way:

1. Cooking a potato broth.
2. We lay the bottom of the pan with foil.
3. We send silverware to the pan with foil - knives, spoons, forks, etc.
4. We put the pan on the burner and bring to a boil.
5. We continue boiling the products for 20 minutes.
6. We drain the water, rinse the appliances and wipe them dry.

Important! This method is not suitable for silver products with blackening.

Method number 2:

1. We prepare a soap solution with the addition of ammonia.

Important! The substances are mixed in a proportion of 1 tablespoon of ammonia per 1 liter of soapy water.

2. We diligently mix everything and immerse the products in the solution for half an hour.
3. Drain the water.
4. Rinse the appliances thoroughly.
5. Wipe the silver with a soft dry cloth.

Method number 3:

1. Take a pot of water.
2. Add soda to the container at the rate of 4 tablespoons per 1 liter of water.
3. Bring the resulting solution to a boil.
4. At the bottom of the pan, carefully lower the piece of foil.
5. Place the cutlery in a boiling solution for 20 minutes.
6. We take out the spoons, cool and wipe dry.

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Household cleaning

Today, in household chemical stores, you can find a huge number of cleaning products that are designed specifically for cleaning silverware at home. Best of all, funds from the following brands have proven themselves:

1. “Town Talk”.
2. “Hagerty.”
3. “Ultra Soft”.
4. Silbo. "

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Stock footage

Using household chemicals, carefully read the instructions and adhere to the manufacturer's recommendations, then silver tableware will please you with its brilliance for a very long time and decorate solemn home feasts.