Letter 4785

Polishing Silver with Aluminum Foil and Baking Soda 

I have read this thread worth great interest. In the late 60's/70's (hard to believe I'm this old) I learned from a friend that one could line their bathtub with aluminum foil and stir a bunch of Spic and Span in the powder form into the hot water as it was filling to get the tarnish off of my silver. As I slid the items into the tub they hardly had to touch the aluminum as they turned immediately into bright untarnished silver. As a middle school librarian I am aware of the science fair project of using baking soda and salt with the foil and hot water and I have done that with much success but it is not nearly as fast or effective as the powdered Spic and Span was. In fact nothing that I have seen since is as good but unfortunately one cannot find Spic and Span in a powder form anymore and I suppose if one did the composition of the product may have changed from the 60's/70's.

Jo C [name deleted for privacy due to age of posting]
- Charleston, SC

Ed. note: Spic 'n Span [link is to product info at Amazon] is available by following the link, Jo We can't guarantee that there have been no changes to the formulation, but I did try this on one item today and it did seem faster than baking soda but harder on the hands -- Ted.

Thanks for the great ideas. I, too, am revealing my age as I recall a "recipe" for tarnish removal that called for a product named "Soilax". As I recall, you lined the sink with foil, threw in a couple of cups of Soilax and poured in the boiling water. Dip the silver with tongs until you can comfortably reach in with rubber gloves.

I just tried a formula featured on a PBS helpful home hints series recently. Called for 1 tablespoon salt and 1 tablespoon water softener to 1 quart water and hot water. Did absolutely nothing until I added tons more salt and water softener and boiling water. When I put the boiling water in and dipped the silver, the water began frothing and giving off a metallic odor. I felt like I was making a witches brew.

Has anyone heard of Soilax or have I gone round the bend?

I have a huge silver wine cooler that is so tarnished it is embarrasing. My daughter has a silver tea set (I gave it to her so I wouldn't have to polish it). It is in need of a dip. Will be trying all your fabulous concoctions!

Joyce F [name deleted for privacy due to age of posting]
Internet Service Provider - Bellevue, WA

Ed. note: We're sure you'll enjoy the following webpage, Joyce: Soilax 1930-1939.

I had been looking for something to clean my "intricate" silver....and had not wanted to pay for what seemed to be so many high priced cleaners that did not do a good job. I chanced upon your website and mixed up a batch of the aluminum foil, boiling water, baking soda, salt, and added a dryer sheet for good measure since we live in Florida where the water is so darn hard.

My silver is now so shiny that I almost need my sunglasses inside the house to look at it!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you...... I will never clean silver any other way again!!!!!!

Ginny S [name deleted for privacy due to age of posting]
- Orlando, FL, USA

I recently bought a late 1800's silver plated tea set, dark black all over with tarnish. I got it for about $10, and (knowing very little about silver) thought I'd gotten a bargain, since "how hard can it be to clean some tarnish off this?"

I've now gone through an entire bottle of Tarn-X, which helped only with some of the lighter tarnish, even after keeping a cotton ball mixed with the solution on it for several minutes (the bottle says the maximum time to keep something in this solution is two minutes).

I'm in the process of trying this aluminum foil, baking soda, and salt mixture, but I have a few questions..
1.) How long do I leave it in this mixture for?
2.) Is there any way this can damage the already pitted areas? (In the suger holder, there are some small holes in the silver, I'm hoping I can have those repaired somehow)
3.) I saw some bubbling happening when I first put the cream holder into the mixture, but now it seems to just be sitting in still, murky black water...is it still working?
4.) How can I tell if my water is "hard" or not? I'd be happy to add some water softener, or a dryer sheet into the water, but I don't know if this is necessary.

Thanks in advance for any responses I might recieve. I really want to restore this beautiful set, but I'm losing hope! I don't think it's been cleaned since it was made!

Rebecca A [name deleted for privacy due to age of posting]
antiques lover - Fremont, CA, USA

Replace the water if it's black. You should be able to see the process working. Maybe the silver is not in intimate contact with the aluminum anymore. The "solution" is just a conductive salt, it's the aluminum that does the magic, so I wouldn't worry too much about water softness. Try again with good contact and very hot water with washing soda. If you continue to meet no success, I'd guess somebody lacquered the tarnished silver. Try lacquer thinner [link is to product info at Amazon].

Ted Mooney, P.E. 
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey

I read this site with great interest. I had just done a search for a silver cleaner that I used to but at my local grocery store. I can;t find it in a store anywhere so I decided to try my luck at searching the net. Wow. I found it. THe silver solution that I use is called Instant-Dip Silver cleaner. I have been using it for years and works when nothing else will. Just go to Google and do a search and it will take you right to the site. I keep a small jar and a paint brush under my sink for fast polishing.The gallon containg is the best bet. Happy polishing.

Jeanne D [name deleted for privacy due to age of posting]
Education - Ft.Myers, FL, US

I worked in a fine jewelry store for 11 years and dipping your silver jewelry in liquid silver cleaner is not recommend. It will make your jewelry tacky over time. It is much better to use a polishing cloth on your jewelry.

Jennifer P [name deleted for privacy due to age of posting]
- Harrisburg, PA, USA

Dear Dale Woika and all on the forum,
I have been fascinated in reading this column ever since seeing someone selling the magic cleaning plates at a recent trade fair. What a great demonstration cleaning everyone's jewelry, so I had to figure out how they did it and research the process. So first off thank you for enlightening me to Aluminum foil method.

My questions to put to the forum are:

1. When looking up different websites selling the plates online they all look pretty similar, sheet of plate with holes in them, with one English company (Qwicksilver.co.uk) stating it has a worldwide patent on the system do you think this is so ? as it sounds like a pretty old fashion science project to me.

2. The websites and commercial vendors selling these plates state that the plate cleans brass, gold, copper and jewelry. Are they using a different process to your aluminum process? for a variety of surfaces and are the commercial versions different to household ones ? Leading to my next question.

3. When I asked the presenter what sort of metal the plate was made out of they said it was 80% zinc and a mixture of 4 other secret metals. Obviously after reading your forum I think this was a sales line but do other metals work for this experiment and if yes is what is the best.

I would really enjoy hearing your views
Best Regards
Alan Parker.

PS also when I saw the demonstration they used ordinary clothes washing powder maybe it contains sodium carbonate also.

Alan P [name deleted for privacy due to age of posting]
- Sydney, NSW, Australia

I don't doubt that manufacturers of cleaning plates hold some patents; the question is how important those patents are to the central issue. I have an old cleaning plate that I inherited and my personal opinion is that it seems no more effective than aluminum foil. I think pretty much the same chemistry should work for brass or copper -- and probably gold if it is low enough carat to tarnish in the first place. I suppose the plate you saw could have been zinc; zinc alloys should perform pretty much the same way as aluminum.

Anything can be improved upon and perfected, so I don't rule out that those cleaning plates could be slightly quicker or more convenient in certain ways. But for my very small house the greatest convenience is not having to store something away; so for me, aluminum foil is the winner.

The conductive solution is not the principal issue -- Calgon, baking soda, washing soda, and Spic 'n Span all work. The latter seemed to be quickest to me (probably because it's a strong detergent for cleaning and wetting, as well as a conductor, but it was harder on the hands.

Ted Mooney, P.E. 
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey

I've had one of those cleaning plates for years, which I use regularly on a collection of silver musical instruments. I have no idea what the 'brand name' is, but somewhere I got the idea it was primarily zinc, although on closer inspection now it does just look like aluminum. Instructions that came with it said to use washing soda - good to know baking soda works also, since the washing soda can be hard to find. I'll also be trying the aluminum foil - the plate only draws tarnish within about a foot or so of it's contact point, which can be a pain on larger instruments like tubas and sousaphones!

Thanks

Mikel S [name deleted for privacy due to age of posting]
- Washington, NJ, USA

Well, Thank you all for your most enlightening methods for cleaning silver items. I can't wait for tomorrow morning and drag out anything I own made of silver and get it clean, clean clean!

Thanks again!

Dennis G [name deleted for privacy due to age of posting]
- Merrick, NY

Odor Eating dryer sheets? I have read the string of suggestions on cleaning silver. I have only a few pieces that needed polishing/cleaning. I started with the al. foil, salt and water with little success but with an odor that made me think I was doing something wrong since I did not recall reading any odor comments. However, I believe the odor is probably where the use of dryer sheets came into play. I was not sure if the al. foil had to touch every inch to be cleaned. After little success with just soaking in the solution, I took pieces of the al. foil with the solution and used it to wash the pieces. I had better luck and almost spotless silver pieces from what started out as almost black. The dryer sheets in the pan helps with the disturbing odor and good on the hands too. Without dryer sheets I wouldn't consider this "stinking" solution again.

Patsy S [name deleted for privacy due to age of posting]
- Huntsville, AL, USA

What side of aluminum foil should be placed up?

Wilma W [name deleted for privacy due to age of posting]
- CAMAS,WASHINGTON, USA

You can still get liquid Quick Dip at the Bay. They sell it over by the silverware and silver trays.

Mary R [name deleted for privacy due to age of posting]
- Kamloops, BC, Canada

Thanks so much Dale! It just took me two hours to polish 3 pieces of silver but after I saw your post I decided to try it and whalah! I soaked one of my candleabra's for 15 minutes and it came out shining. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!! I'm ready for a dinner party. :-)

Malina L [name deleted for privacy due to age of posting]
- San Clemente, CA, USA

I was very skeptical about trying the aluminum foil and baking soda to remove the tarnish off of my silver ring. After sucessfully trying this method, i would reccomend it over and over again! i was very pleasantly surprised! All of the tarnish came off of my ring and all i had to do was grab an old cotton rag and polish it back to a high shine. Thank you for saving me time and $$$$ !

DAWN H [name deleted for privacy due to age of posting]
- charlotte, nc USA

interesting read i must say! i clean silver for a living and have done so for 22 years now, im an antique dealer and the only safe way to clean silver is to use an Electrolytic plate. if you use polish or dips you're not only damaging your silver, but your health as well because nearly all chemical based polish solutions contain 'amonia' and lots of it too!.
also note: that useing soda crystals 'washing soda' sodium carbonate crystals, with aluminum is also very dangerous and will when mixed together create a deadly vapour. read the instructions on any packet of soda crystals and it should read 'DO NOT USE WITH ALUMINUM'

we use the "PRISTINE2U" method of cleaning all valuable metals, and they say' this is the original electrolytic plate from 1907' don't know if this is true or not? but we and many of our rivals in the trade use this method or similar as there are others on the market.. hope this helps and good luck

brian s [name deleted for privacy due to age of posting]
silver cleaners - london uk

Thanks, Brian! Although sodium carbonate is not good for aluminum because it's a medium strength alkali, and alkaline materials attack aluminum, I very strongly doubt that anything hazardous is released from exposing aluminum to sodium carbonate.

Ted Mooney, P.E. 
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey

I had used a metal plate with holes to clean my silver items for a long time, and as I could not find it I searched the Internet & came to this page. I read Dale Woika's comments and tried a spoonful of washing soda for every litre of boiling water in an aluminum cooking pot which I previously cleaned with steel wool, as Dale advised, and it worked wonders. I dipped my silver forks, which had their tips quite dirty, and some silver bread plates and now they look really nice.
It certainly is cheaper than buying the metal plate!
Thank you, Dale!

Maria Radicic Garbin
- Rosario, Argentina

I looked this up on several websites & this is what I ended up with. I took a kitchen sink full of HOT water, a handful of Kosher salt, about half a palm full of baking soda & the aluminum foil. I did have to wrap the foil gently around one of my goblets that was black/blue in color. After about 20 minutes & a slightly stinky smell they were looking much better. However, before I rinsed in warm water, I did a trick that a jeweler taught me years ago. (This is to finish the hard to get parts). Take a SOFT toothbrush & Crest or Colgate toothpaste & clean the silver, then rinse. You can do the toothpaste trick alone, but takes longer. So I suggest the aluminum, hot water, B.S., & salt, then finishing hard to get places with the toothpaste. My black & gold looking goblets are silver again! :)

Amber Nichols
- Charleston, WV, USA

Patsy S and Brian S commented on the smell of the solution and possible toxic vapours:

Dale Woika provided the chemistry in the second post on this thread as 2Al(s) + 3Ag2S(s) + 6H2O -> 6Ag(s) + 2Al2(OH)3(s) + 3H2S(aq)

The smell comes from the production of H2S or hydrogen sulfide in solution which is toxic as a gas or in high concentrations. Hydrogen sulfide gives off the classic rotten eggs smell that people associate with sulfur. So partly for aesthetics and partly for safety, it's best to do your silver dipping outdoors or in a well-ventilated area and avoid inhaling any vapours.

Jim Hughes
- Vancouver, BC, Canada

www.qwicksilver.co.uk/ sells the plates you are all talking about. I bought one and used it for the first time yesterday. I have a large collection of copper and brass that tarnishes over time. I usually clean them once or twice a year but it's one of those jobs that I hate to do as it takes so long. So I usually do it over the course of a week.
I did a bit of research and found a link to 'Qwicksilver' What used to take me two to three days of continuous rubbing took 2 hours! The results were unbelievable. The tarnish literally floats off and a quick dip in hot sudsy water after then a rub with a drying towel is all you need. Reading the previous posts I guess that an aluminium saucepan would do the job just as well.
The trick is.
1) Use soft water
2) Add 1 tablespoon of washing soda per litre of water used.
3) Add the water to the pan, keep it on the hob until the water boils, then add the soda. Keep the water just on the boil and add the pieces to be cleaned. Leave in the solution for 30 seconds and remove.
Hey Presto! Clean.
Then just wash off the soda residue with hot soapy water and dry.

Vincent Penkul
- Essex, UK

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