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Ladies with intricate silver jewelry...

ecf8503

Ideal_Rock
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Joined
Feb 14, 2005
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4,091
How do you clean in the crevices effectively? I have several beautiful pieces, which have tarnished. Polishing with a cloth only removes that from the outer borders of the design, but not in the deeper parts. And many have pearls attached, so dunking them in silver cleaning solution is out. Is there a handheld dremel type tool that is readily available that would work?
 

azstonie

Ideal_Rock
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Jul 1, 2014
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3,769
I don't pursue that tarnish, I tell myself it gives the piece that antique gravitas :lol:
 

Begonia

Ideal_Rock
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Feb 2, 2011
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3,215
Flat bottomed bowl. Put a piece of aluminum foil in the bottom, put baking soda on foil and put silver piece on top of foil. Boil kettle and pour boiling water over whole thing. It should fizz up. Use fork to move jewellery around on top of foil. Tarnish comes out of all areas including nooks and crannies. Works like a hot damn on silver chain.
Don't do this with antique pieces where the patina is important.
Careful with stones as hot can crack them.
Finish with warm water rinse to remove baking soda.
Don't scour the piece with the soda, just move piece around so contact is made with foil.


When I discovered this technique, I did every silver piece I own :bigsmile:
 

stracci2000

Ideal_Rock
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8,346
Begonia|1466217040|4045314 said:
Flat bottomed bowl. Put a piece of aluminum foil in the bottom, put baking soda on foil and put silver piece on top of foil. Boil kettle and pour boiling water over whole thing. It should fizz up. Use fork to move jewellery around on top of foil. Tarnish comes out of all areas including nooks and crannies. Works like a hot damn on silver chain.
Don't do this with antique pieces where the patina is important.
Careful with stones as hot can crack them.
Finish with warm water rinse to remove baking soda.
Don't scour the piece with the soda, just move piece around so contact is made with foil.


When I discovered this technique, I did every silver piece I own :bigsmile:

I tried this on some chains just now. I have heard of this idea before, but never tried it. It did not work.
Begonia, I followed your instructions......how did I goof this up?
I have always used Tarn-X on my silver chains, with great results.

****EDIT: I tried again, and it worked! My water wasnt hot enough. I got it to a rolling boil, and it worked!
 

azstonie

Ideal_Rock
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Jul 1, 2014
Messages
3,769
Begonia|1466217040|4045314 said:
Flat bottomed bowl. Put a piece of aluminum foil in the bottom, put baking soda on foil and put silver piece on top of foil. Boil kettle and pour boiling water over whole thing. It should fizz up. Use fork to move jewellery around on top of foil. Tarnish comes out of all areas including nooks and crannies. Works like a hot damn on silver chain.
Don't do this with antique pieces where the patina is important.
Careful with stones as hot can crack them.
Finish with warm water rinse to remove baking soda.
Don't scour the piece with the soda, just move piece around so contact is made with foil.


When I discovered this technique, I did every silver piece I own :bigsmile:

I'm doing this tomorrow, thank you for posting this :wavey: :appl: I have two silver chains that need help!
 

VRBeauty

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Apr 2, 2006
Messages
11,210
Begonia|1466217040|4045314 said:
Flat bottomed bowl. Put a piece of aluminum foil in the bottom, put baking soda on foil and put silver piece on top of foil. Boil kettle and pour boiling water over whole thing. It should fizz up. Use fork to move jewellery around on top of foil. Tarnish comes out of all areas including nooks and crannies. Works like a hot damn on silver chain.
Don't do this with antique pieces where the patina is important.
Careful with stones as hot can crack them.
Finish with warm water rinse to remove baking soda.
Don't scour the piece with the soda, just move piece around so contact is made with foil.


When I discovered this technique, I did every silver piece I own :bigsmile:

DItto the highlighted warning. Some pieces actually look worse - and cheaper - when the patina is removed, because it add dimension. My preferred way to clean silver is Hagerty Silver Foam, applied with a soft sponge. I do use the baking soda and foil for some things though including chains.
 

ecf8503

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Feb 14, 2005
Messages
4,091
Thanks everyone - I think I'll pass on pouring boiling water on the pieces with pearls, but I might try it with those that don't! I don't want to necessarily remove the decorative oxidation that is supposed to be there either. Just hard to keep them looking nice and shiny and white!
 

Lady_Disdain

Ideal_Rock
Trade
Joined
Jul 25, 2008
Messages
3,988
Funny. I've had success using the baking soda method with lukewarm water. It does take a while, though.
 

AGBF

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Jan 26, 2003
Messages
22,143
ecf8503|1466214590|4045300 said:
How do you clean in the crevices effectively? I have several beautiful pieces, which have tarnished. Polishing with a cloth only removes that from the outer borders of the design, but not in the deeper parts. And many have pearls attached, so dunking them in silver cleaning solution is out. Is there a handheld dremel type tool that is readily available that would work?

I have quoted Laurie (JewelFreak) on this before, but until now I had not used the product she recommended. Now I have, and I agree with her that it is great. She wrote in a thread about silver flatware and holloware a couple of years ago:

"I used Never Dull polish. Have tried a zillion brands over years & I love this. Comes in blue tin cans -- it's treated cotton-y stuff that you rip little pieces off of. One reason I like it is that you can get it into little crevices. I use it on silver jewelry too. Some hardware stores carry it."

I did get mine in a hardware store. The men who worked there thought that I was going to polish the chrome on my car!

Deb/AGBF
:saint:
 
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