Does sterling silver jewelry cleaner remove the black color on the silver?
I love this question! The usual tarnish on silver is the black sulfide. The cool thing about this is that you can instantly remove the tarnish from any silver item with commonly available household items, and I do mean fast! Aluminum is far above silver in the activity series for metals, and in a suitable solution will reduce the silver in the silver sulfide, reforming silver metal. The reaction is spontaneous and rapid in warm water: 2Al(s) + 3Ag2S(s) + 6H2O -> 6Ag(s) + 2Al2(OH)3(s) + 3H2S(aq) So, all you have to do is get a container big enough for the silver item, partially fill it with warm water and a couple tablespoons of sodium bicarbonate, a.k.a. baking soda, place some clean aluminum foil in the container and then just dunk the tarnished item in the bucket. The silver item has to touch the aluminum. It works in a few seconds, no scratches, no muss, no fuss, and then all you you do is rinse the item off. There is no adverse environmental impact, none of the ingredients are in a
All sterling silver will eventually tarnish because when silver is exposed to air over time, it causes a chemical reaction that results in silver sulfate, or the black buildup that you see on your silver jewelry and other products. Using a store-bought silver jewelry cleaner (or a simple homemade solution) will usually remove these black marks easily.
I have been a chef for many years at 4 star restaurants and hotels and each establishment has their own way to clean their silverware and silver sets. I learned the hard way NOT to use the baking soda and aluminum way because it turned several hundred pieces of silver plated silverware brown! What had actually happened was this process removes silver layers along with the tarnish so the brown we were seeing was the copper base metal.
Another business insisted that we spent $6000.00 on a burnisher, which is actually bead blasting the tarnish off. Need I say more about this process?
When I was with a Grand Hyatt, they used a liquid silver cleaner called Silvermate. www.silvermatecompany.com This stuff really works well. You just dip a piece in it and move it around for around 20 seconds and rinse it off and dry iy with a towel. All the tarnish has been removed from the silver and Silvermate polishes it all in the one process.
I just hope this helps someone before they ruin something dear to them by using the wrong recipe or harsh cleaner.
Eat Well,
RR
