Cleaning silver

[George]

What sort of treat?

[Andy Dingley]

Thiourea and citric acid. Available for commonplace retail (Tesco have it) as Goddard's silver dip. The reason I recommend is that it's the least damaging technique available. It's also easy, hard to get wrong and particularly effective on sulphide tarnishes. It's also safe around jewellery.

On the downside, it's toxic. Be careful with it. Wear gloves, don't splash it around the kitchen, rinse it well afterwards.

Easiest way to use it (for jewellery) is to get one of the little net bags supplied with some washing powder(sic) tablets. Dunk the stuff for a few minutes, then haul it out and rinse.

The likeliest way to get things wrong is to contaminate the liquid with other metals, particularly iron. This immediately ruins the whole jar. Use plastic tongs, not metal. Don't dip things that might have non-silver springs, hinge pins etc. You can use it around some other metals too, but check first.

DON'T use abrasives. If it's silver plate, then you'll go through it in a very short time (i.e. within a couple of years' ownership). Anything that isn't a liquid you can see clean through should be assumed to be abrasive. This includes "magic cloths".

DON'T use any electrolytic process, which includes tinfoil balls and baking soda, and also any "magic plating solution"s. They leave a poor surface behind. It usally requires some mechanical polishing afterwards to look halfway decent and the overall effect can be more damaging than going straight at it with rouge.

Also store it correctly. This includes keeping it away from some fabrics, particularly wool and wool felt.

[Andy Dingley]

Worst of the lot is garlic.

[Andy Dingley]

If you wear heavy silver kilt pins or brooches in a woolen plaid, remove them before storing until the next Hogmanay

[Andy Dingley]

One of my friends has a '50s lathe, the well-chromed handwheels of which now have another friend's fingerprints etched into them.

Friend #2 (you've met) is a chemist. He exudes corrosive bile.

[Dave]

I think that it depends which male is sat on the other side of the table :-)

Dave

[Dave]

This subject is much more complex than I thought.

Dave

[Andy Hall]

I never knew that Gordon Brown had been a chemist, or was it that he worked in Timothy Whites in the school holidays....? :-)