I wrote this up in a thread from the beach hunting forum and thought I'd share it over here.
This is my routine for cleaning badly tarnished silver jewellery.
1. Rinse with water.
2. Make a concentrated solution of water and baking soda(bicarbonate soda)
3. Dip the ring in the solution and then wrap tightly in aluminum foil.
4. Soak in the solution for 10-20 min.
5. Remove remaining foil and rinse and clean the black silver sulfide with a sponge.
6. Repeat until most of the black is gone.
7. Put some bicarbonate soda directly on the wet ring and polish with your fingers.....done.
Fast, cheap and will not scratch the ring. Works every time!
It will produce a GAS in small amounts. I think it's hydrogen sulphide which is basically sewer gas. Best NOT to breath it in so do it in a well ventilated place.
I think what is happening is the silver sulphide is converting to aluminum sulphide, which is unstable in water and quickly breaks down to hydrogen sulphide gas. My chemistry is a bit rusty so someone better versed in chem. can either confirm or correct that
This is my routine for cleaning badly tarnished silver jewellery.
1. Rinse with water.
2. Make a concentrated solution of water and baking soda(bicarbonate soda)
3. Dip the ring in the solution and then wrap tightly in aluminum foil.
4. Soak in the solution for 10-20 min.
5. Remove remaining foil and rinse and clean the black silver sulfide with a sponge.
6. Repeat until most of the black is gone.
7. Put some bicarbonate soda directly on the wet ring and polish with your fingers.....done.
Fast, cheap and will not scratch the ring. Works every time!
It will produce a GAS in small amounts. I think it's hydrogen sulphide which is basically sewer gas. Best NOT to breath it in so do it in a well ventilated place.
I think what is happening is the silver sulphide is converting to aluminum sulphide, which is unstable in water and quickly breaks down to hydrogen sulphide gas. My chemistry is a bit rusty so someone better versed in chem. can either confirm or correct that
