Cleaning silver

[HandMini]

Hi, can anyone give me a start on how to clean silver. I know it's something like bicarbonate of soda but please can I have an idiots guide. Prefer not to buy a specialist product if I can just use something I've already got, but if a specialist product is needed, and recommendations would be great. Thanks housekeepers.

from online:

The secrets of silver cleaning using household basics may surprise you, but the techniques are easy, tried, and true!

If you have a small job, the best silver polish is white tooth paste. Dab some on your finger, and rub into the tarnish.

For bigger pieces, use baking soda and a clean, damp sponge. Make a paste of baking soda and water. Scoop the paste onto the sponge, and rub the paste into the silver. Rinse with hot water and polish dry with a soft, clean cloth.

For badly tarnished silver, leave the baking soda paste on the silver for an hour or so, before cleaning off with the help of the sponge and hot water.

Here is another method: www.howtocleanthings.com/how-to-clean-silver.htm

Hello, I am vintage jewellery and silverware dealer and I use a Selvet cloth for all my polishing.
It's a cloth that's treated with a polish. Everyone in the jewellery industry uses them. You can pick them up online for £5-£10. Lasts you a lifetime and no faffing around

For solid silver not plate line a plastic bowl with aluminium foil shiney side up, add a handful of soda crystals and some very hot water. Put your silver in for between 1 and 5 mins and the dirt 'jumps' off and sticks to the foil!!

This is a kim and Aggie tip but I have done it myself and it works!! Great for the fiddly bits that you spend forever trying to get the muck and cleaner out of!

Also enjoyable to watch (but then I am the kind of girl that enjoys sitting on the floor watching the washing machine )

Agree with Oreocrumbs except I use bicarbonate of soda not soda crystals, this technique is great, especially for intricate stuff. I use a silver cloth for a quick polish of jewellery becore I wear it too.

Goddards Silver Pad (previously called Silver Foam). It is a sort of orange soap in a dark blue plastic tub, you apply it with a sponge which is inside the tub, and rub off with a soft clean cloth. It contains a chemical which releases the tarnish instead of grinding it off. It gives a better gleam than the aluminium foil method (which does indeed work) and like Goddards Long Term Silver Polish, it leaves a protective film against future tarnish.

John Lewis do an own-brand which appears to be identical.

Don't wear rubber gloves, as rubber is cured using suphur, which causes tarnish. For the same reason, don't bundle up silver items using rubber bands, which will leave a line of corrosion where they touch.

Most "household tips" are old wives tales and are abrasive which will wear away the surface. Sorry.

Afraid Piglet John's right. Best tip is to keep silver covered up in a bag, where it will tarnish less.

Thanks everyone. I will report back tomorrow. Going to try the aluminium foil method as that sounds the most fun. It's big pieces I'm cleaning so I think this will work better than the cloth.