Few things enhance the beauty of a dinner table and the visual effect of a meal more than sparking silverware. While you can choose from a number of excellent manufactured silver cleaning compounds, a bit of elbow grease and some natural items found in the kitchen will usually make your silverware shine like new. When you need to know how to clean silverware, one important thing to remember is work on one piece at a time.
What You'll Need:
White Toothpaste (Optional)
Baking Soda
Water
Sponge
Soft-Bristled Toothbrush (Optional)
Quart Size Freezer Bag
Bounty Paper Towels
Instructions:
If silverware is only lightly tarnished, put a dollop of toothpaste about the size of a pea on a Bounty paper towel and use your fingertips to rub it into the tarnished area. Continue rubbing the toothpaste into the silverware's surface until the silvery shine is back. Then rinse the utensil with hot water to remove the toothpaste residue.
For deeper tarnishes, make a baking soda and water paste using 1 part water to 2 parts baking soda. For example, use 1/2 teaspoon water and 1 teaspoon baking soda for a small utensil, such as a spoon. Work the paste into the tarnished surface with either a paper towel or the sponge. Keep rubbing until the tarnish has cleared away. Rinse with hot water to get the residue from the baking soda off of the utensil and dry thoroughly.
When the tarnish sticks in the grooves of the silver pattern, you will need a small toothbrush to work the tarnish out of the grooves. Dip the toothbrush bristles in the baking soda paste and push the bristles into the grooves. Keep brushing the pattern until the tarnish fades away.
If the tarnish is stubborn and will not clean off easily, coat the utensil in a thick baking soda and water paste, stick the silverware in a freezer bag and let the utensil soak in the paste for about an hour. Then, rub the tarnish off with a sponge or a paper towel and rinse with hot water and dry thoroughly.
Or, if this is too tough, pick up a container of silver polish. Follow the same directions for silver polish as for baking soda paste. Rub in the compound, wipe it off, and then rinse with hot water and dry thoroughly.