How To Clean Silver With Soda Crystals

loulou85

For anyone who is worried about using aluminium, I tried this method without it, simply because I didn't have any foil. It worked very well on my silver. I put a few heaped teaspoons of soda crystals into a bowl, filled it up with hot water (a fairly strong solution) and let it cool for a while. Then I put my 2 silver necklaces into the bowl and left them for about 10 minutes. I took them out and scrubbed them with a cloth and then put them back in for a further few minutes. Rinsed them and dried them. Now they look great!

chemist

Pristine2U - what are you talking about? I am a chemist in the alkali industry and can see that a very small amount of hydrogen released in this situation would not cuase any safety concerns. May be you have a vested interest in selling expensive plates instead of using aluminium foil??

pristine2u

first off the plates which were created for cleaning are made from several diferant metals to combat hydrogen release. these plates were tested and aproved by the goverment and still used by the government since 1907. believe me i know what im talking about mrs Anonymous . several yrs ago there was a big issue with cleaning with soda crystals and aluminium foil all over the front pages of all uk papers, the issue here is about health & safety. electrolytic plates were and are created by people who are profesional in that field. your method is way beyond and exceeds all guidelines. while this method does work it breaks all health & safety ' and after 50 yrs in the business of cleaning and dealing with silver & gold' so ok lets save a £ or two by useing this method' and lets see the results in years to come.. waiting for your comments because i'l be here and signed in

Re: Pristine2u's comment: There is nothing lethal about this! The Soda Crystals react with the aluminimum (hence the warning on the bag, you dont want an aluminium pan with a hole in it) The hydrogen produced is in small quantities and any neat hydrogen that leaves the solution would immediately oxidise to form water. The plate you can buy from a shop is aluminium or an alloy of, so it just adds expense.

pristine2u

mixing soda crystals with aluminum foil is leathel.. you see the bag of crystals you have with you! 'read the instructions on the bag? it will read 'DO NOT USE WITH ALUMINIUM' you need to use a metalytic plate, which will cut down on the hydrogen release. most shops sell them.

Soda Crystals? Hmmm, I think this must be available only in the UK. Never heard of it in the USA. Would regular soda powder do as well?

valcane

Is there not a (small) health and safety risk from the hydrogen produced by this technique?