how to remove tarnish and clean silver coins, bars, or jewelry

I discovered an easy method of removing tarnish from silver, using stuff we all have at home. After viewing the technique I decided to film myself trying it out for the first time. Since then it has become an indispensable tool for caring for my silver.

You'll need an inert bowl (such as glass or ceramic), 2 cups very hot water, a teaspoon of table salt, a piece of folded up aluminum foil, and a tablespoon of baking soda. You can also add a teaspoon of vinegar to acidify the solution and speed up the reaction, but I don't bother.

This reaction only works with silver, so don't use it on other metal types. The more silver in your item, the better this process will clean it. I recommend it mainly for junk silver (80% or 90%), sterling silver (92.5%), or pure silver bullion (99% and up). It has been known to work on jewelry. I don't recommend it for coins with numismatic (collector) value unless you know what you're doing.

If you found it useful, please let me know, and consider sharing the link with someone else who could use it.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• silver
• remove
• tarnish
• clean
• chemical
• reaction
• dirt
• coin
• sulfur
• dirty
• bar
• jewelry
• chain
• ring
• bullion
• water
• salt
• baking
• soda
• aluminum
• foil
• tin
• maple
• tarnished
• cleaning

[TheTrueJBV3737]

Well I tried this on very very badly tarnished .90 coins, it worked but not 100% there was an amount of tarnish even heavy scrubbing would not come off, it did work 25-50% though but only part of the tarnish. I tried it twice, second time i scrubbed the shit out of them with toilet paper.

[drutter]

@TheTrueJBV3737

Sounds like you're cleaning something you're not overly worried about damaging. If that's the case, and there's still some tarnish and/or grime and/or dirt on the item, dampen a little bit of baking soda and rub it against the dirty surface with your fingers, then rinse it off. Not a good idea on valuable coins or anything with a polished surface, but great for grubby old junk silver coins etc, cleans them up very easily.

[BourneAccident]

Does this method damage the coins at all?

[drutter]

@BourneAccident

That question is answered in the video, in the description box, in the comments section, and in the annotation popups on the screen. But once again, don't do anything with coins that have numismatic (collector) value unless you know what you're doing. No, this process doesn't damage the surface of the coin, it just removes the tarnish (a Sulfur compound). But some coins tarnish in a way that collectors enjoy and pay well for. This is best on silver BULLION.

[vb3347]

Worked like a charm on my .925, .900 and .720 silver :) Some of my coins were literally all black and now have that nice luster (but not the ugly fake shine like some harshly polished coins I've seen). I'm hesitant to try it on my .500 silver, though...

[drutter]

@vb3347

I've had mixed results on my .500 silver. Copper doesn't tarnish the same way silver does, so it'll remove the silver tarnish but leave the copper tarnish, and sometimes what's left looks strange. I'm always happy with tarnished .800 and up silver that I treat with this method.

[3lcrank]

it does work but CAUTON!! DO NOT POUR SALT OVER SILVER COINS!!!! IT WILL LEAVE SMALL DOTS! i just did it and it happened to me

[boliRULES]

Thanks man!! It works!!!!!

[eandaquinn514]

i used this on my 1879 morgan dollar and my 1952 quarter worked great!

[dagorider55]

will the baking soda scratch my silver dollar walking liberty up?? i want to try this but dont want to depreiciate the value of my coin .999 silver

[TheTrueJBV3737]

@drutter I will try that, yeah its very old coins 1914-1964 mix of american and Canadian 80-90% coins. Thanks.

[cvelis549]

Great ideas it worked great. What I also use is an old tooth brush, toothpaste wit baking soda or just add baking soda to the paste. Then add a lil hot water and scrub. Then rinse with hot water. Works just as great. Maybe a Lil faster too. thanks again.

[MrVegiita]

Hi Drutter, thanks for posting. This worked with the coins and bars!

[num892118]

@drutter hey man that tarnish removal stuff was a success.