Cleaning silverware cutlery can be many things. It can be tedious, fruitless, dangerous, destructive, successful or a complete waste of time. Yup, so many ways it can go wrong or right. Shiny forks, spoons and knives or pitted ones with toxic fumes. You decide.

Your regular household silver used for cutlery is a composite of pure silver, which is soft and stronger metals like copper to produce that silver shine. But that shine can begin to dull and tarnish in as little as a few months. That tarnish on sterling silver shows up as a yellow-gray or black film on the surface of the cutlery. But there are ways to clean it up efficiently and safely. Lets look at a few methods:

Toothpaste:

• Pro: Cheap
• Con: Sticky and stinky
• Con: Abrasive and may cause scratching and dulling of the metals shine
• Result: Not really a good idea, but if you are desperate I guess.

Lemon Juice or Vinegar & Baking Soda: 

• Pro: Cheapish
• Pro: Fun fizzy sounds
• Con: Still a little abrasive and will leave clean but dulled look
• Result: Fizzy but not shiny

Aluminum Foil, Baking Soda, Salt & Hot Water:

• Shown in video above
• Pro: Even more fun fizzy sounds
• Pro: Soak for a short time and the black tarnish rubs right off
• Pro: Leaves cutlery shiny
• Pro: No harmful chemicals
• Con: Slightly smelly and messy
• Con: A lot of setup and cleanup
• Result: Pretty dam good and cheap but lots of effort

Wright’s Silver Cleaner:

• Pro: Not abrasive
• Pro: Easy to use
• Pro: No smell, ammonia free
• Pro: Cheapish
• Pro: Leaves silverware shiny
• Con: Still gotta rub that spoon
• Con: You gotta go buy it
• Result: Worth the money and the effort for the result.

Wright’s Silver Cleaner and Polish Cream from Amazon