Home Remedies for Cleaning Tarnished Metal

Tarnished metal is often very unsightly. It is the sign of silver or other valuable metal that has lost its luster.

Therefore, a way to clean this dulled substances such as silver, brass, or copper needs to take place. You can learn below the variety of ways that these three different metals can be cleaned appropriately without further damaging them.

Silver

The instructions here actually apply to cleaning sterling silver and silver-plated silverware. These cleaning methods are safe to use on silver flatware with which you eat.

The steps towards cleaning these silver substances are as shown below:

1. First, get an aluminum tray to put your silver pieces in. A baking pan is a great thing to use for this purpose but the silverware should sit well under the top edge of it.
2. You could also use a glass tray or some other kind of washing basin but it would need to be lined with aluminum foil. In any case, an entire cup of baking soda should be poured evenly over the silverware, and then some boiling water.
3. Please note that if you use a pan and not the aluminum foil you absolutely have to make sure the pan is aluminum. This is the metal that is used to create the chemical reaction that would remove the silver tarnish.
4. Usually the tarnish is removed very quickly as soon as the water cools. Afterwards, the silver should be removed and buffed with a soft cloth as needed.

Brass

1. Older bronze needs to be cleaned very carefully. This is what helps keep it from breaking more easily. The first step to cleaning your brass is to draw up a bath of warm water and then add enough soap into it to create bubbles on the bathwater’s surface.
2. You can let this sit for awhile and you can begin gently washing the pieces. In the process, the dirt should be removed and so should the dust and the grease.
3. After this you should then polish each piece with a soft rag and linseed oil. If the pieces are more severely tarnished you should mix four drops of a citrus essential oil and 2 tsp. of salt into a cup of vinegar.
4. If the pieces are more severely tarnished they can then be cleaned with four drops of citrus essential oil. You should also mix 2 tbsp. of salt with a cup of vinegar.
5. Add flour to this concoction. You need enough to make a thick paste, and this past should be smeared over the brass and then dried before being rinsed with warm water.
6. Then, the dry paste should be removed and you can then polish your pieces. They should now be shiny.

Copper

Tarnished copper is not that hard to clean. It can be done using a similar paste as the one created to clean brass. All it requires is a cup of salt and a cup of flour and this should be added to vinegar to make a thick paste.

This paste should then be allowed to dry on its own. After drying, it should then be rinsed with warm water and polished with a soft cloth.

The other option would be to cut a lemon or lime in half. Inside the exposed part of the fruit you can add salt. This can be applied as a scrub brush and it helps wipe and remove the tarnish away.