Tried cleaning my great-aunt's silver spoon with toothpaste, and it worked way better than I thought.

I found it in a box from her house in Cleveland and gave it a gentle scrub, and the tarnish came right off. Anyone have a good way to keep it from tarnishing again without harsh chemicals?

3 comments

3 Comments

nelson.gavin1mo ago

Totally did the same thing with a set of old silver napkin rings. I mean, I was just messing around in the kitchen one day, and the paste made them look brand new. The anti-tarnish bags mary mentioned are a solid idea, I use those too. I also heard that keeping a piece of chalk in the box with your silver can help soak up moisture, which is what causes a lot of the tarnish. It's a weird old trick but it seems to work for me.

the_mary1mo ago

How did you know to try toothpaste? I did the same thing with an old silver locket from my grandma's attic. Just used a soft toothbrush and a tiny bit of regular mint paste. It works because it's a mild abrasive, like baking soda. To keep it from tarnishing again, I store my clean silver pieces in those little anti-tarnish cloth bags you can get cheap online. They soak up the stuff in the air that makes it turn dark.

thomas_scott12d ago

My great aunt Edna would probably roll over in her grave if she knew I was using toothpaste on her silver... but hey, it worked for me too. I tried it on this old sugar bowl she left me, and I felt like some kind of kitchen chemist or something. The toothpaste trick is great until you accidentally use a whitening one with those little blue beads - scratched the heck out of a fork that way. For keeping tarnish away, I just wrap mine in a soft cotton towel and stick it in a drawer with a piece of chalk like someone mentioned. Seems to help a little, though I'm not sure if it's the chalk or just me not looking at it enough.