Thread: A better way of removing tarnish?

Not sure how well the scales would react to be in a pot of boiling water though - surely that depends on scale material, and how you suspend it in the pot (i.e. scales on the bottom of the pot making direct contact with the heat may melt to celluloid or plastics scales).

Interesting though.

Mark

sodium carbonate is a acid...mild though it may be it can etch. The cleaning process you found leaches the oxides off the item. If you were to look at where the tarnish was before you would still see where it had been. Every dip I have ever seen corrodes the surface over time.

This method is specific to silver tarnish. Whether it pits steel I don't know. It's not going to work on chrome, nickel, or gold. Pure gold does not tarnish, but can collect surface scratches that dull the appearance until polished. The gold-colored decoration on blades may or may not be pure gold, an alloy of gold, or a gold-colored coating. (Titanium nitride is used on drill bits, and has a very nice gold color with excellent wear resistance.)

What about using Wright's Silver Polish? It's a tarnish remover, and it works great on silver stuff. Been using it all my life. (Disclaimer: I recently tried it on a blued-looking Case Imp and it didn't do anything.)

Silver is a different animal and that method won't work on steel because of the greedyness of steel to the oxides. Silver will give them up easier. Silver polish won't work either. You need a polish specific to other metals including steel.