Self Help

A silver-care product can do three jobs simultaneously: It removes tarnish, polishes, and treats silver with chemicals that retard further tarnishing. There are also two-way products that clean and polish but don’t claim to provide tarnish retardant. Both types of product include a mild abrasive. You rub the polish on, wipe it off, and then buff the finish to the shine you want.

One-way products are only cleaners. All are liquids and don’t require tedious rubbing to remove tarnish. You just dip the silver in them or spread them onto silver surfaces. Because of the acid in the liquids, you have to handle them carefully to prevent skin irritation, rinse cleaned silver thoroughly, and tolerate a disagreeable odor as you work.

Antique Finishes: Dark-looking silver with an antique or “oxidized” finish is often deeply patterned. Silver polish is almost certain to remove some of the finish. Dip cleaners damage antique finishes, too, even when you wipe the liquids carefully onto the silver.

Satin Finishes: Dips are the only cleaners that remove tarnish from satin, or low-luster, finishes without making them shinier to some degree.

Staining: If you accidentally allow drops of polish to fall on silver pieces, dip cleaners are likely to leave pale stains, and some other products may leave dark stains. You have to repolish to remove the stains. Many silver table knives are made with stainless steel blades, and - just as the label warns - drops from dip cleaners can permanently spot or even pit stainless steel if allowed to dry on the surface. Rinse such knives off promptly after using a dip cleaner on their silver handles to avoid damage.

Acidic dip cleaners, as a class, have some inherent hazards that the label may or may not mention. For example, some labels don’t suggest using plastic or rubber gloves to protect your hands while cleaning, even though prolonged contact with the cleaner may cause skin damage. And some labels fail to mention the necessity for proper ventilation when using dip cleaners - excessive inhalation of their sulfide fumes can cause headaches.

Three-way products are higher priced than other products. Nonetheless, a good three-way product is to be preferred. Although they won’t clean silver as easily as a good one-way product, they also do the polishing job - and do it well. What’s more, because of their tarnish retardance, you won’t have to clean the silver again quite as soon. Dip cleaners work fast but you still may need to use a polish afterward, and polishing, after all, is like cleaning all over again.