Simple Cleaning Method

Cleaning silver or silverplate can be simple and cheap. Just rinse off the silverplated items in warm, soapy water to remove dirt and debris. Hand dry each item with a soft cloth. 

Removing Tarnish

Cleaning silver or silverplated items does not remove tarnish from them. Tarnish is removed via polishing each item. For light tarnish or monthly maintainence we recommend use of a good quality silver cloth. This will keep your silverware looking good for longer as it will apply an invisible anti-tarnish layer. For heavier tarnish, a silver polish or silver cream will bring the shine back to your silverplated articles. Apply polish with a clean dampened cloth and polish by working the cloth in small circular motions all over each silverplate item. Once the polish has removed all the tarnish from each item, buff each silverplated item with a soft cloth.

Maintenance

The best way to keep the shine on sterling silver or silverplated items is regular light use of a silver cloth or washing in warm water with a mild soap or detergent. One rule of thumb is to never wash silverplated items in the dishwasher as scratching of the silverplate and sometimes erosion of the silverplate may occur.

  Silver Polish            Silver Polishing Cloth    

Use of Dishwashers

Use of a dishwasher will significantly increase the rate of wear and tear. It is difficult to be sure but, we have noticed some unprecedented customer reports of tarnishing issues with dishwashing recently and suspect it is related to newer formulations of dishwasher tablets.

Whilst we do not recommend dishwashing for silverware, we understand the convenience it provides and this is our advice:

 

• Follow machine’s instructions.
• Remove and hand dry the cutlery as soon as the wash cycle has finished.
• Load knives with blades pointing down.
• Avoid using rinse and hold cycle – cutlery left in a damp atmosphere can become stained or damaged.
• Do not mix silver-plated and stainless steel items in the same compartment.
• Avoid using a high temperature cycle.

 

Silver-plate  - General:

 

• Wash Silver-plated items separately from stainless steel.
• Clean with a silver cloth, while plated cutlery resist corrosion, it can become tarnished from sulphides in the atmosphere and in certain foods e.g eggs.
• To clean tarnished cutlery, use a reputable silver polish.
• Never use silver dip

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Silver Plating Solutions

When the silver plate on your cherished cutlery, tray, trophy, etc. has completely or even partially worn out, It will be tempting to buy a bottle of the liquid advertised as Silver Plating Solution. We do not recommend this. Whilst it may appear to improve the appearance of silverware slightly, it is an ineffective and temporary fix. It only puts on a very thin layer of silver,  will not last very long at all and is really a waste of money.