Cleaning silver in a silver bath - how to do it right?

There are silver baths on the market that can be used to easily restore silver to its high lustre. Similar to the cleaning of silver in aluminium and salt, these special solutions remove the dark sulphide layers on the silver. In addition, in most cases they contain other ingredients that provide effective "tarnish protection", which ensures that the silver does not become dark again so quickly. Of course, this tarnish protection does not last forever either - sooner or later it will be "rubbed away" by wearing the piece of jewellery.

Make sure that your skin does not come into contact with the silver bath. It is best to use protective gloves for safety reasons (for example, those that you also use for rinsing). Oh yes - for the sake of the environment you should not use disposable gloves :)

How itworks:

Cleaning with the silver bath has a huge advantage: it is fast and very easy.

So if you have "prepared" your piece of jewellery according to our principles of jewellery cleaning, take it and put it into the silver bath (often the silver bath already contains a basket in which you can put the piece of jewellery). The silver bath removes the tarnish virtually by itself, unless it is too old or the stains are too deep.

For stubborn stains, the piece of jewellery should occasionally be moved in the silver bath (for example by lifting the basket up and down). This will always bring "fresh" silver bath to your piece of jewellery and this in turn will improve the effect of the silver bath.

The piece of jewellery should never be left in the silver bath for too long - in most cases between 3 and 5 minutes (please study the respective instructions for use thoroughly here again). Otherwise the silver may become dull and grey and you will have achieved exactly the opposite of what you actually wanted.

After the silver bath the piece of jewellery only has to be rinsed thoroughly under clear running water and then polished with a soft cloth.)

Isit also possible with stone-studded silver jewellery?

Basically: with hard stones yes - with soft stones no.
(You don't know whether your stone is hard or soft? Here you can find our hardness grade table)

Soft to medium hard gemstones do not like silver baths at all. They are naturally porous and are sometimes irrevocably damaged by chemical cleaning substances. This means that they lose their luminosity and radiance, so please only clean such jewellery after consulting a specialist. And if this is too delicate for you and you would rather leave your jewellery in good hands for cleaning - just contact us, we are always happy to help :)

Can pearls tolerate a silver bath?

This is quickly and easily answered: No, no, no!

Pearls live on their luster - that is, the luster that makes pearls so beautiful. And this luster comes from the many layers of mother-of-pearl on the core of your pearl. With a silver bath, you can destroy these very sensitive mother-of-pearl layers irretrievably. So please always clean your pearls only according to the instructions of a professional or have them cleaned by a professional yourself. If you have any questions here or if you are looking for someone who can help you with the cleaning, please contact us :)

What about rhodinated silver?

Rhodium-plated silver will not tarnish as long as the rhodium layer is undamaged, but if you should ever throw a rhodium-plated piece of jewellery into the silver bath, don't panic. This is not a problem at all. Rhodium-plated silver is not affected by a standard silver bath! So it does not bring so much, but it does not harm either :)

How do I extend the shelf life of my silver bath?

The "mechanical cleaning" of the jewellery before the treatment in the silver bath extends the durability (i.e. the time I can use the silver bath effectively) considerably. That means, before you put your silver into the silver bath for cleaning, make it really clean. :)

Sounds strange, because you wanted to put it into the silver bath just for that? Well, the silver bath "only" cleans your silver jewellery from the dark spots that are caused by the tarnishing of the silver (i.e. by the silver sulphide - that is the black stuff). But the dirt that has settled on your jewellery over time (sometimes barely visible) due to make-up, cream, skin flakes and the like is not removed by the silver bath. Therefore the good old "hand cleaning" has to be applied after all. Grab a soft cloth, a little lukewarm water and maybe a soft brush and off you go :)

But also for "mechanical cleaning" please always remember: If your beautiful piece of jewellery is set with stones or pearls, please only clean it in a way that the stones and pearls can tolerate it (for example, pearls should never be scrubbed with a brush). We will be happy to help you with the cleaning!