What if I told you that 20 minutes a week for this year would have you at least 48 items ready for the holidays?
I recently picked up this terribly kept Oneida-made silver-plated platter from a nearby rental property. The platter was abandoned. It looked to be tarnished to the point of never again being usable which is why the property owner just gave it away rather than keeping it. The platter was scratched and banged up and probably used as a snow sled at some point. You probably have similarly unloved silver and have put off doing anything about it. One item a week = 48 items for next year. It’s easy and the authentic dazzle will really stun your guests.
Though I photographed a Spic’n Span microfiber cloth (orange), I never used it. I did make good use of more Viva brand paper towels than are pictured here. Spic’n Span just put to retail a small package of 10 Medical Exam gloves. I know what you’re thinking, “finally.” Regardless of marketing, they’re useful for this project at least. Tarn-X and the infamous (in my home) robin’s egg blue bottle of Silversmith’s Polish are a must and it helps to have a trash bag handy. A trash bag? I’ll explain…
Tarn-X works almost instantly. According to the directions, you should apply it with a cotton swab in little bits at a time. This has always disappointed me. This chemical reaction, I feel, should happen as uniformly as possible so that the untarnished result is as even as possible. This means emptying the Tarn-X into the trash bag (or Ziplock for smaller pieces), rolling the top over to prevent spills, and swishing a SINGLE item for about 30 seconds so Tarn-X gets everywhere as, at-once as possible. Below is the shocking before and after of 30 seconds swishing, one minute rinsing and toweling dry.
Two important notes: When rinsing, get your hands in there; feel for a thin, slippery film to go away completely. Be fast; the directions warn against leaving the piece in water for more than two minutes. Secondly, leave NO water drops behind when drying – they leave behind marks that won’t polish out. Work quickly drying and be very thorough.
The results are already HUGE. Problem is, without polish, the silver will tarnish rapidly. So we have to enhance and lock in the shine. Now what you’ve been waiting for – Don your Medical Exam gloves. Start with a 25-cent piece dab of polish. Spread it everywhere to paper-thin dimensions. Add more polish as you need it, but be conservative when you apply it, liberal when you spread it. We want it to dry to a dull fog within four minutes. That’s what’s pictured below. The black that the glove picks up is old and new tarnish that polishing is already removing.
The real time-saver to all this silver polishing is that we can use cold running water to rinse off BOTH products. Ages ago, buffing cloths were involved and this quarter-hour errand would take over an hour. Now that the polish is set, cloudy and ready to go, this platter is protected in the water. A glove-free rinse and paper towel bath to get inside all the corners has this disregarded platter singing quite a song! Few errands to prepare for the holidays provide as much gratification as being able to polish any silver you have in just minutes. I hope this gives you some strength to get up and do it!
