Tip of the Day 10/21

[MaMere]

Store your fine silverware in ziplock bags, it tarnishes at a much slower pace.

[Mary]

To be even safer, wrap pieces in acid free tissue paper before putting them in the zip-lock. Plastics contain sulfur -- the culprit in tarnish -- and tissue paper helps. Better yet, invest in some silvercloth and wrap individual pieces in it, especially if the silver is old or delicate.

[Kizzikate]

Great tips.... polishing silver is a tiresome chore!!

[Mary]

Great tips.... polishing silver is a tiresome chore!!

Indeed it is, so one year three friends and I met for a Polishing Party in mid-November to ready the silver for upcoming holidays. We each brought our tarnished silver and a salad or beverage to enjoy while we polished.

Believe it or not, we had a really good time. We talked, and ate, and laughed and ended up polishing each other's silver. Our cares and worries just melted away in the friendship of joining forces to get a tiresome job taken care of.

[Marion_in_Savannah]

Store your fine silverware in ziplock bags, it tarnishes at a much slower pace.

EEEK! Are you really, really sure? I've gotten into some real trouble with just plastic bag or newspaper or tissue paper storage. There's an extra step that's needed.

Here's an article on caring for fine silver: http://www.bishopmuseum.org/research/pd ... silver.pdf

The "money quote" is this:

Storing silver in plastic bags and cardboard boxes and tissue paper, unless they are archival quality products, will do more harm than good due to the aggressive acids and gases released by poor quality papers and plastics. But, silver wrapped in acid-free tissue and placed in silvercloth and/or a sealed polyethylene plastic bag (e.g. Ziploc type) will be well protected.

I've found over the years that flat silver used on a regular basis (why not? it's lovely stuff to eat with) only needs a quick "touch-up" polish, mainly fork tines, once or twice a year.

Also, if you're storing your silver in any sort of display cabinet these silver strips are JUST AMAZING:

http://www.silverguard.com/p-14-3m-anti ... trips.aspx

I have a glass-front display cabinet where I have family christening cups, etc., displayed and they just don't tarnish. Really.

I'm not trying to step on toes here, but just trying to keep folks from making the mistakes that I made as a younger woman trying to store silver. It's harder to bring it back from a bad storage situation than it is to polish it regularly or store it safely.