Electrolytic Cleaning Plate Save 20% Off

I was looking for a way to remove EXCESSIVE tarnish from our silverplate tea set, which is decorative only. I am lazy, so using the typical silver creams and foams is a pain...yeah, works fine but a lot of effort and messy.

I was hopeful that this would at least remove some of the tarnish, just to make the job easier. I was stunned at how well it works. Thrilled with the results, and even made the chore kind of fun.

HOWEVER...VERY IMPORTANT! As others have said, you will get good results ONLY by doing the following:

Use BOILING water (I filled the kitchen sink with a potful of boiling water)

Use Arm & Hammer "Super Washing Soda". I found it in the laundry detergent aisle at my grocer. Regular baking soda works just OK; the washing soda is the key.

And of course...be careful because the water is hot!

I added more soda than recommended and think that helped too. Anyway, I''m thrilled with how well this worked.

I tried this item, and am not so sure about the results. My item may have had too much heavy tarnish; but after even half an hour there was no change. I tried using baking soda and even washing soda, both to no avail. I also used just a plain aluminum pan and received the same results as using the plate (the cleaning plate is simply an aluminum plate). If you check online, you will find several websites showing how to remove tarnish by using soda, aluminum foil, or even just a small piece of scrap aluminum. Some people report good results with this method of cleaning silver. It may depend on how its used, and may have other variables.

Buy Electrolytic Cleaning Plate Now

While this claims you can use baking soda to clean your silver, it doesn''t work unless you get washing soda (a little hard to track down!) and nearly-boiling water. Once you have those, though, it works well!

Read Best Reviews of Electrolytic Cleaning Plate Here

I bought this to use on around 20 pieces of silver jewelry, some of which were very dull from being a year out of cleaning (but not yellow or brown with severe tarnish). My jewelry included a medium-weight triple-strand snake chain, several pair of dangle earrings, a charm bracelet full of charms, solid hoops, a couple of crosses and a fairly sturdy 1/8" diameter square sided linked chain. I believe all of these are 925.

My results were very iffy.

I used the electrolytic cleaning plate in a glass baking dish in the sink. First note: this is messy, the washing powder will get on the sides of the sink and you will need to scour it. I recommend doing this in a large plastic basin (maybe in a glass dish in a plastic basin).

The electrolytic cleaning plate seemed to work the best in the first 3 or 4 uses, then it seemed to "poop out" with the next batch as it got less tarnish off in the first pass with the next 4 pieces than it did for the first 4. About half the tarnish was removed the first time around, pieces were mostly clean only after several repeats. (I had to use the plate and solution 5 times for some pieces, and I used it 7 times for other pieces). The comments on needing to pour in the hottest boiling water are spot-on, anything less than boiling gets less of a result. Pouring water in with lightweight jewelry pieces is a pain. It sweeps them off the metal plate and you will need to fish in the solution with an implement to move them back on top.

I second the comment about not using for jewelry with stones -I forgot one of my charms on the charm bracelet had 3 marcasites in the corner and they all fell out (now have to take this piece to the jeweler for repair ouch).

Using the silver cleaning plate and washing powder several times as I described finally did create a uniform light silver color but not a shine, even when buffed with a cloth. So, I gave up and resorted to the old standby: silver paste and a soft toothbrush (lots of effort but has always given me great results). Frankly, this took the same amount of effort that it would have taken without the washing powder bath on the metal plate.

I would not buy again -too expensive and results are iffy. PLUS if I had known where to get the DIY information about cleaning silver via electrolysis with aluminum on the internet, I would have done that instead, as I own several aluminum baking pans. If you want to try this method out, do that instead and save your money.

MAYBE if you have an entire drawer of cruddy silver, this method would be worth using for several passes per batch to cut down on the sheer labor of hand polishing them all? Not sure. I''m giving this one star but wish I could give 1/2 or 1/4.

Want Electrolytic Cleaning Plate Discount?

I was given this as a gift, and was hoping it would help me keep up with the silver. We''ve got lots. It says you can use baking soda, but having tried twice (once in a stainless steel sink and once in a ceramic coated Dutch oven) I can testify that it WILL NOT WORK with baking soda. And when I say "will not work" I mean there was absolutely no visible change whatsoever in the silver. My water was, as prescribed, HOT and all pieces of silver were touching the plate. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Bupkus.

I''ll be going to the grocery store tomorrow in hopes of finding WASHING soda, and I''ll try this item again. Should it work with WASHING soda I will update this review, and possibly change the rating from the one star I had to give it because I couldn''t give it fewer.

On edit, January 2, 2013:

I finally found WASHING soda at one of the grocery stores in town. With washing soda this works very well. I had some very badly tarnished items, and with 2 treatments they''re now clean and shiny. I would strongly advise wearing gloves while fishing items out, as the washing soda can be harsh on your hands.

Save 20% Off