Polishing Silver with Aluminum Foil and Washing Soda

Brilliant - my wife was so pleased, she thought her silver ring and chain was ruined after dropping them in a volcanic pool - thank you.

Holy SMOKES!! Tried the baking soda, with foil, salt, half a dryer sheet, and I AM FLOORED ... it worked so, so beautifully on jewellery that kept tarnishing after repeated silver cloth polishing, after a stint in a hot springs.

Thank you, everyone!! I feel like I just won the world with this!!

Q. My question is, if you use the baking soda [in bulk on eBay or Amazon [affil links] and aluminum mixture, can you make up some to keep in a jar to use over and over again? If so, do you leave the aluminum foil in the jar? I like to keep a jar near my jewelry and dip tarnished items before I wear them. I never have time to mix up stuff when I'm getting dressed to go out, but I do have time to open a jar and dip. I've been looking for Noxon Silver Dip too, and can't find it. It works wonderfully! Thanks!

Ed. note: Hi Sally. Please see thread 47/85p2, "Need Silver Dip, LIQUID silver cleaner" for that portion of your question.

A. Besides the Al treatment mentioned the other formulations are approx. 50 g/l of Thiourea ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] in about 1-2% acid - sulfuric, phosphoric, sulfamic. Avoid contact with stainless steel as this will be stained or attacked

I tried Dale Woika's suggestion about using the baking soda and warm water....the only visible result was a bunch of baking soda saturated with water...it did NOT work for me!

Washing Soda

on eBay or

Amazon

(affil links)

I tried the sodium bicarbonate, water and aluminum foil. It did not work. What am I doing wrong?

I too tried the aluminum, baking soda and water effect with grand results; what I did was boil the water, and the coins came out "clean as a whistle".

The Dale Woika tarnished silver cleaning method works great!

My wife had some very tarnished silver (probably 40 - 50 years worth) that she got after her mother passed away. We lined a bucket with foil, heated about 3 to 4 gallons of very hot boiling water and dumped in lots of good old baking soda. It was amazing, we dipped the silver in the mixture and it did a great job of getting most of the tarnish cleaned. We cleaned about 30 pieces.

Hagerty Silver Polish

on eBay or

Amazon

(affil links)

There were some spots that didn't come off completely and it didn't clean some of the decorative small groves on the silver pieces but we were able to get the bulk cleaned very well.

After each piece was done, there was a baking soda coating/film left on, that was easily cleaned with silver polish. This also cleaned most of the spots and groves and sure made the silver look like new again.

I think the key is 'boiling water and lots of baking soda - we used about two and a half boxes - a few spoon fulls doesn't cut it.

Thanks for the idea - it really works and is environmentally safe.

A. The trick is to use washing soda ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] , not baking soda. It works well with the aluminum plate I bought at a boat show a few years ago. Adding foil to the bottom of the glass container, then the plate, then the soda, then boiling hot water works!

A. I was searching the web trying to find a company that sells the metal plate that cleans silver (also used, I'm told, by museums). Someone else had posted a question on the internet site I was looking at asking if anyone knew where to buy one. I had bought one at the Texas State Fair a year ago, but unfortunately had lost it when I moved. I had hoped to buy one on the internet, but since I couldn't find the web site in my search and October 20th was the last day for the Texas State Fair I rushed to the fair and bought another one. For anyone interested in buying one a URL is www.cleaningplate.com ⇩.

Ed. note: That URL is currently only a link farm. We suggest that readers not visit it because hackers sometimes buy up old URLs.

A. You can do just as well with Aluminium flashing material sold at most building supply companies. It is thin enough to cut with heavy shears or tin snips. I see a lot of the plates in thrift stores.

A. Home-made Silver Dip: Put some hot water in an aluminium pan, some water softener powder and salt. Dissolve the ingredients before dipping silver. Tarnish will dissolve immediately. Dip silver in cool water to rinse off solution when done. No need for polishing.

I do not know the exact proportions of each ingredient, you might have to try a few times before you get it right, but when you do the results are amazing. Will remove tarnish from even the most intricate areas of silver. You can mix as much or little solution as necessary for larger or smaller pieces.

A. Tarn-X tarnish remover ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] is the brand of instant, thiourea type, silver tarnish remover that I see everywhere.

A. You don't necessarily "have to", Caitlin, but almost all chemical reactions occur much faster at higher temperatures because of much higher ion mobility. Further, the only portion of the washing soda which aids in the process is the part that is dissolved, and you can dissolve more into the water at high temperature than at low temperature.
Good luck.

My husband and I had seen someone on a talk show cleaning silver with the water softener, aluminum pie plate, salt and hot water. We didn't have everything necessary and soaked the silver in warm water and ammonia. Nothing much happened. Then I found this site. We put aluminum foil in the bottom of the sink. Added salt and then grabbed some dryer sheets. The results were fantastic.

Ed. note: Happy it worked well, Helen!

Calgon water softener

on eBay or

Amazon

(affil links)

A. The reason this works for only some people is hard water; you need to use equal parts Calgon water softener, from any grocery store, and same amount of it as the amount of Baking soda, like, 1/4 cup of each with the warm water.

It works real quick and sweet, only problem is Calgon is in a BIG box and costs like 10 bucks, but well worth it.

The hard minerals block the chemical action, you need soft water.

This is from a professional Jeweler. Good luck.

A. I found a precious metals cleaning plate and activator on skymall.com ⇩. Product number is 65593J

Ed. update: Sorry, no longer available on that site.

I want to thank everyone who has posted here; all the information has been extremely helpful. I'm an American residing in the coastal regions of Central Queensland, Australia. The weather here is quite humid, as I reside at the lower end of the Tropics. Much of my silver jewelry has become tarnished and regular polishes/cleaners available here were not doing the trick. So, I tried the aluminium, bicarbonate soda & boiling water, as suggested on this post, and it worked wonders. I only had to polish a few pieces that had tarnished very badly (large black sports) due to the salt air & humid temperatures. I will definitely be using this cleaning method again, as it is convenient, inexpensive and natural (no chemicals or abrasives involved).

Thank you everyone!

A. Hi Jennifer.

I doubt that it's an actual problem, but you are correct that silver chloride is an insoluble salt such that under certain conditions salt could theoretically precipitate out.

Luck & Regards,


Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Yep, it's getting long & ragged, but it can only be partially summed up, Debbie. Getting everyone on the internet to agree is harder than herding cats :-)

What can certainly be said from general science principles is that the process can't work without contact with the aluminum, and that boiling water will be faster & more effective than cooler water. But some readers have found warm water just fine; some readers insist that baking soda works fine while others say the process only works with washing soda ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] , and some says you need water softener if your water is hard.

But if it didn't work for you, the probabilities are that either your silver was not reliably in good contact with the aluminum, or your silver has an organic clearcoat on it.

I finally found the combination of products to dip silver
I have silverware that is so time consuming to clean, and I remember watching a show on 13 several years ago . If you combine in a pot silver foil on the bottom several tablespoon of salt and a large amount of water softener it really works I have clean silverware to prove it.
I can't give the exact amount of water softener but if you keep dipping and it doesn't work add more

I hope this helps

A. Ted Mooney is partially right: Particles move faster at higher temperature (temperature is the average amount of kinetic energy in a substance). Faster particles mean more particle collisions per unit time. More particle collisions per unit time mean faster dissolution, reaction, and ion mobility.

Also, every reader should bear in mind that silver polishing cloths and silver cleaning dips remove silver from the object being cleaned: polishing cloths rub away the silver sulfide and some metallic silver. Commercial dips dissolve away silver sulfide. While only a small amount may be removed each dip, since silver will tarnish repeatedly, every time you dip tarnished silver, you will lose more and more silver (as the sulfide salt) to the dip.

The battery and aluminum foil methods described above reverse the silver sulfide formation, restoring tarnish to metallic silver WITHOUT removing any silver

To Jennifer P from Vancouver, the salt allows for electrons to flow easily through the solution, completing the electrical circuit needed for any electrochemical reaction such as this.

To everybody who had trouble with the aluminum foil method, make sure that a) the water is warm or hot, b) the silver item MUST be in contact with the foil, c) salt and water softener need to be added (see other posts above).
If it still looks a little tarnished or yellowish afterwards, try buffing with a soft cloth, as there may be bits of aluminum sulfide on your silver that will easily wipe off. Aluminum sulfide will either form on the aluminum foil or form flakes in the water and may coat the object but should be removable.

I found the following website, which is pretty useful:
http://www.darylscience.com/Demos/Silver.html ⇩

David
Ph.D. candidate in chemistry, University of Michigan

Ed. update Jan. 2025: The above link now goes to a questionable gambling site! Thankfully, the Internet Archive preserved a copy here
Please consider a donation to The Internet Archive. We discourage links because it is impossible to maintain them across 60,000 pages going back 35 years, and old links are gold to hackers because legitimate sites send unsuspecting readers to them.

A. Someone said you cannot buy powdered Spic and Span anymore. YOU CAN! Try your local hardware store. NOT a Big Box store, but a local old time hardware store like Ace or True Value, or independent. I buy it all the time at a neighborhood hardware store in my city.

A. Hi Joyce.

Somewhere I heard that a good solution for large items like your wine cooler is to ball up a wad of aluminum foil and dip it in a strong solution and use it as a scrubber (try it on the bottom or other inconspicuous place to make sure the foil doesn't scratch your wine cooler).

You have not "gone round the bend" regarding Soilax. It was a very popular product but it was a l-o-n-g time ago  🙂

Soilax memorabilia on eBay (affil link)

Luck & Regards,


Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

I had been looking for something to clean my "intricate" silver ... and had not wanted to pay for what seemed to be so many high priced cleaners that did not do a good job. I chanced upon your website and mixed up a batch of the aluminum foil, boiling water, baking soda, salt, and added a dryer sheet for good measure since we live in Florida where the water is so darn hard.

My silver is now so shiny that I almost need my sunglasses inside the house to look at it! Thank you, thank you, thank you. I will never clean silver any other way again!

A. Replace the water if it's black, Rebecca. You should be able to see the process working. Maybe the silver is not in intimate contact with the aluminum anymore? The "solution" is just a conductive salt, it's the aluminum that does the magic. If you have hard water you already know it, so I wouldn't worry too much about water softness . Try again with good contact and very hot water with washing soda ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] . If you continue to meet no success, I'd guess somebody lacquered the tarnished silver -- in which case try lacquer thinner ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] Warning! highly flammable! to remove it.

A. Sorry Alan, but Dale hasn't been back in years.
I don't doubt that manufacturers of cleaning plates hold some patents; the question is how important those patents are to the central issue. I have an old cleaning plate that I inherited and my personal opinion is that it seems no more effective than aluminum foil.

The tarnish on silver is apparently mainly a sulfide, whereas the tarnish on brass and copper is probably mainly an oxide, but I think pretty much the same chemistry should work to at least some degree for brass or copper -- and probably gold if it is low enough carat to tarnish in the first place. I suppose the plate you saw could have been zinc; but zinc alloys should perform pretty much the same way as aluminum.

Anything can be improved upon and perfected, so I don't absolutely rule out that those cleaning plates could be slightly quicker or more convenient in certain ways. But for my small & crowded house the greatest convenience is not having to store something away and find it; so for me, aluminum foil is the winner.

The conductive solution is probably not the principal issue -- Calgon, baking soda [in bulk on eBay or Amazon [affil links] , washing soda ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] , and Spic and Span ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] have all been reported to work. The latter seemed to be quickest to me (maybe because it's a strong detergent for cleaning and wetting, as well as a conductor, but it was harder on the hands.

A. I've had one of those cleaning plates for years, which I use regularly on a collection of silver musical instruments. I have no idea what the 'brand name' is, but somewhere I got the idea it was primarily zinc, although on closer inspection now it does just look like aluminum. Instructions that came with it said to use washing soda ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] - good to know baking soda works also, since the washing soda can be hard to find. I'll also be trying the aluminum foil - the plate only draws tarnish within about a foot or so of it's contact point, which can be a pain on larger instruments like tubas and sousaphones!

Thanks

Thanks, Brian! Although sodium carbonate is not good for aluminum because it's a medium strength alkali, and such materials do slowly attack aluminum (don't put aluminum items in the dishwasher), it's the silver we're worried about attacking not whether the aluminum foil is slowly damaged. Some smelly sulfides are probably released, but I doubt that anything really hazardous will be released from exposing aluminum & tarnished silver to sodium carbonate. And I don't see how a different cleaning material can remove the sulfides without generating similar sulfide byproducts.

Patsy S and Brian S commented on the smell of the solution and possible toxic vapours:

Dale Woika provided the chemistry in the second post on this thread as 2Al(s) + 3Ag2S(s) + 6H2O -> 6Ag(s) + 2Al2(OH)3(s) + 3H2S(aq)

The smell comes from the production of H2S or hydrogen sulfide in solution which is toxic as a gas or in high concentrations. Hydrogen sulfide gives off the classic rotten eggs smell that people associate with sulfur. So partly for aesthetics and partly for safety, it's best to do your silver dipping outdoors or in a well-ventilated area and avoid inhaling any vapours.

Hi Jim. Good point, thanks! I have hardly or not at all noted a hydrogen sulfide smell ... but I suppose if someone is doing a whole bunch of silver that it very heavily tarnished with sulfides it would generate more H2S, so it might be significant.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

www.qwicksilver.co.uk/ sells the plates you are all talking about. I bought one and used it for the first time yesterday. I have a large collection of copper and brass that tarnishes over time. I usually clean them once or twice a year but it's one of those jobs that I hate to do as it takes so long. So I usually do it over the course of a week.
I did a bit of research and found a link to 'Qwicksilver' What used to take me two to three days of continuous rubbing took 2 hours! The results were unbelievable. The tarnish literally floats off and a quick dip in hot sudsy water after then a rub with a drying towel is all you need. Reading the previous posts I guess that an aluminium saucepan would do the job just as well.
The trick is.
1) Use soft water
2) Add 1 tablespoon of washing soda ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] per litre of water used.
3) Add the water to the pan, keep it on the hob until the water boils, then add the soda. Keep the water just on the boil and add the pieces to be cleaned. Leave in the solution for 30 seconds and remove.
Hey Presto! Clean.
Then just wash off the soda residue with hot soapy water and dry.

A. I had used a metal plate with holes to clean my silver items for a long time, and as I could not find it I searched the Internet & came to this page. I read Dale Woika's comments and tried a spoonful of washing soda ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] for every litre of boiling water in an aluminum cooking pot which I previously cleaned with 00 steel wool ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] , as Dale advised, and it worked wonders. I dipped my silver forks, which had their tips quite dirty, and some silver bread plates and now they look really nice.
It certainly is cheaper than buying the metal plate!
Thank you, Dale!

A. I looked this up on several websites & this is what I ended up with. I took a kitchen sink full of HOT water, a handful of Kosher salt, about half a palm full of baking soda & the aluminum foil. I did have to wrap the foil gently around one of my goblets that was black/blue in color. After about 20 minutes & a slightly stinky smell they were looking much better. However, before I rinsed in warm water, I did a trick that a jeweler taught me years ago. (This is to finish the hard to get parts). Take a SOFT toothbrush & Crest or Colgate toothpaste & clean the silver, then rinse. You can do the toothpaste trick alone, but takes longer. So I suggest the aluminum, hot water, B.S., & salt, then finishing hard to get places with the toothpaste. My black & gold looking goblets are silver again!   :)

A. Earlier Wilma asked, "What side of aluminum foil should be placed up?"

Wilma, except for their appearance, both sides of aluminum foil are identical. The shiny and dull appearance comes from the final step in the foil's manufacture. This involves two sheets of approximately .008" thick foil placed on top of each other and run through a large set of rollers set to a clearance of only .008". The result is the final product with each sheet measuring .004". The sides of each sheet that the pair of rollers pressed against comes out shiny and the sides of the sheets that were against each other will be the dull sides.

Thanks so much Dale! It just took me two hours to polish 3 pieces of silver but after I saw your post I decided to try it and whalah! I soaked one of my candelabras for 15 minutes and it came out shining. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I'm ready for a dinner party. :-)

I was very skeptical about trying the aluminum foil and baking soda to remove the tarnish off of my silver ring. After successfully trying this method, I would recommend it over and over again! I was very pleasantly surprised! All of the tarnish came off of my ring and all I had to do was grab an old cotton rag and polish it back to a high shine. Thank you for saving me time and $$$$ !

A. To the person that had the film left after this cleaning process. I did too. After removing my silver from the foil, salt, baking soda, and hot water mixture I rinse quickly in water and then swished the silver in a mixture of water and a little white vinegar ⇦in bulk on eBay or Amazon [affil links] . Then I rinsed again with water. Worked perfect to remove the tarnish and the residual film.

Wow I found a silver hairbrush of my mother's (she has been dead for 30 years) It was as black as the ace of spades. Well I tried the foil, salt and baking soda (Bi-Carb) admittedly I had to immerse it twice but what silver. I was amazed. No more silver polishes for me.
Thanks for the info

Thank you all, my gold and silver plated coins have come up a treat...

I followed the bicarbonate of soda, aluminium foil and boiling water - and watched the tarnish fall off, amazing!

I just finished completely cleaning ALL our silverware (8 settings) is about 15 minutes. In a plastic tub, about 12" square and 5" deep, layered on the bottom with aluminum foil, I sprinkled 2 or 3 tablespoons of washing soda ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] . Put about 1/3 of the silverware into the tub and followed with a kettle of boiling water. The silver became almost instantly clean! Fished it out and rinsed it, then dumped in the next third and again with the last third with same result The aluminum is higher on the electromotive scale and the silver sulfide (the tarnish) is converted back to pure silver. Unlike with manual polishing, no silver is lost!

Thank you, Dale! I had several pairs of intricate silver earrings that had tarnished and would be very energy- and time-intensive to clean. I took a mixing bowl, poured boiling water then poured in baking soda, put in the foil and earrings and - voila It was like magic! Thank you for this fast, easy, non-toxic and fun way to clean silver! You ROCK!

A. Alisa Have you tried dipping the dishes in a mixture of 50/50 vinegar to water?

This works well, but I did use more baking soda (approx. 1/4 cup) and as my silver pieces -- bowls, trays, etc. were quite tarnished, it required quite a bit longer than 'instant' removal; more of a bath or a soaking -- so just be patient! It does work.

I had used White King's Water Softener for years and now it is impossible to find as I think Front Loading machines have put it out of business.

I had a beloved Silver and Sapphire ring that I wore in our Hot Tub - which uses Bromine. next thing I know, I've got Silver Bromide tarnish all over it pretty bad - totally DARK GREY and FOGGY. Note to self, take off rings before going in hot tub. Silver Bromide the stuff we used to make photo sensitive Black and white photo paper on...I digress.

So I was OVERJOYED when I found Ted's Article referencing #4785 saying I could use 1T Baking Soda + 1t Salt + Aluminum Foil (Which causes the reaction) and Hot and I used boiling water. AND I don't have to buy anything!

I put the foil over a soup bowl, added the baking soda, salt and 1 cup boiling water. Dropped my ring in and stirred it about with a wooden chopstick took it out after like 30 seconds, and much cleaner but not totally to my liking yet. left it in for 2 minutes, rinsed in boiling water and VOILA! Totally beautiful.
No harsh chemicals lol it's FOOD GRADE! Just pour it down the sink and all done.

Ted and Finishing.com YOU ROCK! Been looking for this solution for like 3 months now! I sooo missed my ring!

Hugs TED!

-Stefanie

Thanks, Stefanie! Actually, the aluminum foil wasn't my idea. Although, yes, it's my website, and I'm up for any hugs I can get :-)   -- Ted

Hi Kate. Thanks.

I'm betting your grandmother taught you some cooking. Because, way back when, people actually did use tin foil; but aluminum foil became available cheaper, and supplanted it. People old enough to have used real tin foil tended to continue calling the new fangled stuff "tin foil" and passed the phrase on to the next generations :-)

Regards,

Thanks, Doug. Good ideas! But washing soda ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] is actually sodium carbonate. The "bi" in bicarbonate doesn't mean "two", it indicates hydrogen in the compound.

Baking soda is NaHCO3, washing soda is Na2CO3.

Regards,

A. Hi Gilda. washing soda ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] is a bit more alkaline, and consequently it is both a better cleaner and more conductive -- but lots of people have had success with baking soda too. Neither washing soda nor baking soda will hurt silver.

Regards,

A. Hi Doug. Even if all the tarnish has been removed, you won't have much shine if the surface is not extremely smooth. At this point it needs polishing to mechanically smooth it. The plating is thin, so you can't overdo it, but a soft buffing wheel for a battery-operated drill, and a dab of silver polish should do it.

Regards,

A. Hi Elizabeth. Sulfur is the primary cause of this blackening, not the cure. The dark area is probably just where the bracelet was tightly touching the aluminum with no room to breathe. After removing as much tarnish (of any color) as you can by lying the bracelet on the aluminum foil in a non-metal container, and pouring a hot mixture of water and the "salt" of your choice onto it; and possibly flipping the bracelet over, then remove any remaining spots (of any color) with silver polish. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi Marie. It seems hard to believe that a silver plated spoon could be 60 years old without ever having previously required a tarnish-removal treatment. So what exactly do you mean when you say you "cannot get it off"? Please describe what you tried. Thanks!

Regards,

Washing Soda

on eBay or

Amazon

(affil links)

A. I don't know why people keep talking about "washing soda ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] ". Many years ago it was a common household item, but now it is very hard for most people to find locally, at least in the parts of the USA with which I'm familiar.

The good news is that sodium carbonate (which is what washing soda really is) is very commonly available in places that sell swimming pool supplies. It's used to raise the pH level of the water. Look for products called "pH booster", "alkalinity booster", or something similar, and read the labels. Many of them are nothing more than sodium carbonate.

If all else fails, you can turn baking soda into washing soda at home by (how's this for irony...) baking it. Pour it onto a cookie sheet and bake it at 400 °F (200 °C) for about half an hour.

A. Washing soda ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] is sodium carbonate, and Baking Soda is sodium bicarbonate.
Washing Soda is a stronger base than Baking Soda.
The good news is Washing Soda can be made from Baking Soda by simply heating it to drive off a CO2 molecule.
If you watch carefully, there is a very slight visual change in the consistency of the powder when it converts, it appears slightly finer grained and may flow easier.

yup I made the mistake of soaking in a sulfur hot spring with my silver ring. It turned black. The foil baking soda method worked with a few tweaks. I boiled just enough water in a small saucepan to cover the ring. I removed the pot from the stove and placed a square of foil in the pan - it floated until I dropped my heavy ring onto it. I then dumped about three or four tablespoons of baking soda directly onto the ring. Each dose was satisfyingly bubbly. It took a couple of minutes to see results. I ended up spinning and flipping my wide band ring to get as much surface in contact with the foil as possible. I then removed the ring and washed it with an all natural dish detergent and scrubbed lightly with an old soft toothbrush. I topped it off with some silver polish. Clean as a whistle.

A. Hello Margaret McLane!

Remove it from what, exactly...?

Just wondering, why use baking soda or even washing soda rather than plain table salt (NaCl)? I've never heard of using, nor have I ever used, anything else.

Actually, I just get a few cheapo disposable aluminum pie pans, put the table salt and warm water into those, and skip the foil. As long as the item to be cleaned is in contact with the aluminum, even minimally, it works great. All that's left is mucky aluminum, and I still throw it into the recycle bin, since it gets cleaned up by the recycling place...

P.S. Feb. 14: As far as I know, the object being cleaned must be in contact with the aluminum. It can just be a small spot, though.

A. The reason that the process isn't working for some posters is because you need to use sodium carbonate (washing soda ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] ), instead of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). Washing soda has a slightly different chemical makeup that will react better with the aluminum to remove the sulfur tarnish and re-deposit the silver ions back onto the silver item. Also, make sure the silver item touches the aluminum somewhere to complete the electrolytic circuit.

A. FYI ... You can make washing soda out of baking soda [in bulk on eBay or Amazon [affil links] with your oven and a cookie sheet. Look it up for instructions.