Sulfur Water damage to silver jewelry

by Tanya
(Massena, NY)

My son has a sulfur water well, and my silver jewelry gets very tarnished if I forget to remove it before doing the dishes at his house. I have tried to clean my jewelry in my tumbler using Dawn (regular)dish detergent, and have not had any success.............what am I doing wrong? I am wondering if I should somehow get the sulfur off my silver before tumbling?

Stacy's Answer:

You're not doing anything wrong Tanya, just using the wrong technique. Sometimes tumbling a heavily oxidized piece will just make it shiny and black. Try using a silver polishing cloth like a Sunshine Polishing cloth from Rio Grande or a Svelte cloth and buff the silver back to a bright silver finish by hand.

Be sure that you use a cloth the has a chemical in it (the above do) for removing tarnish and adding a protective tarnish-resistant barrier. A plain piece of soft cloth will do nothing but give you a workout while removing fingerprints! LOL