Thread: Where can I get jewelry professionally cleaned?

The silver chain I have worn for the past decade is very dark these days. I have no desire to put it in a glass of vinegar or cola or any of that bullshit fuckwit nonsense and, particularly on the inside, it's black.

The only thing that worked for it in the past was being massaged with pure sand and the magical waters of Lake Birabeen on Fraser Island which is obviously too far to get the job done.

I did take it to a jewelry shop last year but they shook their head and said 'Whoa, no no' as they do when they can't do the simplest of tasks, a bit like when a taxi stops for you in Phrom Phong but when you say you want to go to Mueng Thong Thani he reacts with the kind of surprise and disapproval you would expect had you asked him to assassinate Carabao.

Anyway, my chain looks shit and it's been everywhere with me, from Fiji to the Isle Of Wight - so suggestions welcome. Please don't condemn be for assuming that a jewelers might be the sensible place to get a cheap silver chain cleaned, I realize it was daft of me.

vinegar and lemon juice scrubbed in with an old toothbrush works a treat, dont know why you are so against using it.

^That's what the Missus does. Fast and easy. And effective. Do it yourself.

Originally Posted by The Gentleman Scamp

cheap silver chain cleaned

key word.

Respect to your suggestions, but I have tried both and it gets most of the muck off after a lot of hard work, and I have plenty of spare toothbrushes, even old electric ones. But this needs proper chemicals and stuff, I don't have time to fart about with lemon juice and vinegar and it won't come up as good as new, it will just be less dirty.

I am willing to pay money for a cleaning service, the same as I am to have a long sleeve shirt made short sleeve, or my trousers dry cleaned.

Originally Posted by Sir Wilson

Originally Posted by The Gentleman Scamp

cheap silver chain cleaned

key word.

I said 'cheap' to eliminate as many posters as possible who thought I may be boasting about the fact I had a silver chain and that it might be the real reason for starting this post. What I mean is that it wasn't expensive, expensive as in over 5,000 baht. But it's never given me a rash unlike that mod ring what Karen Cresswell bought me in 1992.

I don't have time to fart about with lemon juice and vinegar and it won't come up as good as new,

you dont have to "fart about" at all, leave it to soak overnight and then scrub it a bit in the morning. how busy can you be that you dont have the time?

So there's no place I can go to that will do it for me?

I told you Tax, I've tried that before and it got it fairly clean, but I don't want it fairly clean, or nearly clean - I want it really clean, as in professionally clean. As good as the sand of that lake in Fraser Island did, it was so clean it had been reborn.

Lemon juice will just do an okay job, it will simply look a bit better than it does now. It will look like it's a couple of years old and not nine, I know because I've tried all of those old wives tales, including putting it inside a small pumpkin and microwaving it.

Aluminium foil and baking soda. Three top returns from google:


How to Clean Tarnished Silver Jewelry

How to Clean Silver Jewelry at Home | eHow.com

Cleaning Silver Jewelry

If you insist on not doing it yourself, try another jewelry store. My wife has lots of her jewelry cleaned at a jewelry store each time we make our annual trip to Bangkok. I'm sure you can find a place to do it. My wife has very little silver, so I can't comment directly on that, but perhaps you should look for a shop which sells primarily silver, vice gold.

The phosporic acid in coke is damn good for that sort of stuff- it removes the patina from relatively inert metals very well (other metals be careful, it will corrode them). Damn sight better than drinking the crap.

If you want a more benign agent, use tea- the tannins achieve the same trick (albeit slower) and you can always squeeze in lemon juice for acidity.

Thats all I ever did with my gold Rollie, and it worked just fine.

The easist/ least messy way to clean silver is to buy a polishing cloth. They sell them in all of the silver shops in koah Sarn road etc.

They are some kind of felt with a cleaning chemical already in the cloth somehow.

Shouldn't be more than 100bht.

I told you Tax, I've tried that before and it got it fairly clean, but I don't want it fairly clean, or nearly clean - I want it really clean, as in professionally clean. As good as the sand of that lake in Fraser Island did, it was so clean it had been reborn.

in that case take it to a jewellers and ask them to put it in their ultrasonic bath for 5 minutes, that will remove all the caked on bodily exudate that has dried out and accreted into the nooks and crannies of the links.


....... and then, and only then, take it home and clean it with vinegar and a fucking toothbrush.

Overnight in a dish with a mixture of coca cola (i was going to say coke, but thought otherwise) washing up liquid or even washing machine liquid, rince and then get scrubbing with the old tooth brush.

I think you are just being lazy. It takes time but usually comes up all bright and shiny.

Or get some of that Cillit Bang cleaning product, they put old coins in the stuff in the ads and they always come back all new and shiny. And you can clean the bath with the stuff afterwards.

Or, bicarbonate of soda and the faithfull old toothbrush. Strange, I always wondered why i always keep old toothbrushes...

Ok, let's do it!

You want before and after pics or what?

Yawn.