Hi My local Lidl ( for our American cousins: German supermaket Franchise) is selling Ultrasonic Cleaners for a huge discount. I have alot of silver and Brass and other metal ware, some of it Antique. I was wondering is this a viable means to clean silver and Brass, I did read somewhere that it might effect the patina of certain Antique silver, and you must use distilled water to avoid hardwater that can in effect tarnish the silver, and I kind of got the impression that the traditional soda and cloth is best approach for antiques, but the brass and silver cutlery and some other basic plated silver would be good to have cleaned using this device. It would save me so much time, as it only takes 30 seconds in this device. Any have an experience with these cleaners, would you recommend. Are some better than others. Under £20 -
I use mine for cleaning jewellery but only on items I am very sure about. It’s a godsend for dirty earrings, silver ones seem to come out just fine. I did kill some nice beads though so I don’t use it on anything vintage or with significant value. Sorry that doesn’t really answer your question at all does it!.
Hi KSW, Yes it does. I have alot of plated silver, that i would prefer to clean in this. Do you soap and water clean first and then put them in the Ultra sonic. How long do you leave them there? If you leave for over 1 minute or an extended time, does it cause the silver to tarnish. It is a very fussy machine. Sensitive to certain adhesives and materials, it will turn silver dark if there is too much sulfur in the tap water.
I only use it on solid silver earrings. I’ve not tried with plated as unless they are special I don’t bother cleaning them, just put them in the next job lot to sell!. If they were special then I wouldn’t risk them. We live on the Cotswolds in the UK and have VERY hard water. Everything scales up! That said, I use tap water in the ultrasonic cleaner, maybe I should use distilled!? I accidentally left some solid silver earring backs in the water for 24 hours after cleaning as I forgot about them . They were quite tarnished when I got them out but polished up ok. I wouldn’t put anything in held together with adhesive as it’s likely to loosen it. Definitely no vintage stuff with closed back rhinestones or pearls.
Yes, I think i will get it, it is obviously not the best on the market, but if i can just dump a lot of brass or silver in there, it would be great, I occasionally get a little lots of silver in auction when i am looking at porcelain and this ultra sonic might be a perfect solution. I might even sell them off, offset the cost and save up for some good asian porcelain. Polished silver sells higher than tarnished silver At least that's my theory or break even as Porcelain is my main desire but i always end up with some silver and brass. I am not very good at Jewellery. It is such another big learning curve.
An alternative would be to use foaming jewellery cream and then a silver cloth which is my preferred method for delicate or more valuable items.
