what happens to silver in VINEGAR???

What happens when you soak silver in vinegar? I’ve heard of a lot of people using vinegar to clean silver, but I couldn’t find a lot of videos or information online. So I decided to just go ahead and try it and see if it would clean the corrosion from some old junk silver coins. I was surprised with the result.
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Instead of removing the oxidation, it aggressively oxidized the silver. There are other methods to clean silver, for instance, baking soda, hot water, and aluminum foil. I was surprised that this message did not work as well as I thought it would. I found the best way to clean silver was toothpaste and a toothbrush. Amazing how you can start off thinking you have the best method and through experimentation find something completely different. Hope you find this video useful.

[@roryross3878]

Thanks for the vinegar test. Recognize that any scrubbing like the toothpaste or even scrubbing with baking soda will create micro-scratches that will damage the coin.

[@roryross3878]

@@PlaywithDaisy So sorry to hear that! thanks for sharing though!

[@fareshajjar1208]

Any kind of cleaning makes coins far less valuable. No collector wants a coin that has been cleaned.

[@nenagonzales8790]

Videos like this one should be the very first one you see anywhere! Thank you for your video......although it would have saved me time and money in the past.😢

[@michaelbrummel6710]

I ain't never tried removing tarnished silver coins with vinegar. But when I soaked my silver Morgan and Peace dollars for about 15 minutes in the vinegar it successfully removed the green patina tint that had developed over a number of years on the coins without darkening the surface at all. The fact that I dip them in vinegar was undetectable.

[@spicydamesvintagejewelryth2155]

Wow! Thank you!!!! I was going clean my jewelry with vinegar. You just saved my jewelry! Very cool video I wasn't expecting that at all!

[@EspenFrafalne]

I already had my silver chain in vinegar when searching for this, lol! Only 3-4 minutes though, so didnt notice much difference. I kinda think silver looks better when tarnished a bit anyway though, but dont want it all black, lol!

[@cathymiller3086]

Add baking soda, use an aluminum pan, or line a pan with aluminum foil

[@kennethturk7629]

Try lime juice with some salt in it , heat up the silver or gold with a tourch not to much and drop it in . I was a jewler for 10years that's how they cleaned metal in Belize cheap and very effective

[@TobaccoRowe1960]

Valve grinding compound from a auto parts store

[@kennethturk7629]

Have to try it

[@URTRAVEL_MD]

I heard that vinegar whiten and helps remove tarnish on silver but before doing it I tried looking at the web and here on youtube to see if anyone can show me evidently if it works and seeing your vid, I disregarded the vinegar thingy and tried the toothpaste with a toothbrush and damn it works like magic! Hands up to you bruh!!!

[@oash6041]

Baking soda works

[@TobaccoRowe1960]

if you think that works try valve grinding compound from the auto parts store

[@shravyashetty3491]

Same... This video saved both my silver rings and my spontaneous ass

[@MrDAHSIN]

I found vinegar works brilliantly on corroded silver. I Got a bag of old Netherlands East Indies .720 silver guilders from the 30s and early 40s that were completely corroded with severe green and brown chunks of corrosion. I paid melt for them so I wasn't concerned about their numismatic value per-se. Anyway, I started with a quick wash in warm water with some dish soap and a scrub to remove loose dirt and grime. Initially I actually tried the baking soda method but found that only worked with removing dirt and tarnish, while having little discernable effect on the corrosion. I also found baking soda to be severely abrasive leading to quite prominent and unsightly scratching. As such I went back to the drawing board and found a video on using vinegar. I got a cheap bottle of white vinegar and a dropped a few of the coins in a small tub of the stuff to observe the effects. Within 15 minutes the vinegar started taking on a greenish tint. After a couple of hours, nearly half of the better condition coins were perfectly clean, It took about 18 hours of soaking, with a periodic scrub using a soft tooth brush, along with some light picking at at heavy chunks of corrosion with a dental pick and bamboo skewers, but even the worst examples came perfectly clean. I'm not sure why your coins tarnished so badly in vinegar as mine didn't tarnish at all and were brighter and shinier even than when I first washed. Maybe it was the higher silver content of your US Constitutional sliver. I've also seen people post videos getting good results using peroxide but haven't tried that yet. Perhaps the biggest lesson is that every coin and every situation is different so you should probably do some tests with different methods first, while being careful not to do any further damage. While it may be junk silver, ugly corroded and dirty silver will put their silver value into question even as their condition has pretty much already destroyed their numismatic value anyway.

[@DirtyPlumbus]

It did exactly what I expected, just took longer then I expected. Thanks for the verification. I'm off to tone down the finish on some silver jewelry.

[@Silverhands]

Hahaha.

[@jazziejan5506]

I used aluminum foil hot water and baking soda. You will smell the tarnish in minutes. Will not hurt the silver.

[@neilwaters1151]

Add baking soda leave for a few minutes then rinse with a sponge pad soaked in soapy water

[@jeffjohnson1302]

Hey I have cleaned crappy looking silver coins for years....vinegar does work but you have to leave it for a few minutes then wipe it off with a cheese cloth. The longer you leave it in vinegar the darker it will be. Also a cheaper method is warm water, vinegar (50/50 mix) with salt and leave it in for a few minutes at a time and then cheesecloth to wipe it down.

[@one959]

A splash of vinegar in water before polishing silverware was how I was taught to do the cutlery when I worked in the kitchen of an Italian restaurant years ago.

[@jamesharalson1317]

Put enough Acetone in a bowl enough to cover the coin. About 5 minutes and take it out. Put coin is a bowl of distilled water, Take it out and put in another bowl of distilled water. Take coin out and gently blot dry with a clean soft towel. Put coin on another soft towel to air dry turning occasionally. Careful with the Acetone not to breath in the fumes. I had some newer uncirculated silver that was getting a stained look. Cleaned them this way, sent to PCGS for grading and they didn't know they were cleaned. All coins came back graded mint state 1 was graded mint state 70, 3 were mint state 69. They were all Silver Eagles. I never rubbed the coins, the Acetone does the work.

[@joshkarr1832]

Thank you. I am trying this method tonight

[@johnglenn7941]

Using baking soda and that brush is one of the fastest ways to make your coins worthless. That brush leaves minute scratches that a coin dealer can see with his loop, magnifying glass, and that makes the coin worth about face value.

[@TobaccoRowe1960]

Not applicable to coins that have been in circulation.

[@TobaccoRowe1960]

@Spice God after finishing with a fine grinding compound use something like this to restore the surface. Red Rouge Polishing Compound. This red polishing compound is known as a Red Rouge or Jewelers rouge that is originally made for the Jewelry trade. Used by professionals, you too can now buff your soft, fine, and precious metals to bring out their lustrous finish. This buffing compound can polish gold, silver, platinum, and brass.

[@veew9500]

Wow, thanks for sharing... I was thinking about using vinegar to clean my silver but I thought I check to see how it works. God is so good. He gave me wisdom and this video to help. Thanks again.🕊

[@ratlips4363]

If you place some aluminum foil into the container with the vinegar, you'll clean up the silver immediately

[@OverlandOne]

Yes, even add a little baking soda. I saw that on Mr. Wizard a long time ago. It is electrolysis and the tarnish travels right to the foil and off the silver. You are correct.

[@safa6444]

@@OverlandOne can we do this on cheap jewelleries too?

[@OverlandOne]

@@safa6444 You would have to do a test area because, depending on the metals used in the cheap stuff, this might attack them too aggressively. Silver can handle it, not sure about other alloys and mixtures.

[@safa6444]

@@OverlandOne okii thanks ☺

[@GreatSageCorban]

the least destructive I've found is using electro chemical (20grams table salt, 10 grams baking soda, hot or boiling water with aluminum, or a battery and connecting both ends to the silver piece) to remove tarnish. Then boiling water with and sponge to try and remove any greasy deposits, dawn maybe helpful here too. The next step up would be toothpaste and baking soda.

[@theonlineanimal6009]

Dude. This helped find a huge flaw in my most recent experiments. Thank you.

[@Jeremya74]

What was the flaw???

[@matthewdavis9437]

​​@@Jeremya74 Probably experimenting on valuable coins. xD Vinegar tarnishes silver.

[@robk1310]

Warm vinegar with a teaspoon of salt cleans modern coins well. So does hot sauce. No joke. Try it.

[@gmoritz71last52]

"Copper Clad" implies that Copper is bonded over some other metal. The clad coin is two layers of cupronickel ( 75% copper and 25% nickel ), on a core of pure copper. The total composition of the coin is 8.33% nickel, with the remainder copper. ( see wiki page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter_(United_States_coin) ).

[@llawma2588]

Thank you for the experiment... Was trying to use vinegar to clean my girlfriend's silver rings 😅😅😅

[@abdallahsindi2787]

Clean it with toothpaste.. it will shine as it was when u bought it

[@majidqureshi100]

I accidentally soaked my wife silver chain with bleach. Literally it turn black now, I'm trying to fix my mistake watching this video. Hope it will work.

[@_Dennis2Society215]

@@majidqureshi100 Lmaooo 😭😭😭

[@DannyoRaiden]

Just use with bicarbonate, salt and vinager. Use a bowl with allufoil and boil hot water and voila. Dont fprget to rinse in warm water and after that wipe it with a microfibercloth and clean it good.

[@EAGLEHORDER]

do a video of cleaning the dark ones with toothpaste now that they are super dark ... lets see the results to that!

[@jessiecassio8349]

The toothbrush and paste is polishing it, the baking soda method removes only tarnish and leaves the dull areas looking dull

[@Packaroo]

Heat up the vinegar to the temperature of a cup of coffee, and add about half a teaspoon of salt, stir it up, drop the silver into it, after about 20 minutes or so, the oxide should come off, including any scale on the metal. Works for me.

[@Gabeyr3]

Instructions unclear the whole inside of my house is dark

[@mushroomkenai]

Thank you for this experiment. Very healpful for my jewelry cleaning

[@tlojewelrylove]

I'm surprised at your results. I'm not sure why you got the results you did but I make silver (and copper) jewelry and instead of buying commercial acids to clean off the fire scale from soldering, I use warm vinegar with salt and it amazing how well it cleans off the firescale from silver (and copper for that matter). After I remove my cleaned pieces, I either tumble it with steel shot and soapy water (blue Dawn dish soap) or brush with a brass brush and Dawn (soap acts as a lubricant) and it turns out beautiful and shiney. So again, I don't know what's happening there but I find it strange. LOL! Thanks for sharing and piquing my curiosity. 😄

[@The_Conqueeftador]

I do the same thing. This guy is a nut.

[@matthewmiller5288]

Kudos on a video that is straight to the point!

[@saraiortiz2280]

Thanks for testing all three and sharing... Making my life much easier... 😁🤗

[@pennsyltuckyden9823]

I use dawn dish washing liquid, cleans without the abrasive.

[@shayjenkins6641]

I already control bleach my own jeans. Which looks way better than any store. I'm trying to see if I can control tarnish silver coins today.

[@WhiteDragon689]

Cleaning silver with vinegar and salt. It is a mild type of pickle solution used by silversmiths.

[@akshida9741]

A girl friend of mine in high school used to shine her silver hoop earrings with lipstick lol it works wonders!

[@rochellele8804]

For copper coins or copper pans. Vinegar and salt. Lightly scrub. Rinse it with water.

[@Seeds-Of-The-Wayside]

If you set the coins in the aluminum pan and pour salt over them with the vinegar, they get shiny real quick

[@creationinspired200]

That is exactly the result i was looking for now to figure out how to do this on nickel

[@iLikeBhr]

Try covering the 90 percent coins with milk and let them sit for a couple hours until the milk gets sour.. then take them out, rinse with water and put into vinegar.. coins turn into a spectacular black color

[@jeffw1267]

If you want to make silver dark within a few seconds, soak it in hydrogen peroxide. The silver starts to bubble because it acts as a catalyst to break down the hydrogen peroxide quickly, and silver oxide quickly forms on the surface.

[@Josue-xd5ru]

Yes, I learned the hard way lol.

[@MrPurepecha87]

That’s cool I wanted to tarnish a coin, I want this old look 👍🏼

[@smitarajadhyaksha8656]

Very nice video . It was so nice to see the entire process

[@shaunwebb6406]

Ok but use the aluminum pan or sheet in your bowl Vinegar white Table salt Baking soda Swish and it’s fast! Leave to long the old silver can turn The coins pinkish so pay attention Rinse n wipe Works wonders on my coins found metal detecting at the beaches Thanks for your video!

[@frankorosz901]

When doing as experiment you do not change it by adding other objects. The copper and stainless steel (containing nickle) changed everything.

[@adriankucinski481]

Add salt to the baking soda. And be sure to touch them when in the aluminium pan.

[@XxskidudekidxX]

This is probably the funniest video I’ve ever seen on KZbin, man. Literally the last thing I was expecting to see was toothpaste being squirted onto a half dollar coin.

[@jaywholoveseveryone1721]

vinegar, just like air, bleach and alcohol will tarnish/blacken silver. I never use these when I have my sterling silver bracelets on or I just wear gloves that reach to my elbow. Thanks for this experiment. I was curious about reactions of less than 92.5 silver content and acids.

[@carolclement7864]

My grandmother used to use ciggarette ashes to polish silver...

[@08_crown_vic]

If they are worth nothing, can I buy a few?

[@JohnAdams-rm7zm]

Don’t forget the baking soda and foil ✊

[@vintageloverrich]

Wow, very informative & not what I expected! Thanks for this 😁

[@mammothworks]

Ok so if you have sterling silver jewelry or silver plated flatware you wanna clean: (Note do not clean jewelry this way that has patina or tarnish to shade designs, flowers, etc because you will lose that intentional tarnish shading..also DO NOT clean jewelry that have stones or jewels set with glue like pearl rings, jade glued into earring settings, etc with this method) 1) put a tea kettle or pot of water on boil 2) line a glass bowl or baking dish with aluminum foil (no waxed foil) that fits your items 3) place jewelry or silver item inside aluminum lined bowl 4) sprinkle a decent amount of baking soda over the jewelry 5) when water is at a boil, pour boiling water over the jewelry to cover 6) wait a few seconds, stir around jewelry in solution, then... PRESTO: Quick, no chemical, tarnish free silver... Don't know what the chemistry is but it works...old method my mother taught me a long time ago to clean jewelry and groups of sterling flatware quickly...no rags, no mystery cleaner or toothpaste scrubbing...

[@TheMayflowerPilgrem]

Vinager with hydrogen poroxide and salt. Thats home made pickle. Works best warm

[@Fallout777]

Wow when i did that with my Morgan coins that didn't happen, they became cleaner. Then I soaked them in water to neutralize the acid.

[@MrNickMulgrave]

I prefer to clean my numismatics on my benchtop electric buffer with some cutting agent. They come up better than new.

[@dattdude6077]

ABSOLUTLEY correct with the toothpaste crest HD worked better than arm & hammer. thxs for the vid.

[@TobaccoRowe1960]

valve grinding compound auto parts store

[@JoylieC]

Good to know. Thank you.

[@paul8914]

Thanks. Colgate worked!

[@island66]

Vinegar + aluminium foil + salt works good for silver

[@guloopy]

You are a life saver, tooth paste is amazing

[@commonmancrypto1648]

I use baking soda and water.

[@steverundle8635]

Thanks for the solution...proof positive!

[@reillystsb]

Add salt to the vinegar and only leave it in for like five minutes and they won't get dark

[@garymaccalla4685]

Warning coin clean and delay double new mint at the starting vs coin clean . Until air feed and no dirty at rare.

[@normaepp7665]

I find salt on a wet Paper Towel Works Great

[@rustyislandable]

That was a good 30 seconds worth of video.

[@Jeremy_Zack_Lucas]

_What type of toothpaste should I use?_

[@bifygif9154]

9volt battery, aluminium foil, 2 wires, bicarb and vinegar. Instant restoration without physical cleaning.

[@XxskidudekidxX]

Got here looking for how to patina a silver chain. Guess I found my answer for that too😂

[@susanfarley1332]

I have noticed that if my silver rings look a bit tarnished and I wash my hands, I usually use the dish soap in the kitchen sink, they lose the tarnish. I have even noticed the same thing after I take a shower. I don't know if I would have the same result with a badly tarnished ring.

[@Axlotl77]

He doesn't try wiping them, it could be the vinegar loosens something that needs to be wiped off

[@janesblonde0076]

It is suppose to be vinegar and salt

[@mattanderson887]

Hey yall, I'm a detailer and I wanna say this, don't be a neanderthal and use toothpaste. Do yourself a favor and order some Simichrome polish. Or if you're impatient, go to an advanced auto or marine store and get some Collinite metal wax. Annnd I'm stepping down from the soapbox now.

[@mrhawk1924]

I clean my coins with a sparkle solution, it's beautiful. I have old silver $$$

[@Dorje17]

Interesting,Thanks.........Charoite Kali Mesukiel Aketeriel Mahakala Bala Bala Hehehe Capalatmika Kalabhairava

[@lisajustvisiting9953]

I knew about the baking soda trick but not the toothpaste

[@epauloconnor]

Cull coins, I still love them

[@rodneymaynor6418]

The toothpaste only cleaned the coins because toothpaste has a very small abrasive in it. If you look through a loupe you will see this abrasive has now scratch your silver going to pieces because of the very fine abrasive in it. Vinegar and silver react giving silver a tarnished look but if you look at before and after treatment you will most definitely see pits in which eat into the silver. The 75% copper 25% nickel would not have a instant reaction to the vinegar die to the two thin layers of nickel but would most definitely have reacted to the copper core. This is why when you see people try to clean copper coins in vinegar you will see the copper coin turn a pink not copper but pink color. Add salt to vinegar and an instant reaction to any copper coin will happen due to salt boosting acid levels tremendously.

[@TobaccoRowe1960]

Try valve grinding compound and a broken toothpick. Then polish with toothpaste.

[@tlee9484]

I have an old silver bar with black tarnish on both ends, the ends are not wrapped tightly. I sure won't get near vinegar..😒

[@steveham2622]

CLR works good too.(CALCIUM, LIME RUST CLEANER)

[@alfiecaponga9762]

Yess if change to black toothpaste it clean it.

[@myxcapital4179]

simple and awesome video!

[@josephheffle7137]

Wrights silver polish works the best

[@saghair88]

Thnx man that really very useful video.

[@MuhammadAli-qh8tg]

Found this very useful. Thumbs up

[@landyray444]

yeah i just use soap and water with a soft tooth brush, isnt vinegar a natural corrosive i would never put any jewelry in vinegar

[@fredsmith6866]

What I have Always heard is, DONT CLEAN YOUR VALUABLE COINS!!!

[@TobaccoRowe1960]

If you bought a 1957 Chevy 2 door Bel Aire with really bad paint on it would you repaint it to look brand new or would you drive around in a really expensive junk heap ? If some patine is desired it can be varied in grinding to what ever is desired. And then it can be finished to look natural in the polishing. Some coins just got so much crap on them you can't even read the words. Make look as new as desired.

[@Ella_Amerika]

Thank you for saving my time ☺️

[@dj90-d8q]

Lifebuoy soap is fine for me, it even gives a polish shine to my silver

[@tessahughes8726]

What happens if I let it soak in a toothpaste mix bath? It's old and was left with food on it. I tried just scrubbing but it's stuck and my daughter wants to use it for her wedding

[@bala8oo]

Really strange because I’ve come here straight from a baking soda cleaning video and there the coins came up literally like a brand new coin?

[@NobleKnowledgeofphilly]

Boiling water and baking soda is a proper coin cleaning

[@platinumarrow]

My experience so far is toothpaste isn't enough to clean a coin tarnished by soaking a long time in vinegar. We're you able to get the coin clean that you tarnished so badly? Thank you.

[@TobaccoRowe1960]

I can clean those with Valve grinding compound from the auto parts store

[@MegaCbcbcb]

Technically it pre-65, cause anything before 1965 is what you want junk silver, Everyone myspoke on this

[@jahjahflash]

if toothpaste works, than maybe pure Kaolin will be a great cleaner

[@starving030]

Ketchup works also.

[@markstrachan6380]

Interesting video thanks for sharing that. I prefer not to clean my constitutional silver coins but I know someone out is doing this. Just maybe they will take your advice and clean them respectfully without damaging our beautiful silver.

[@dougiequick1]

Not "our" silver lol ....it is THEIRS and if they love it polished? WHATEVER...most of it is "junk" anyhow ...just bullion that used to be money and it's worth no less polished than tarnished ...sorry I meant "with patina" lol....So brush on you bright freaks! Just remember Everytime you brush you loose a teensy bit more silver....which hey don't mean didly if you have 20 coins. Personally I DO clean the really nasty junk silver....there are always some black ones or just UGLY ones....and they look so much more pleasing once cleaned in baking soda and warm water....they actually LOOK like silver again rather than gunk

[@Ernarox]

🤣 I was using an old vinegar jug for holding my coins...went to add some coins today...and I fudged up obviously...there was still enough vinegar to make all the coins dark as hell...my bad...I'm an idiot lol now I know.

[@marchellabrahams]

Thank you; very useful information.

[@jjirish2]

Toothpaste worked great. Thanks for the tip

[@TobaccoRowe1960]

valve grinding compound auto parts store