Cleaning silver chain

Christmas time approaches and the wallets are getting thin.

Like many people, I struggle to find the right present for some relatives. My mother mentioned some antique centre with jewelery in she liked but that still leaves me with a pretty wide range of options, especially if I discount anything that would cost more than a decent locomotive or boat kit ! (Note: I'm happy to spend the money, but by this point I don't want to be taking a risk, I want to be certain I'm getting the right thing)

I did find a rather nice carved shell pendant on a silver chain. It was sensibly priced because the chain was mucky. Not a problem I thought, I must have something that can fix that. If everyone else is too lazy to do a bit of cleaning, their loss is my gain. Anyway, I rather like the idea of restoring something rather than just buying it. It's a bit more personal that way and you aren't likely to see another example any time soon.

Talking to the man in the shop, he mentioned something called "Silver Dip". A trip to a hardware shop and 4 quid furnished me with a tub of the stuff - Goddards Silver Dip, Cleans Silver Fast. Apparently.

It does too. I dipped the chain in the liquid and swooshed it around gently for a minute and the dirt fell off. You can see the difference in the photo comparing the chain to the tarnished jump ring. All I've done is dip it a couple of times and then rub the chain with some kitchen towel to remove excess dip and polish the metal slightly.

Time required, less than 5 minutes. It's a heck of a lot easier to clean chain this way than doing it with elbow grease. My mind now wonders what is in this stuff and whether it has any model making applications !