StainTalk Review: Carbona Silver Wipes

As a member of the Stain Talk Cleaning Heroes, I was asked to try out Carbona's new Silver Wipes. Since I work in a jewelry store where we buy used jewelry and service wear everyday, I knew I would really be able to put these babies to the test. I have access to industrial use metal cleaning solvents, so these wipes would really have to be good to impress me.

Anyway, I grabbed two piece to try these out on. The cup to the left is sterling silver - notice how nasty it looks. Yeah, that's what things look like when people bring them in to sell - yuck. Now, the one on the right I originally thought was silver plated, but as I started cleaning it I discovered it was actually just really tarnished brass - whoops.

So, I went back to the silver plated box we keep around and grabbed this little guy. This jar is silver plated.

I began with the sterling silver cup. This is just a close up so you can really see just how tarnished this was. It even had a blue-purple sheen. Normally if a customer brought this in for us to clean, I would have to first brush it really well with a tarnish remover - this works great for removing the color, but it leaves the silver slightly yellowy. To remove the yellow-ish color, I would then have to rub the piece with a polishing cloth. So, needless to say I was excited to see what just this one little cloth could do.

Can we say Holy Cow? I mean before I cleaned this I couldn't even tell it had any engraving on it. That is pretty impressive - and unlike our tarnish remover this cloth left no yellow color. After rubbing it thoroughly with the cloth, I rinsed it well with warm water and dried it with a paper towel.

Check out how dirty the cloth is! It's the same color as out counter. The only slightly negative thing I would say about this is that the cloth got dirty quickly and it loses some of its cleaning strength as the dirt rubs onto it. There is still a section on the back of the cup that could use some more cleaning, but it would have taken another cloth to do it. So if you had a large silver service and wanted to clean everything, you would go through a lot of cloths fast.

So here is another look at out silver plated guy. Normally, when people bring in silver plated piece to have us clean, I would go through the same process as for actual sterling, but it never comes out looking as nice. It is harder to clean plated pieces and you really can never get rid of certain types of spots and such.

But wow - look at that! The results of this plated piece are honestly more impressive to me than the sterling piece. There is still some tarnishing in between those ribs as well as in the detail on the handle and up under the lip - but really pieces like this are expected to have that 'patina' since it is near impossible to get into each and every little crack while polishing it. Again, the cloth was really nasty dirty - the tarnish looks much darker from the silver plated piece.

So, my professional opinion on these is that they are fantastic! And at only around $4.50 for 20 wipes they are a complete bargain. These are a zillion times more effective than the little tubs of silver cleaner you can buy in a store. These would also work great on jewelry, it would just be a little harder to get into all the small spaces, but I'm sure it could be done if you had the inclination.

These wipes get a 5 out of 5 star review and they deserve more than that! Definitely grab a can of these if you have any silver piece you need brightened up.