Best cleaning solution for Diamonds

[tajee]

What is the best solution to use when cleaning a Diamond? I see some have ammonia some don’t etc.
I received one when I purchased the ring and worked great. I just purchased one at Wal-Mart and it seems very soapy and does a poor job.

Also I am looking into purchasing an ultrasonic cleaner soon so should I use a specific solution in the machine.

Thanks
Tajee

 

[Allison D.]

I use a bit of dawn dishsoap and a bit of Mr. Clean in warm water; I use this solution both for the ultrasonic and for brief non-ultrasonic soaking.

 

[diagem]

Date: 7/31/2009 9:31:48 AM
Author: Allison D.
I use a bit of dawn dishsoap and a bit of Mr. Clean in warm water; I use this solution both for the ultrasonic and for brief non-ultrasonic soaking.

...and a small brush will do the trick...

Depending on the setting of-course...

 

[denverappraiser]

I use straight windex and a toothbrush followed by a clean water rinse. I’m not a big fan of ammonia based cleaners for two reasons. First, they’re hard on your hands, your clothing and your lungs if you’re not careful with them. Second, although it won’t affect your diamond in the slightest, you can have problems with certain solders used in assembling gold settings and it can cause a tarnish line at the solder joint. In my ultrasonic I use the same solution as Allison.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[glitterata]

Um, Neil, Windex contains ammonia. At least, most flavors of it do.

 

[ChunkyCushionLover]

Date: 7/31/2009 10:42:31 AM
Author: glitterata
Um, Neil, Windex contains ammonia. At least, most flavors of it do.

In low concentrations only.

 

[Demon]

Neil, can you tell me why ammonia is always advised against for white gold? Aside from the soldering discoloration, is it only because of the rhodium plating, or is there something in the mix of white gold itself that reacts to the ammonia?

 

[denverappraiser]

Date: 7/31/2009 10:42:31 AM
Author: glitterata
Um, Neil, Windex contains ammonia. At least, most flavors of it do.

I actually use a variety that doesn''t but it’s true that most have a low concentration of ammonia. I''m something of a hippie and I tend to avoid overt chemicals when I can. When I think of ammonia cleaners I think of the stuff they sell for cleaning floors where the instructions are to dilute it something like 50:1 and even then it’s still pretty heavy duty stuff. It DOES clean jewelry pretty well but I don’t like it anyway for the above reasons.

Solder discoloration is the biggie but if you soak white gold in ammonia based solutions you can get a chemical reaction with the nickel in the alloy that makes it more brittle. The problem is with tiny parts, like the tips of prongs and clasps on chains but these are the parts the people are most worried about breaking. The alloy problem comes up with people who leave things to soak overnight every night forever so there’s a lot of exposure time. Small amounts of exposure will be fine.

Many retail stores and repair shops will keep a boiling pot of drain cleaner under an exhaust hood in the back for cleaning really gunky things and diamond cutters use vats of acid to clean things but, although they are terribly effective, these don’t get recommended to consumers for obvious reasons.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[tessa]

I usually use the ultrasound with either some gemcare or a solution like denverappraiser suggested.
Sometimes I leave out the Mr Clean and just use the dishwashing detergent and let the US do the work.

Then i rinse them really well in very hot water, and THEN i follow up with a good blast of pressurized steam from my espresso maker, which I have never used for expresso, BTW, as i always only have used it for steaming my gems clean.

It not only takes away any remaining solution (though there shouldn't really be any residue if you rinse well enough) but the combination approximates what my jeweler used to do in house and everything comes out really really really sparkly all through.

i do not ultrasound pave or invisible set things though, having once had a bad experience with a jewelry store that managed to disconnect the invisible set sapphires in a gorgeous ring I had.

all's well that ends well but i find the steam to work really well.

Some folks use a can of air but i don't do that to something I just rinsed in hot water. It comes out very cold.

You can readily find cheap espresso machines; they don't have to have high capacity, just the milk frothing feature is the part that counts.
HTH.

 

[Demon]

Date: 7/31/2009 11:47:53 AM
Author: denverappraiser

Date: 7/31/2009 10:42:31 AM
Author: glitterata
Um, Neil, Windex contains ammonia. At least, most flavors of it do.

I actually use a variety that doesn''t but it’s true that most have a low concentration of ammonia. I''m something of a hippie and I tend to avoid overt chemicals when I can. When I think of ammonia cleaners I think of the stuff they sell for cleaning floors where the instructions are to dilute it something like 50:1 and even then it’s still pretty heavy duty stuff. It DOES clean jewelry pretty well but I don’t like it anyway for the above reasons.

Solder discoloration is the biggie but if you soak white gold in ammonia based solutions you can get a chemical reaction with the nickel in the alloy that makes it more brittle. The problem is with tiny parts, like the tips of prongs and clasps on chains but these are the parts the people are most worried about breaking. The alloy problem comes up with people who leave things to soak overnight every night forever so there’s a lot of exposure time. Small amounts of exposure will be fine.

Many retail stores and repair shops will keep a boiling pot of drain cleaner under an exhaust hood in the back for cleaning really gunky things and diamond cutters use vats of acid to clean things but, although they are terribly effective, these don’t get recommended to consumers for obvious reasons.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

Thanks - I always read don''t use ammonia with white gold, but I''ve never heard why, other than rhodium. The most I ever soak mine for is about 15-20 minutes, so I guess I''m good to go.

 

[Black Jade]

I think a big part of this is cleaning your diamonds fairly often (I''d say, once a week at least) because when they get super diry, home cleaning doesn''t do anything anymore, and even at the jewellers, you find stones have gotten loose because of dirt and gunk. Earrings are the worst, but rings can get pretty nasty and it is not safe for your diamond.

I also think it''s just as well to have your neighborhood jeweller do this professionally once a year unless you have a supe-duper cleaning machine and maybe even then because he or she can check for loose stones, prongs that need retipping and that kind of thing. Most jewellers will do it for free, even if you didn''t buy the ring there.

I use the household ammonia that comes in the big bottle, usually the generic one. I even use this instead of windex--i figure why pay money for them to dilute it for me, I can dilute it myself. I put about a tablespoon (maybe a little less) in a cup or cup 1/2 of water and squeeze a squirt of dish detergent in, too. Then I HEAT IT UP. It''s important to clean jewelry in pretty hot water (though not boiling). I put it in my $20 Walmart ''ultrasound'' (which I doubt is really an ultrasound but has convenient baskets to wash and rinse). When soaked for about a minute or so, I clean with baby toothbrush or a little soft paintbrush. (Whiteflash sent a little paintbrush to me and I thought, what a good ideas. More pointy than a toothbrush). Then I blow dry the jewelry on a low setting so that it doesn''t get waterspots and use a microsuede cleaning cloth if I need it.

I only do this with diamonds set in Yellow Gold or Platinum. I do not think you should let ammonia get near White Gold. I don''t know if this is a question of the white gold itself or the rhodium plate. With white gold, I do the same but leave the ammonia out. Sometimes I put a splash of white vinegar in with the dishdetergent, this doesn''t seem to hurt.

You can clean some gems (not set in white gold) this same way, but you should look everything up. There are charts on the internet telling you which gems can''t be cleaned in ammonia. Rubies, sapphires and garnets are safe with it, but emeralds are usually filled with oil because they have all those fractures and a lot of things are either naturally delicate or delicate because they are treated in some way. the big no-nos are pearls and those kinds of soft, organic gems. You basically cannot clean pearls, just wipe the perspiration off them each time you wear them. I also had a bad experience with jade, which is the hardest stone, so hard that you can make weapons out of it that will kill people--but you can''t clean the toilet, I found out, wearing an expensive jade bracelet (now ruined).

 

[Moh 10]

I worked for 23 years in a clean room laboratory for an aerospace company.
The product we shipped cost about a billion dollars and got launched into space.
Things had to be cleaned with absolutely zero residue.

Cleaning contaminates the cleaning solution so to prevent leaving residue on your diamond you must remove ALL of the contaminated solution before it dries.
Repeating the process a few times will result in remaining residue approaching zero.

To clean diamonds I use isopropyl alcohol.
To keep the alcohol clean I use a covered menda pump bottle, available online.

http://www.mendapump.com/MendaCatalog/BottleCollections/Frosted/

You push the top down a couple times and fresh clean alcohol gets pumped up.
I dip the brush in it and scrub the diamond vigorously until no more (contaminated) alcohol splatters away.
Blow dry with a can of compressed air, just one quick spurt; hold it upright so no residue comes out of the can.

Dip the brush in the alcohol again and repeat.

Repeat again.

 

[Moh 10]

Blowing off the contaminated alcohol with a can of compressed air, available at any office supply store.

(BTW, this is not a real diamond, nor one I bothered to clean well.)

This process takes less than a minute and when I loupe the stone I see ZERO residue even in the nooks and crannies.
This pump bottle is of frosted glass and was around $16 but you can buy cheaper ones of plastic.
They also have attractive ones with flower patterns for a ladies.

 

[Black Jade]

Interesting. I''d like to try this. Do you have to have that special kind of pump?

 

[Moh 10]

Yes, I have the pump - I took these pics.
The lower one is of the residue being blown off the diamond with the can of air, which is outside the pic to the left.
That thing that looks like a comet going off to the right is the contaminated alcohol residue being blown away, leaving a dry squeaky clean diamond.

Again, here is a link to where I bought the alcohol pump.

http://www.mendapump.com/MendaCatalog/BottleCollections/Frosted/

You really don't need the pump though; It just saves time.

You could pour a little alcohol into the cap then discard the unused (slightly contaminated) portion before you recap the bottle.

I'd also recommend everyone with an unltrasonic cleaner blow the liquid off right when the remove the ring from the solution.
The solution, even if new and clean, may leave a residue if left to dry.
Drying with a cloth or Q-tip cannot possibly get into every nook and cranny.

This is only for the most neurotic and OCD of people, like me.

 

[marcy]

I use diluted windex or the pink stuff you can buy and mix with water. I also have a small steam cleaner.

 

[litebrite]

I have a bottle of stuff called Revitalizing Jewelery Cleanser - Connoiseurs. It comes in a red plastic container but it doesn''t say what''s in it. Might someone know?

Also, what should we use to clean emeralds?

 

[joelly]

I use Dawn dishwasher soap and a very soft brush (baby tooth brush). Just cleanse your stone under running water. Thats what I do.

 

[junebug17]

Date: 8/2/2009 2:15:57 PM
Author: litebrite
I have a bottle of stuff called Revitalizing Jewelery Cleanser - Connoiseurs. It comes in a red plastic container but it doesn''t say what''s in it. Might someone know?

Also, what should we use to clean emeralds?

This is what I use as well, but wondered about the odor and if it was ammonia. I checked their website but couldn''t find any info on what''s in it. I''m thinking it may contain a small amount of ammonia, but I don''t soak my rings, just wash them a little with the cleaner and a brush, then rinse well. I don''t think that will affect the white gold.

But I followed Moh''s suggestion of using alcohol, and it worked really well. My rings sparkle so much more now, thanks very much Moh!

 

[litebrite]

I put my WG emerald ring in and the white gold looks fine but the emeralds definitely looked less bright afterwards.

Looks like I need to get some Dawn.

 

[junebug17]

Date: 8/2/2009 11:25:56 PM
Author: litebrite
I put my WG emerald ring in and the white gold looks fine but the emeralds definitely looked less bright afterwards.

Looks like I need to get some Dawn.

Litebrite, you might want to be careful with your emeralds, I just did a quick google search about cleaning emeralds and read that jewelry cleaners may affect the oil that is either in or on an emerald. You might want to research it a little further, I read some conflicting things, some articles said use warm water and mild soap. I really don''t know anything about emeralds, just wanted to caution you about what I read. Maybe someone with more knowledge about emeralds can help out.

 

[marcy]

Litebrite, the Connoiseurs in the red container does contain ammonia. For my emeralds I use a drop or 2 of dawn in purified water and soak them. They come out great.

 

[litebrite]

Yeah, I have only stuck the emerald WG ring in there twice, but I am reluctant to do so again. It makes sense that it interferes with emeralds esp if oiled.

The solution certainly smells like there''s ammonia!! Thanks for the advice and to be on the safe side I''ll clean my WG half eternity with dawn plus water as well as the emerald. It''s my first colored stone ring, so I am learning.

 

[cushiondivine]

This may sound silly but my friend''s mother recommended it and I''ve been using it since. Rings tend to get a buildup of soap, dirt, shampoo, cream. I use Lysol Scubbing Bubbles "to get rid of the soap scum". I spray my jewelry and then let it sit a minute or two. I then scrub with a brush and rinse. This is good when it gets very dirty. I will also use an ultrasonic cleaner once a week. For quick touch ups I clean with rubbing alcohol or windex.

 

[Black Jade]

I don''t ever soak my emeralds in anything. I just wipe them clean with a lint free cloth and some water after each time wearing. I do not think that emeralds attract grease the way diamonds do (n fact, I''m sure that they don''t. Few things attract grease like diamonds).
Conoisseurs contains ammonia--at least the one in the red bottle does. They have a milder solution for delicate gems like pearls, I don''t know what''s in that. (I DEFINITELY wouldn''t soak pearls).
Something I do occassionally (not every time) for diamonds in white gold (when I don''t want the gold in ammonia) is to add a little bit of white vinegar to the dishwashing liquid and water solution that I make. That little bittle of acid doesn''t hurt the gold and helps with the grease buildup problem.
Again, while the Conoisseur bottle is convenient, because of the little tray with the brush in it, this product is basically a rip off. I bought it once and just keep refilling the bottle with my own solution of water, dishwashing liquid and a little ammonia, which is the same thing and just costs cents, not $$$.
Also, it really does make a difference to clean diamonds with very warm, close to hot water and to rinse them in same. Cold and lukewarm water doesn''t do the job nearly as well.