CLEANING A DIAMOND/BAD DIAMOND?

[Silvus21]

Hello,

I know this was posted here few times. I tried all kinds of home cleaning methods and even took my diamond (ring) to a jewelry to have it steam cleaned. But it seems like it has some stubborn stains (at least I hope those are stains and nothing internal). I never really inspected my diamond in detail (I have it since June 06). It is a Tiffany style ring with 4 prongs. I think the stains are on the bottom (culet?) and it shines through the whole diamond making it smudgy all over. I tried brushing it after soaking in a sudsy water at home. I do put cream on my hands a lot with a ring on. Any ideas of what else I should try.

If those are not stains at all (maybe it is someting internal), I got my diamond from Union Diamond and have a cert with it. Is it possible I might have just gotten a bad diamond and cert is fake? It is GIA Ideal cut VS1 and F with excellent polishing and symmetry. I can see those smudges all over my diamond with a naked eye.

PLEASE HELP!!!

 

[jhn]

Sounds wierd. I've read about the SI Ultrasonic cleaner, many SP'ers seems to like it:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/can-you-use-an-ultrasonic-cleaner-to-often.34606/page-11

 

[He Scores]

You can easily tell if it''s surface dirt or not by taking a pin and under magnification lightly try scratching at the dirt. If you make any marks, then it''s surface dirt and wasn''t cleaned enough.

If persistant, even professional cleaning won''t remove a film, there''s a possibility that if the ring was worked on with a torch, that the scale could be burn scale from the stone getting too hot. This happens frequently with retipping and sizing of platinum rings. Of course, if the ring was never sized then this should eliminate this possibilty especially if you examined the stone under magnification during the buying process.

After a thorough cleaning, always put your jewelry on AFTER your hand cream. Diamonds have an affinity for grease (that''s how they used to separate them from the diamond bearing ore during the mining process by using "grease belts") and easily pick up skin oils and hand cremes dulling the brilliance.


Bill Bray
Diamond Cutter

 

[Julian]

I remember reading a couple of threads a long time ago about a similar problem... I hope they''re just reflections or caked on film! How long has it been since you''ve regularly cleaned your ring?

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/scratches-on-diamond-experts.10235/=

or

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/do-platinum-prongs-reflect.22743/=

 

[Silvus21]

Great response, thanks. I will try the trick with the pin.

 

[Silvus21]

Thanks, those are great links. Sounds like my problem. I think my diamond has a really really bad film on (from hand lotion, perhaps).

 

[Silvus21]

I gave my diamond ring yet another Sunlight suds bath and brushed it thoroughtly with the old toothbrush. I repeated this process 3 times in a row and I just could not believe my eyes. My diamond came out as beautiful as ever. It had a very bad film on the surface (I think from the hard water) that even the jeweler was not able to get rid of with their cleaning machine. Now I just can''t stop looking my diamond. I love it, I love it!!!

 

[Stone Hunter]

Good News! Glad to hear it.