Cleaning Loose Stones

[mouseclock]

I have some natural precious stones, sapphires and emeralds in different calibrated sizes parcels. Now, I want to know how to maintain them, clean them so that the shine, durability remains. Are there any oils, cloth, techniques which can be done? What are some common practices in maintaining these loose and small sizes gemstones?

 

[chrono]

I do not clean loose gems. Handle with a tweezer to avoid getting them smudged. If the stone is harder, such as corundum, you can wipe it down a little with a soft cotton cloth.

 

[Michael_E]

Before taking pictures of loose stones I place them in the palm of my hand, spray a little glass cleaner on them, (one at a time, never more, as rubbing stones together is a sure way to scratch them), roll them around in the glass cleaner with a finger and dry them with a little chunk of microfiber cloth, (less lint with the microfiber). After that, always handle them with tweezers or carry in plastic gem cases, (little plastic bags can be very dangerous if you set something down on them inadvertently...as in POP there goes the culet, don't ask how I know this).

 

[teklit]

Let me preface this post by saying I'm a total newbie, I just got my first colored stone yesterday.

I tried not to touch my gem too much, and used a q-tip I had broken in half to move it around.

Of course I did get a few finger print smudges on it. To remove them I opened a fresh pack of silk eyeglass cleaning cloths, placed the stone in the center and gently rubbed it between my fingers. That seemed to do the trick.

 

[airplay355]

Organic face wash from Whole Foods. It works great for getting grease and dirt off without being abrasive. Lab grade isopropanol also works but not everyone has access to that. I don't rub them with anything. I like the results so I'll keep doing it

 

[mouseclock]

Organic face wash from Whole Foods. It works great for getting grease and dirt off without being abrasive.:

Really? Does that work? What things (chemicals) to look for in the face wash? And Just put it on the gems and clean it with a cloth afterwards?

Any other suggestions or techniques would be welcomed. I do have some gems parcels which are pretty old so how can I make them better in appearance?

 

[airplay355]

Yup works fine. The first ingredient is witch hazel so that's probably doing the majority of the degreasing. It's from Earth Science. I mostly just use it because it's already there, I bet you could use other things. If you go the face wash route,just make sure to avoid things with plastic microbeads or similar, as those are meant to be abrasive.

Not sure if links like this are allowed? I'm not connected to this company in any way, this is just what I found worked. http://www.amazon.com/Earth-Science-Clarifying-Herbal-Astringent/dp/B00028PDDY

 

[PrecisionGem]

I clean everything with rubbing alcohol and either a napkin or microfiber cloth. Stones, even "soft" stones are very hard, a clean cloth or napkin are not going to scratch them. A Q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol works fine too.

 

[airplay355]

Here's a before picture of my wife's E ring. Not sure when I cleaned it last, maybe a couple weeks?

 

[airplay355]

Washed and dried. Rubbed it in my hand and then used a soft bristled tooth brush to get in the melee and under the center stone (lots of grime seems to stick to the bottom).