Diamond Cleaning?

[mickeyva]

Hi. I have a ten year old tennis bracelet, and I'm just wondering what the best solution is to clean it. I have some solution I got from a jewelry store, but that's almost gone, so I'm looking for a replacement. I've seen the Gemcare products mentioned a few times. Is that safe for diamonds and gold (not white gold)? Also, does it work on silver and platinum? Is there anything else that's recommended? I've seen some mention of Ultrasonic cleaners, and I don't have one, but might look into it.

Thanks!

 

[Todd Gray]

This is off our web site:

Cleaning gold and platinum jewelry is quick, easy and safe if you follow a few simple procedures. While we use commercial grade solvents and ultra sonic cleaners to remove the polishing rouge and other debris created during the manufacturing process, there is no reason for consumers to use harsh cleaning agents or expensive ultra sonic cleaners to maintain their jewelry at home.

There are many excellent pre-packaged jewelry cleaners available for a variety of jewelry types available in the household cleaning products aisle of most grocery stores. Our local grocery store keeps the pre-packaged jewelry cleaners right next to the silver cleaner if that helps. Most pre-packaged jewelry cleaners consist of a mild cleaning agent stored in a plastic jar with a screw on lid and contain a plastic basket with a post to slide rings on to and a small brush to assist with loosening dirt and grime that gathers around the prong area. Many of our customers purchase a pre-packaged jewelry cleaner initially and then refill the container with a 50 / 50 mixture of ammonia and water when the original solution becomes visibly dirty.

Note that harsh chemicals such as ammonia should not be used on gemstones other than diamonds, rubies, or sapphires, because it may damage them, in fact chemicals like ammonia and chlorine will actually destroy porous gems such as cultured pearls, opal, coral, jade, etc. and may damage emeralds and other colored gems which have been treated. There are different pre-packaged jewelry cleaners available for jewelry items which are durable and those which are not, be sure to select the solution type best suited for your specific needs and jewelry type. Be extremely cautious with less durable gems such as tanzanite and those mentioned previously which can shatter due to sudden changes in temperature, such as the temperature change that would occur if you rinsed tanzanite jewelry under hot water and then cold or vice versa! Ask almost any jeweler and they will tell you that the fastest way to shatter a tanzanite and other porous gems is to steam clean it!

All of the cleaning methods and recommendations made within this article are made with the understanding that you should consult a qualified jewelry professional in-person prior to using any of the cleaning methods to ensure that doing so is safe for the specific jewelry item you wish to clean! Obviously we have no way to personally evaluate the specific jewelry item that you intend to clean and thus have no way of ensuring that it is actually safe for you to clean the jewelry item using the methods described herein and therefore assume no liability with regard to any action taken as a result of the cleaning methods described within this article. That said, here is how we clean our non-porous, gold or platinum jewelry at home:

We like to soak our jewelry in a solution of pre-packaged jewelry cleaner or a 50/50 solution of ammonia and water for about 15 - 20 minutes to loosen up any dirt and grime which has accumulated around the prongs. After soaking the jewelry, we close the sink trap and then gently scrub around the prongs with a child size, soft bristle toothbrush. Next we thoroughly rinse the jewelry under hot running water - remember to close the sink trap first! Then we pat our jewelry dry with a soft, lint free cloth. Note that we use a wire type tea strainer to hold diamond earrings when rinsing those under hot water because they are really easy to drop!

Despite what you may have heard, toothpaste is not a good jewelry cleaner! Toothpaste contains tiny abrasive beads which will scratch your gold and platinum jewelry and leave it looking thrashed. Chlorine is absolutely destructive to gold, so don''t use it and remove your gold jewelry whenever possible before swimming or soaking in a hot tub! At the very least, remove your jewelry and rinse it thoroughly after swimming or soaking in chlorinated water (yea, we realize that you''re more likely to do that than take it off to begin with). Rubbing alcohol is not the best jewelry cleaner out there because it leaves a bit of a film, but it''s not the worst either - of course you would never use rubbing alcohol to clean any of the delicate or porous gem types mentioned previously because it would destroy them.

Please be careful with ultrasonic cleaners, know that as jewelers there are a lot of rings that we set in an ultrasonic to soak but would never place in the unit if it were actually "on" because the seemingly delicate vibrations created by the units can loosen stones within minutes! If people realized how little jewelers actually use their ultrasonics to vibrate dirt loose, they might be less inclined to purchase them - hey, the vibration is great to dissolve the cleaning solution and to remove loose debris from the casting and polish process, but not so good for set jewelry! Truly! If you want to shake the diamonds loose from your pavé or channel set engagement ring, trust us, an ultrasonic is the way to do it fast! It also works really well for loosening center stones so that they swivel in the prongs - so does twisting the diamond in your fingers to check if it''s loose - Doh! That makes a lot of sense if you think about it! Nothing beats a soak in a little bit of cleaning solution, warm solution works better than cold in terms of loosening things up... A lot of the time we''ll soak a clients ring in the sonic after cleaning and then gently swish it around in the solution to work the solution through the setting a bit more, but use of the actual sonic mechanism with mounted goods is pretty scarce! We sincerely hope mentioning this will cut down on the number of "the diamond fell out of my ring!" posts that we see so often on the various diamond forums.

 

[WinkHPD]

Date: 3/29/2010 12:54:24 PM
Author:mickeyva
Hi. I have a ten year old tennis bracelet, and I''m just wondering what the best solution is to clean it. I have some solution I got from a jewelry store, but that''s almost gone, so I''m looking for a replacement. I''ve seen the Gemcare products mentioned a few times. Is that safe for diamonds and gold (not white gold)? Also, does it work on silver and platinum? Is there anything else that''s recommended? I''ve seen some mention of Ultrasonic cleaners, and I don''t have one, but might look into it.

Thanks!

The gemcare products are safe for gold either white or yellow of any karat, platinum, silver, etc. It has a paste for removing tarnish from the metal, which works incredibly well, and a liquid for taking the "cookie dough" off the back of the gems. It is a nice smelling product too, since it is vegitable based,not petroleum based, and it will not tarnish your jewelry should you forget and leave it in the cleaner overnight.

My clients love it and I suspect you will too. If your local jeweler does not have it, ask him to get it, he will be glad he did!

Wink