Dropped VC platinum/diamond ring in hot wax - help!

[Ivy08]

I hope this is the correct forum for this. I haven't posted here for quite awhile; my last dilemma was whether it was normal to spend much more on the setting than the diamond. To make a long story short, I am engaged to be married (June 2011!) and have a gorgeous 1/2 ct. AGS 0 diamond (from James Allen) set in a platinum Van Craeynest setting. I attached a picture so y'all could see.

The story at hand -

I keep a decorative dish away from the sink and other traps in our kitchen to deposit my ring into while cooking anything that requires hands-on effort. It has served me very well. This evening, however, when I reached for it, it slipped out of my hand and plunked right into the jar of a candle my fiance had lit that was sitting in front of the dish. The candle went out (not sure if it was the hot wax spilling over the flame or if my ring hit it on the way in) and now my ring is totally coated in lemon cake-scented wax. I wiped off as much excess as I could, but it still is quite covered.

My parents suggested pouring boiling water over it. I wanted to ask you all here before I tried anything, though. The only jewelery cleaner I have is a jar that came with a star sapphire necklace I bought from Fine Jewelers online. Van Craeynest's site says they use 900 platinum, no idea on the alloy...I think it may have rhodium plating on it, too? It's been quite awhile since I read about metals, so my knowledge base is quite degraded.

Suggestions? I want to make sure I clean it properly.

 

[arjunajane]

Can you send it to VC or at least have you contacted them to ask their opinion?
Sorry, but I feel much better telling you to take advice from VC on this one.
I imagine it would be relatively straight forward to clean with a soft (baby) toothbrush, some warm (not boiling - may pose a risk to your diamond) water, some regular dish soap and perhaps a run in the ultrasonic after..
How do you usually clean your ring? The method I've described above is the general consensus for plat and diamond rings.
Please don't pour boiling water over it - you should only ever use warm to hot water, and be careful transferring from hot to cold water.
(It is unlikely to damage your diamond this way, but best to be safe than sorry right).

But because I know VC have very delicate finishes which vary ring to ring, I think its best you consult them.

 

[stone-cold11]

Should not be a problem. Diamond has the highest thermal conductivity of any solid and the thermal stress is not enough to cause any problem to it, the heat generated during the polishing process is much higher than this. There are jewelry steamers that are used to clean diamond jewelry and those will have temperature at 100C if not higher. Buy one of those to clean it or a jeweler should have one of the industrial strength ones.

Just take a candy thermometer and put it in the jar of molten wax and see what the temperature is, if it is less than 100C, boiling water should be able to melt it. Or just cut a piece of wax and drop it into the boiling water or slowly bring up the temperature and see when it starts to melt if you want a lower temperature than simply boiling.

 

[Eskiez]

I had a similar problem with a very intricate sterling silver bracelet and paraffin wax at the manicurist. I used boiling water and it melted it right off, much better than a week or two in the shower could do. If you are worried about it being too hot, would suggest boiling the water, then letting it cool for a few minutes so that it's hot, but no longer at the boiling point. It should soften the wax up so that you can wipe the remainder off easily. Good luck!

 

[Circe]

Oh, unfortunate! I did something similar to my ring once - I stupidly tried to trim the wick on a candle before the wax had solidified, jostled it, and spilled the wax ALL over my hand. The ring was practically encrusted. I was using some bizarre hippie soy-wax candle, and it all came off relatively easily with repeated applications of very hot water, Dawn, and a baby toothbrush ... but I think that boiling water should work just fine. Just be careful not to go from one temp to another, quickly! If you treat the ring like a lobster (i.e., gradual changes), it should be fine.

 

[Dreamer_D]

I think soap will be important for this one to break down the grease in the wax. I second baby toothbrush and dish soap and warm/hot water.

 

[Miss Sparkly]

blow dryer and do it over the sink. It heats up just enough to soften the wax and the force of the air pushes the wax off the ring. I dropped my ring in the scentsy burner in the bathroom and that's how I got the wax off.

I use cosmetic brush cleaner to clean my rings - works beautifully as the soap is made to break down cosmetics but still be gentle enough to keep the brushes in good condition.

 

[Hest88]

I think it should be fairly safe to use hot water. If you're worried, just boil some water and let it cool just a bit so it's the temperature you'd use for tea.

 

[kenny]

Wouldn't a steam cleaner be perfect since steam is both hot and under pressure?
Perhaps you could call around to see if a jeweler near you had one.

 

[Kaleigh]

Wouldn't a steam cleaner be perfect since steam is both hot and under pressure?
Perhaps you could call around to see if a jeweler near you had one.

Honestly, I would take it to a jeweler who can steam clean it for you..

 

[AnitaT]

Oh my! I am so sorry to hear this happened to you. I have a VC ring too and love it...so, my heart goes out to you. First things first, it is going to be okay. Larry and your fellow PSers are here for you. I suggest calling Larry tomorrow morning, he gets in early. Regarding hot water, that sounds okay too. I use very hot water (not boiling) to clean my ring. The hair dryer idea sounds interesting. But, you know what, I bet Larry will have some suggestions and reassurance for you.

Good luck!

 

[angeline]

Hi there,

I have two VC rings and I remember Larry asking me if I boiled my rings! So I would call him and ask the best way to get the wax off.

Good luck!

 

[Ivy08]

Wow, lots of suggestions - thank you so much, everyone.

AnitaT, thank you for telling me it will be ok. I must admit, when it plopped into the wax I panicked quite a bit, going "oh no oh no oh no!" It was my fiance who had to pull it out. I've calmed down a lot since then, though it's very sad to see my ring sitting there - my finger feels so naked!

To all who suggested calling Larry, I think that will be my first course of action. I don't know why I didn't think of it. It should be an interesting conversation. I'm going to mention some of the suggestions from all of you if he doesn't have a recommendation straight away and see what he says...though I suspect he's seen/heard of it all and will be able to tell me precisely what to do. I will be sure to post what he says, in case another PSer has the misfortune of giving her jewelery a wax bath.

I typically use mild dish soap and warm water to clean my ring, followed by a cool rinse with filtered water. Admittedly, I learned this from a friend with lots of gorgeous diamond jewelery, so I just assumed it was correct.

 

[antelope1]

If you go the boiling water or steam route at home, just be careful of your skin. The metal will conduct heat -- and the diamond is a lot tougher than you are!

 

[LGK]

Wow, lots of suggestions - thank you so much, everyone.

AnitaT, thank you for telling me it will be ok. I must admit, when it plopped into the wax I panicked quite a bit, going "oh no oh no oh no!" It was my fiance who had to pull it out. I've calmed down a lot since then, though it's very sad to see my ring sitting there - my finger feels so naked!

To all who suggested calling Larry, I think that will be my first course of action. I don't know why I didn't think of it. It should be an interesting conversation. I'm going to mention some of the suggestions from all of you if he doesn't have a recommendation straight away and see what he says...though I suspect he's seen/heard of it all and will be able to tell me precisely what to do. I will be sure to post what he says, in case another PSer has the misfortune of giving her jewelery a wax bath.

I typically use mild dish soap and warm water to clean my ring, followed by a cool rinse with filtered water. Admittedly, I learned this from a friend with lots of gorgeous diamond jewelery, so I just assumed it was correct.

That's what I do. I've tried a bunch of different cleaners and so forth and I have never found any to work better than a soft toothbrush and a soap with a grease-cutting agent. (Dawn's my favorite but others work fine too). There's a bunch of different threads around with info on cleaning but with the search being so weird, it could be a pain finding them.

I think Kenny has a good cleaning method he uses on his tension set rings, that sounds like it would get every single last bit of grub off a ring.

 

[denverappraiser]

Drop it in a small bottle of xylene for a while and it'll dissolve away. You can get it in the paint department of places like Home Depot for a couple of dollars. Pretty much any bench jeweler should be able to help you out if you don't want to do it yourself. This is a common chemical in a working jewelry shop.

(be aware that this stuff is extremely flamible. make sure to store or dispose of it properly when you're done.)

 

[AnitaT]

AnitaT, thank you for telling me it will be ok. I must admit, when it plopped into the wax I panicked quite a bit, going "oh no oh no oh no!" It was my fiance who had to pull it out. I've calmed down a lot since then, though it's very sad to see my ring sitting there - my finger feels so naked!

No problem! I would have felt the exact same way. I hope things have worked out.

 

[Ivy08]

Well everyone, I promised I'd update...

Apparently, my extreme worry turned out to be all for nothing! I called Larry, got his secretary, who conferred with Larry and told me that standard ring-cleaning procedures should work - 3 T dish soap in at least an inch of water, bring to a boil, use a baby toothbrush to clean the ring.

I didn't even need to use the brush...as soon as the water heated up, the wax dissolved right off of the ring. I used the brush just to make sure I got all of the residue, rinsed the ring under cool water...presto! Sparkly, beautiful ring.

Thank you to everyone for your advice and support!