Help Please

[blackberry16]

I posted this over in Hangout but didn''''t get any response. Maybe I will get more luck over here.


I have a diamond that belonged to my grandmother. I have been cleaning it with my steam cleaner for years, but I was reading a thread the other day that talked about steam cleaning rings with inclusions in them being dangerous. The stone has a carbon spot and a feather but both are placed in the center of the stone and not too close to the surface. Do you think that it is safe to continue cleaning it with my Jewel Jet?

 

[kagordo4]

So I''m not a gemologist or expert but I majored in chemistry (well actually I double majored in Chemistry and Biology) and minored in physics.

Unless you have some seriously high powered steam cleaner, you will not be able to produce the pressure or heat needed to damage (or worsen) the inclusion.

I mean honestly it''s physically and chemically impossible, that''s it. End of story. Think how diamonds are made- Extreme heat conditions and extreme pressure. If you could damage your inclusions you could in theory use that same heat and pressure to create your own diamonds. And if that were the case, I would like about a billion steam cleaners.. I need to pay or med school somehow : P

 

[blackberry16]

Date: 6/22/2010 1:36:19 PM
Author: kagordo4
So I''m not a gemologist or expert but I majored in chemistry (well actually I double majored in Chemistry and Biology) and minored in physics.


Unless you have some seriously high powered steam cleaner, you will not be able to produce the pressure or heat needed to damage (or worsen) the inclusion.


I mean honestly it''s physically and chemically impossible, that''s it. End of story. Think how diamonds are made- Extreme heat conditions and extreme pressure. If you could damage your inclusions you could in theory use that same heat and pressure to create your own diamonds. And if that were the case, I would like about a billion steam cleaners.. I need to pay or med school somehow : P

Thanks kagordo! Yeah I never worried about it before. Perhaps the person in the thread that I was reading was worried because they were dealing with a gemstone and the concern doesn''t apply to diamonds.

 

[stone-cold11]

yap, diamonds went through much worse conditions during their polish than anything a steam cleaner can produce.

Gemstones are another thing especially emeralds.