When shopping for jewelry cleaner the silver cleaner states not to be used on gemstones. Help!
STAY AWAY from sterling ‘dip’ cleaners…they contain forms of ‘battery acid’…all it is really doing is dissolving the top layer of the sterling-removing the tarnish and dirt. But it does NOT ’shine’ the jewelry…there is no dip made that will do that. Bringing back the high polish HAS to be done with physical effort-like a tumbler, polishing wheel, or polishing cloth.
Some gemstones (turquoise, rhodalite, lapis lazuli, pearls, coral, etc.) are SOFT stones…and any dip is going to literally eat the soft parts of the stone. Polish wheels can burn the soft stones, even reshape them.
Here’s what I recommended for 30 years….
if you wouldn’t put it on your FACE, don’t put it on your JEWELRY!
Head & Shoulders shampoo…with a toothbrush-will clean ANY jewelry, and actually restores shine to sterling if it isn’t ‘worn down’.
Toothpaste-for really dirty rings, bracelets filled with crud…use a toothpaste, rinse with warm water.
Dish detergent-just a couple drops on a toothbrush…good fast cleaner.
For diamond rings-ammonia! Windex works great-because the diamond needs to be ’squeeky clean’ to reflect light.
3-M makes a cream polish/cleaner called Tarni-Shield. Excellent stuff, and there is another product found in some grocery stores- Wright’s Silver polish.
IF your sterling silver is clean but dull and gray looking-then it has lost the high polish finish that makes it bright. ONLY a jeweler can restore this-by using a tumbler or hand polishing with a wheel. NOT something you can do at home. Silver is a SOFT metal-it will NOT hold a shine like gold does. If you have silver that stays bright and shiny, but it is a ‘chrome’ like finish-then it has been rhodium plated…and that unfortunately, has ruined the sterling. Once rhodium plated, and that wears off-it can never be brought to a genuine sterling polish. To plate it, the sterling had to be first plated with nickel steel!
And many, many people react to nickel as an allergic reaction.
Jan
02
Filed under: Gemstone beads
STAY AWAY from sterling ‘dip’ cleaners…they contain forms of ‘battery acid’…all it is really doing is dissolving the top layer of the sterling-removing the tarnish and dirt. But it does NOT ’shine’ the jewelry…there is no dip made that will do that. Bringing back the high polish HAS to be done with physical effort-like a tumbler, polishing wheel, or polishing cloth.
Some gemstones (turquoise, rhodalite, lapis lazuli, pearls, coral, etc.) are SOFT stones…and any dip is going to literally eat the soft parts of the stone. Polish wheels can burn the soft stones, even reshape them.
Here’s what I recommended for 30 years….
if you wouldn’t put it on your FACE, don’t put it on your JEWELRY!
Head & Shoulders shampoo…with a toothbrush-will clean ANY jewelry, and actually restores shine to sterling if it isn’t ‘worn down’.
Toothpaste-for really dirty rings, bracelets filled with crud…use a toothpaste, rinse with warm water.
Dish detergent-just a couple drops on a toothbrush…good fast cleaner.
For diamond rings-ammonia! Windex works great-because the diamond needs to be ’squeeky clean’ to reflect light.
3-M makes a cream polish/cleaner called Tarni-Shield. Excellent stuff, and there is another product found in some grocery stores- Wright’s Silver polish.
IF your sterling silver is clean but dull and gray looking-then it has lost the high polish finish that makes it bright. ONLY a jeweler can restore this-by using a tumbler or hand polishing with a wheel. NOT something you can do at home. Silver is a SOFT metal-it will NOT hold a shine like gold does. If you have silver that stays bright and shiny, but it is a ‘chrome’ like finish-then it has been rhodium plated…and that unfortunately, has ruined the sterling. Once rhodium plated, and that wears off-it can never be brought to a genuine sterling polish. To plate it, the sterling had to be first plated with nickel steel!
And many, many people react to nickel as an allergic reaction.
References :
30 years as a professional silversmith handmaking jewelry.