QuestionHi
I have a ring that was sandblasted to give a matte finish. It is tarnishing and looks dirty. How do I go about cleaning it?
AnswerDear Elan,
I have a question before I answer yours. If you have opportunity today or this evening to use the follow-up and get back to me, please tell me what metal the ring is made of and what if any stones are in the ring. Fair enough?
You see, while a general cleaning method may be used for many sorts of jewelry, some jewelry will allow stronger cleaning while other types need very gentle cleaning methods.
If you can get back to me I can fit the answer better to your ring. Thanks.
God Bless and Peace. Thomas.
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Elan, I am back. I waited to give you a fair chance to get back with a follow-up. Since you did not have opportunity to get back with me, I will answer in a fairly general sense on cleaning. Your question did give me a hint that the ring might be silver. Silver will tarnish and quickly under the right situations. If the ring is not silver, there should be enough information to do a fairly decent job of cleaning.
What complicates the cleaning procedure is the very fact that the ring has a textured surface. This sort of surface will quickly pick up grime and dirt which gets caught in the recesses of the texture. Also, any tarnish forming in those recesses will be difficult to remove.
First, let's address cleaning to remove dirt and grime, hand lotions, etc. This is the sort of stuff jewelry is exposed to daily when worn. One of the best cleaners is basic dish washing detergent. Make a solution with water and rub the jewelry by hand, gently. Use a soft brush to help clean areas your fingers cannot reach. Rinse well, take a look , clean more if needed. Rinse in warm water, pat dry and the cleaning is done.
A more effective cleaner and a more unpleasing one to the nose and eyes is household ammonia added to some detergent. The detergent must have NO chlorine or bleach in it. A mix of chlorine chemicals and ammonia can release very nasty and possibly very dangerous fumes. The household ammonia in a water/detergent solution will smell and irritate the nose and eyes so use good ventilation. Gloves are recommended and the cheap throw-away sort are just fine. Let it soak a while then do the same as above to clean. The ammonia supercharges the cleaning to remove more stubborn stuff. NOTE: Do NOT USE WITH SILVER. Ammonia can discolor and spot silver. The solution will work well with gold jewelry, white yellow or red. Use on hard stones but not soft ones or organic gems, meaning turquoise, lapis, pearls, coral and shell cameos.
While these cleaners do fine at removing soil, the tarnish will need added measures. A chemically treated polishing cloth is the best for most smooth jewelry and will clean surface (but not recessed) areas to remove even stubborn tarnish. These cloths are advertised as "use as is", adding no cleaners or polish to the cloth. Use until the cloth quits working and throw away. One cloth with clean a hundred items in most cases with little problem. One example is the "Sunshine Cloth" sold by a company called Rio Grande. You can go to the website at
www.riogrande.com and likely see the cloths in one of the supply catalogs. To get one of these or similar, call a few jewelry stores and tell them what you are looking for. Since Rio Grande does sell to better crafts stores and jewelry stores, either sort of business may be able to order you a few of the cloths.
The recessed tarnish will either need to go to a jeweler to be chemically removed or chemically removed by you. This will work with silver and with limited success on gold items:
Hagerty Silver Cleaner. You can find it on the net at Amazon.com or at many jewelry stores.
This chemical will remove tarnish and leave a white to gray residue if the item is in the solution too long. Do not leave it in solution over 15 secs. at first and see how it worked. Try again if needed but never leave in longer at one time or you will have an unattractive silver ring. Gold may be left a little longer but all should be limited to a short time and checked. If the cleaner does not seem to work for you, a jeweler is the next stop.
Sometimes the whitish residue can be buffed with the polishing cloth to make all look fine...except for in recesses.
The last method will possibly do the trick the easiest. Take baking soda and put some in your hand. Add enough water to make a paste. Rub the ring. Use a brush to get into recesses. The very mild abrasive nature of the soda will often remove tarnish quite well if the tarnish is not to thick. Rub with moist soda, rinse well, dry and you are done.
Best wishes. I am sure the tarnishing is frustrating to you.
God Bless and Peace. Thomas. Get back with me if you need to.
