Questionhow does one remove Iodine stains from gold jewelry, my wife was applying tincture iodine 7% to an injured horse when her wedding set became stained
AnswerFollow-Up...Joe, there is one "at home" method you might try. I am not sure if it will work, depending on the severity of the stains. That is baking soda. In a paste form baking soda is a very mild abrasive. Try rubbing with fingers with damp soda. Too much water and the soda simply dissolves in the water and any abrasive/cleaning qualities are lost. This may take some shine from the ring but is worth a first try. Sorry, didn't think of trying this in the answer since I generally do not recommend soda cleaning of jewelry for normal everyday use. Thomas.
Interesting, Joe, that you would mention treatment of a horse. I also do photography and just a day ago posted an image of a rescued mare at the local shelter. Fortunately, she was quickly adopted into a home with proper care for animals.
All that aside, iodine is one of the chemicals which will easily stain gold. You know that now, certainly. I will give two possible ways to remove the tarnish.
POLISHING CLOTH
Generally the coloration is very thin and in some cases may be removed with a good chemically treated polishing cloth, the sort made to remove tarnish. One brand name is "Sunshine Cloth" sold by RioGrande. Since some jewelers and many better crafts stores use Rio as a vendor, a phone call might find a business with the cloths in stock. The cloth is simply rubbed on the metal. The cloth will darken with use over many uses to remove tarnish and shine jewelry. Do not wash the cloth, dark as it might become. Keep using until it works no longer and discard. Do not rely on the normal two sided cloth with a red rouge side and a buffing side since these are messy and generally not very effective.
A VISIT TO THE JEWELER
If the cloth does not do the job or if you want quicker results than having to find the cloth in the first place, go directly to a jewelers. Be sure the place has a "bench jeweler" on premises. The bench jeweler is the one who actually sits at a bench and does the design and repair work. That is who will clean the iodine tarnish from the ring. Most likely, the jeweler will first buff the ring(s) with a mild abrasive followed with a polishing compound. The result will be close to new appearance to the wedding set. This will remove the stain from the iodine.
While there, if any of the iodine got on prongs or stone settings, have the jeweler check for any obvious damage such as tiny cracks, etc. I have not see such damage from iodine directly(iodine on rings is not very common) but reports say iodine can affect white gold and much like chlorine, cause some deterioration of the metal around settings. The effect is only on "stressed areas" such as where prongs are bent to hold a stone, etc. This is not a big concern but is worth checking. Most likely, no damage will be obvious..it generally is not from casual contact of a short extent.
I do hope this helps a bit. And, I hope the horse does fine with the injury. Use the follow-up option if you need to get back to me concerning this subject.
Thanks. God Bless and Peace. Thomas. August 13,2007 8:03PM
