Crazy Way to Clean Jewelry

Hey everyone,

I have a number of diamond and sapphire rings that I am pretty
religious about cleaning. Last night, I had this wild idea and I want
to hear the opinions of you all.

I boiled some water in a pot and tied a few rings to a grill that
straddled the top of the pot (the rings were not submerged in the water
this way) and I covered the pot and grill for about a minute. When I
took the grill off, the rings were warm but not hot from the steam
(which wasn't anywhere near as concentrated as steam cleaners) but the
stones appeared to really benefit from the steam.

My questions are as follows:

1) Could that degree of heat harm a stone? I do have a ring with
colored diamonds that are colored from irradiation. The rings were just
slightly warm to the touch but not anywhere near hot.

2) Wouldn't the relative slow heating from steam like this be better
for the rings long-term than a high-powered blast of steam
occasionally. I clean all my jewelry at least 1x a week.

Thanks a lot.

On Tue, 06 Dec 2005 07:56:38 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry "Ronald"
wrote:


1) Could that degree of heat harm a stone? I do have a ring with
colored diamonds that are colored from irradiation. The rings were just
slightly warm to the touch but not anywhere near hot.

Certainly not your diamonds, even colored ones. Only a few gems, like amber,
turqoise, glued in things, etc, will object to that heat.


2) Wouldn't the relative slow heating from steam like this be better
for the rings long-term than a high-powered blast of steam
occasionally. I clean all my jewelry at least 1x a week.

A blast of steam can shatter a few especially heat sensative stones, but your
diamonds are not one of them, and even then, gently bringing the ring up into
the steam jet so the heating is not instant, makes steamers OK for most stones,
though it can blow out especially loose or improperly set ones. Your method
avoids that.

But frankly, you're being way too gentle. you've got the right start though.
Get rid of the grill, or hang from it, some unfolded paper clips (or hangthese
over the edge of the pot), so the rings, hanging on the resulting hooks, are
indeed immersed in the water. Add some gentle detergent (dish soap, for
example). Bring the water to a simmer with the rings in it if you wish to avoid
sudden heating (your diamonds won't mind that, but as with steam, a few other
stones might, such as opals, peridot, and some others.). Let is simmer five or
ten minutes. Remove, allow to cool, and rinse in plain water. THAT willbe as
clean as any pro can get it. It's how we did the job back before we had
ultrasonics and steam cleaners, though pros will use something a tad stronger
than plain dish soap.

And you'll find, even simpler, is to keep a jar of water with plain dish
detergent in it. At night, when you go to bed, put the rings in it to soak
overnight. rinse off in the morning. Because it's cold, it's slower than the
"boil out" pot, but for most dirt and grime, it works just as well with no fuss,
especially when done frequently.

cheers

Peter Rowe

Thank you, sir!

I noticed that my rings had a pretty decent shine to them this morning
from the
steam bath and one that I would consider superior to the chemicals I've
been buying as a dip cleaner. In fact, on one ring, I noticed the area
behind my diamonds for the first time and I can only assume that's
because it's cleaner than it's ever been.

I'll do the ring boil tonight.