Need some advice on how best to clean a really black silver ring with a diamond in it. My first thought was a tumbler with nothing but the ring with aquarium gravel and cleaning solution. But, is this not a good idea because of the diamond? Will the diamond pop out because of the tumbling? Also, what would be the best cleaning solution?
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Cleaning Silver Ring with Diamond
- Thread starter unearth
- Start date
EEEK!
No. Never tumble anything of value in gravel...unless you want it to soon be nothing of value.
(Depending on the rock tumbler, a diamond can very easily chip...if tumbled in gravel.)
There are jewelry cleaning/polishing cloths impregnated with chemicals that will neutralize the tarnish and quickly/easily remove it.
They make them for both gold and for silver jewelry.
There are metal polishing pastes (such as Flitz) that can be used with micro-fiber cloths and a toothbrush to remove tarnish.
Tip: Be extremely careful with a micro-fiber cloth around the diamond mounts...the tiny fibers like to snag on anything and everything sharp.
There are household brands of 'old-school' liquid silver cleaner (such as Tarn-X) meant for silverware and jewelry.
Electrolysis works very well for tarnished jewelry, but obviously requires the hardware.
Hint: If you choose to try electrolysis, don't make the solution out of salt water...use baking soda instead.
If you think the ring is of very high value, take it to a reputable jewelry store and have them clean it for you.
Many well established jewelers will offer free (or very low cost) cleaning as a sales tool. Check around.
Finally, don't use any of these silver cleaning techniques on rare silver coins.
Anything other than very gentle removal of dirt with plain water, starts to degrade the value of a rare coin substantially.
mike
No. Never tumble anything of value in gravel...unless you want it to soon be nothing of value.
(Depending on the rock tumbler, a diamond can very easily chip...if tumbled in gravel.)
There are jewelry cleaning/polishing cloths impregnated with chemicals that will neutralize the tarnish and quickly/easily remove it.
They make them for both gold and for silver jewelry.
There are metal polishing pastes (such as Flitz) that can be used with micro-fiber cloths and a toothbrush to remove tarnish.
Tip: Be extremely careful with a micro-fiber cloth around the diamond mounts...the tiny fibers like to snag on anything and everything sharp.
There are household brands of 'old-school' liquid silver cleaner (such as Tarn-X) meant for silverware and jewelry.
Electrolysis works very well for tarnished jewelry, but obviously requires the hardware.
Hint: If you choose to try electrolysis, don't make the solution out of salt water...use baking soda instead.
If you think the ring is of very high value, take it to a reputable jewelry store and have them clean it for you.
Many well established jewelers will offer free (or very low cost) cleaning as a sales tool. Check around.
Finally, don't use any of these silver cleaning techniques on rare silver coins.
Anything other than very gentle removal of dirt with plain water, starts to degrade the value of a rare coin substantially.
mike
dewcon4414
Well-known member
Bar Keepers...is pretty good as well. If it really corroded electrolytes first. You can make one easily with a phone charger and a couple gator clips.
jim tn said:
Indeed.
I somehow forgot about mentioning baking soda and water if it's not too harshly tarnished ....must be getting senile, LOL.
Again, just rubbing the paste on with your fingers gets most of it, then use a toothbrush to get the paste into hard to reach spots if it's a complex design.
Rinse well.
REVIER
Well-known member
Any moisture/humidity will cause silver to tarnish, if they stay in that environment for long they can go completely black.
Here is one such silver ring.
Found in an area where I also found a silver quarter that was so tarnished and black I missed it and didn't notice what I had until after I tumbled it.
This ring was also found in the same site and area which was the bank of a long forgotten tiny fishing pond buried in the middle of the woods.
The moisture that never really went away from where these silver pieces laid worked on them for years so they both turned black.
I didn't suspect it was silver until I saw the 925 mark, I never saw anything silver tarnish this bad.
No way could I get in there to clean all the tiny nooks and crannies around those marcasite stones so I used SCIENCE!
I place a piece of aluminum foil in the bottom of a small pan or pot and covered it with a thin slurry of baking soda and water and heated it up.
When heated I took the ring and tossed it on top of the foil sitting on the bottom of the pan.
I let it rest on the foil for a second or two and used tongs to turn it over to make sure all sides made contact with the foil for at least a few seconds.
Or, you can just heat up the slurry and just wrap the ring in foil and just toss it in the pot for a few seconds.
Instantly all the black tarnish is pulled out of the ring because it is being attracted to the foil in the pan.
Silver doesn't come out shiny this way, more of a dull finish like in the pic below but a little normal polishing using silver polish and a rag or a buffing wheel and it shines up like new.
Trust me, this is super easy, wont harm silver jewelry or any stones and it works.
Here is one such silver ring.
Found in an area where I also found a silver quarter that was so tarnished and black I missed it and didn't notice what I had until after I tumbled it.
This ring was also found in the same site and area which was the bank of a long forgotten tiny fishing pond buried in the middle of the woods.
The moisture that never really went away from where these silver pieces laid worked on them for years so they both turned black.
I didn't suspect it was silver until I saw the 925 mark, I never saw anything silver tarnish this bad.
No way could I get in there to clean all the tiny nooks and crannies around those marcasite stones so I used SCIENCE!
I place a piece of aluminum foil in the bottom of a small pan or pot and covered it with a thin slurry of baking soda and water and heated it up.
When heated I took the ring and tossed it on top of the foil sitting on the bottom of the pan.
I let it rest on the foil for a second or two and used tongs to turn it over to make sure all sides made contact with the foil for at least a few seconds.
Or, you can just heat up the slurry and just wrap the ring in foil and just toss it in the pot for a few seconds.
Instantly all the black tarnish is pulled out of the ring because it is being attracted to the foil in the pan.
Silver doesn't come out shiny this way, more of a dull finish like in the pic below but a little normal polishing using silver polish and a rag or a buffing wheel and it shines up like new.
Trust me, this is super easy, wont harm silver jewelry or any stones and it works.
LawrencetheMDer
Active member
REVIER said:
I have used a similar technique; foil on bottom of pan, baking soda, wrap ring in foil, bring to light boil, turn-off let sit for 5-10 minutes, scrub off or brush off tarnish, repeat as necessary until all tarnish is gone. Even works on very heavy tarnished and encrusted rings. Some silver rings over years get so encrusted that you can take a solid wooden hammer or other hard device and hit the ring to remove the encrustation. Freezing and then drying and hitting the ring can also remove heavy encrustation.
Mkus-
I was surprised also when I tested the chip in the ring. I wasn't expecting a real diamond, but I've had two other silver rings with diamonds in them, so I always check. When I found the ring it looked like a spacer so I just put it in my pouch to discard later. I didn't see a chip or any markings on the ring (spacer). After I cleaned the ring (spacer) up a bit I saw the glitter of the chip and it was really glittering. So I got my diamond tester out, and, it was real. After a couple of baking soda cleanings I now see the hole under the diamond and the 925 mark.
I was surprised also when I tested the chip in the ring. I wasn't expecting a real diamond, but I've had two other silver rings with diamonds in them, so I always check. When I found the ring it looked like a spacer so I just put it in my pouch to discard later. I didn't see a chip or any markings on the ring (spacer). After I cleaned the ring (spacer) up a bit I saw the glitter of the chip and it was really glittering. So I got my diamond tester out, and, it was real. After a couple of baking soda cleanings I now see the hole under the diamond and the 925 mark.
Mike K (Ohio)
Active member
unearth said:
I've just used a small electrolysis machine to clean all my silver and copper!!!! See the before and after pictures.... Run it in there for about an hour or 2 and using a dab of tooth paste and your good!!!!