Heart of Stone Studio Blog

Sonic cleaners

    I've used sonic cleaners in the past and have always passed up buying one for myself. "Too much money that I can better spend someplace else," I would tell myself. So I spent years laboriously cleaning off stones and jewelry by hand. Maybe not such a wise decision, considering the time I wasted.

    Finally, I found a sonic cleaner on sale at the Tucson gem show and made the investment. Of course, this is not one of those plastic jobbies that you can buy in the drugstore, but a real one, made of brushed stainless steel. Sonic cleaners are basically little tubs into which you put soapy water, and when you turn them on, they bombard the stones with soundwaves, which knock loose stubborn dirt particles. They really do get faceted stones and jewelry much cleaner than by hand. It's always nice to clean friends' diamond rings for them, because they come out sparkling.

   Sonic cleaners do have pros and cons, however. Another pro, in addition to how sparkling they get faceted stones, is that they are very useful in removing greasy buffing compounds when you're in the process of polishing up a metal jewelry piece you've made. They also loosen gummy glues and tapes that might be attached to the backs of cabochons. (These tasks are made much easier if you use a sonic cleaner model that also heats up the liquid in the tub.) And, even with a small version, you can clean quite a few pieces of jewelry, or gems, at one time. Most items clean within only 5 to 10 minutes.

   The main drawback to using sonic cleaning machines is that you can't put delicate things into them such as opals, pearls, or soft stones such as turquoise. And I would not sonic clean drusies--although its matrix might well keep the stone together, the sound waves might force some of the crystals to spall off, and you'd be left with a stone with noticeable "holes" in its surface. Also, I recommend against the sonic cleaning of coated drusies--that coating is thin and you don't want to abrade it with sound waves. In addition, you absolutely should NOT sonic clean any stone that has fractures running through it--the sound waves can cause the stone to break apart. I've got some lovely Laboradorite cabs that were perfect going in, but because they contained hidden fractures, they came out in pieces. Lastly, you don't want to bombard your fingers with these waves, so be sure to turn off the machine before you reach in to pick up your piece.

  On the positive side, diamonds, most transparent faceted colored stones, most cabs that are hard and without fractures, and most gold, platinum, and sterling silver jewelry responds well to sonic cleaning. If you are interested, I recommend investing in a professional one that you can buy from a jeweler's supply. You don't have to get a big one--I spent less than $100 for mine. I also recommend investing in one that has a heater so that you can warm up the water, which helps as well.

   My bottom line on sonic cleaners is that they can be a big time saver, especially for cleaning jewelry pieces with lots of nooks and crannies. But when in doubt, I suggest that you insure the safety of the piece or stone by turning off the sonic cleaner and doing it by hand.

   If any other jewelers out there have input on sonic cleaners, I'd sure like to hear from you. If you'd like to see some really beautiful--and clean--stones, stop by my website: www.heartofstonestudio.com

next....cleaning drusies

    

How to clean gemstones

  Sorry to be quiet so long; I've been traveling and most recently, publishing one hundred new gemstones to my Heart of Stone Studio.com website. But now I'm back and thinking of things of interest to share with you.

  Something that I thought would be helpful is to talk about cleaning and storing gemstones. I handle literally thousands of stones a year, and it is important for the stones to look their best when they arrive in my customers' mailboxes. Here are the ways that I clean gemstones:

  For cleaning cabochons, people use many different things. I've heard of people using Windex, ammonia, and a variety of glass cleaners. My choice is something I learned from a lapidarist: denatured alchohol. This is not rubbing alcohol or any alcohol that you can buy off the shelf. Unlike rubbing alcohol, denatured alcohol doesn't contain any extra ingredients, and the concentration of real alchohol is much higher. The only place I can get it is from a pharmacy, sometimes by special order. It is more expensive than rubbing alcohol, but is still affordable and a bottle lasts quite a while, as long as you don't let it sit open for more than a few minutes at a time (it evaporates quickly if exposed to air). I order two bottles at once; as long as the bottle is kept tightly closed, it will keep for months. Be sure to store it away from heat, direct sunlight, or open flames.

   The denatured alcohol works great on agates, jaspers--any dense, non-organically-based stone. It cleans off glue, tape, dirt, grease, fingerprints, and reveals any shine that might be hidden under grime. If you have a stone with lots of gunk on the back, you can put the denatured alcohol on a 3M green plastic scouring pad and use that to get things clean.

     For the fronts of stone, I wouldn't recommend using the scouring pad--you don't want to risk scratching areas of the stone that might be softer. Most people grab a paper towel or a soft cotton cloth, but I've found that both of these leave a ton of lint behind (which shows up in my closeup photographs). Instead, I use microfiber cloths, which leave very little lint.  Microfiber cloths are sold in the cleaning section of most large supermarkets. After they get dirty, these can be washed, although they should be washed separately to avoid picking up lint from other clothing.

      Now I might be overly protective, but I prefer not to use the denatured alcohol on corals, fossils, turquoise, and copper fire bricks. For these stones, I like to use a glass cleaner called Cinch. It seems to contain components that clean nicely and leave a shiny surface. I also use Cinch for cleaning my fused glass. After cleaning, I store the cabs in little plastic bags.

     One caveat of denatured alcohol--you don't want to use it anywhere near pearls. In fact, you don't want to use any strong cleaner near pearls. That would really damage them.

      Next, sonic cleaners....