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Cleaning Gold Finds

18kRonin

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Joined
Sep 23, 2010
Messages
2,313
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Treasure Island
Just did this post on one of my threads thought it might help those of you lucky enough to score gold.

Before polishing


And after polishing


Here's my 101 on cleaning gold. Quite easy once you get over the fear of losing gold while polishing :laughing:

On that ring I lost 0.06g of 18K which at today's scrap price is only around $2 one big heavily scratched ring I lost a gram :shock: but on average expect to lose 0.02-0.04g.

I just use a $30 variable speed drill with a lock on trigger on a
cheap drill stand that clamps onto a table like this one.



With a felt wheel the same size as this


It has to be felt to get a good finish, cloth wheels are messy and leave marks on gold and silver.

For gold I only use green Jeweler's rouge polishing compound like this to get out the deeper scratches and bring up a good shine. spin the felt wheel at a medium speed and gently press the compound to the wheel. The heat and friction of the spinning wheel will be enough to transfer a small amount of the compound onto the wheel for polishing. I'm still on my first small bar of the stuff. If the ring is really scratched I push hard at first relaxing the pressure as it starts to shine. Only takes a couple of minutes to bring up a good shine. For the inside of the band I use a big nail or even a pencil in the drill with gold polishing cloth wrapped around it 5 or 6 times and apply the rouge the same way if the inside is scratched if not just use liquid metal polish.


Then use a liquid metal polish applied while the wheel is stopped just enough for it to soak in and not spray everywhere and gently polish with that for a few minutes until you've got the finish you want then I put some of the same liquid polish on 2-3 tissues folded up and gently hand polish to really make that ring pop. After that wash the ring in hot soapy water to remove any dirt and polish.
I use this polish but any high finish polish should do.



On one half of the felt wheel I put rouge and on the other half liquid polish so I don't have to change wheels. It shouldn't take any longer than 10mins to clean up a ring that has been in sand or dirt for years. Crusty 10K class rings might take a bit longer :lol:

Hope this helps.
HH&GL
18
 
Just to be pretty for a ring display. I use mothers mag and aluminum polish and a sock:lol: It also works on silver.
 
I let ARA clean my rings. I don't lose any gold or use electricity.

BUT you did a great job and it looks awesome

Yeah I hear what you're saying SD, only the good quality stuff gets that treatment. Getting 150%+ of the ARA price at auction makes up for the $2 of gold I lost :yes:
Always good to see a piece of jewelry as found and then at its best.
 
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