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Greendale Diamonds Supply South Africa |
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Diamond Care
Care & Cleaning of Diamond Rings
We are often asked how to care for and clean diamond rings. We have to
consider the diamonds, the ring mount, and any other stones apart from
diamonds. Other Stones
On this page, we will limit ourselves to the care of the diamonds and
mount, for information about any other gemstones, please refer to our A
to Z of Gemstones page.
General Care of Diamond Rings
Diamonds are extremely hard and durable, but there are things which can
damage them, so it is important to know what to avoid. Diamonds can be
broken by a sharp impact on a hard surface, so dropping a ring onto a
concrete floor could cause the diamond to cleave, especially if it
struck at precisely the wrong place. This is not very likely to happen,
and diamonds are so durable, that you may get away with dropping it onto
concrete 1,000 times without damage. We would not recommend the
experiment! Rings do come in for a large amount of wear and tear when
they are on fingers, and an accidental blow on metal or other hard
surface could have a similar or greater effect than being dropped.
This sort of collision damage is more likely to wear or break the ring
mount, so it is worth inspecting the ring carefully after any hard knock
to ensure that any claws are still intact and the stone is tight.
One of the worst things for causing wear and damage to diamonds is
allowing them to rub and knock against other diamonds. This will cause
abrasion and chipping, particularly around the girdle of the stone. If
you wear several rings next to each other, it is better if there is a
metal to metal contact between them. Although this will cause wear, it
can be repaired fairly easily. We do see a number of older ladies, who
have acquired a number of rings over a long period of time, wearing two,
three or more rings on one finger. We even had one customer who had
seven diamond rings on one finger. They were all quite large, and the
thought of the damage to the diamonds made us cringe. This particular
little old lady knew that her enjoyment of her rings was more important
than the cost of any damage to them.
A number of years ago, we sold a large cubic zirconia ring to a lady,
who brought it back less than six months later with all three stones
almost worn away and looking very dull. We replace it, but advised her
not to wear against her other diamond rings.
Reasonable care should be taken not to catch diamond settings with
filaments of thread, particularly strong synthetic threads which may
bend claws, and loosen the stones they are meant to be securing.
It is worth having your ring checked by a jeweller occasionally for wear
or damage to the settings, particularly with claw set rings. Of course,
you can do this yourself, but most jewellers have suitable magnifying
glasses which make close inspection much easier. If you notice a stone
which is loose, this should definitely be checked by a jeweller as soon
as possible.
Cleaning Diamond Jewellery
When jewellery is worn next to the skin, it will become covered and
clogged in oily debris mainly composed of dead skin. Dust and grit
become lodged in this. Wearing rings while washing up can also allow a
greasy film to coat the backs of stones (diamonds just love grease!),
and the inside of settings.
The main purpose of cleaning diamond rings is to remove all this greasy
debris, and allow light to enter and leave the diamonds, restoring their
sparkle. Nothing you would ever use to clean your ring is likely to
damage the diamonds without damaging the mount, so we will describe how
to clean the metal part of rings. The mount will normally be made of
gold, preferably 18 carat gold, of platinum, or of a mixture of the two.
Other gold alloys are not as suitable, for an explanation of this,
please refer to our Durability of Gold Alloys page.
The Ring Mount
Most gold or platinum jewellery can be cleaned in warm soapy water,
detergent is equally good. It can be gently brushed if necessary using
an old tooth brush especially to remove debris behind the stones. It is
better to avoid cleaning agents containing abrasives, including
toothpaste. Some people swear by gin. All alcohol will dissolve grease,
but this is a waste of good gin.
Gold Alloys
High carat alloys such as 18 carat and above, will not usually become
tarnished, and will not be harmed by household chemicals.
Lower carat gold can be harmed by contact with chlorine based bleach and
cleaning chemicals.
Chlorine can cause stress corrosion cracking in lower gold alloys of 14
carat and below, although it will be worse if the jewellery contains
porosity through less than perfect manufacturing treatments. Because of
this it is best to avoid cleaning your jewellery with bleach or other
cleaners containing chlorine, and also to avoid wearing it when in
contact with bleach.
Proprietary Jewellery Cleaner
Most jewellers now sell tubs of "Jewellery Cleaner". Although it will
clean your jewellery, it will not necessarily work any better than the
warm soapy water we recommend above.
Ultrasonic Cleaners
Jewellery manufacturers and workshops use ultrasonic cleaning tanks. In
these, the actual cleaning is performed by the cleaning solution,
usually a mixture of ammonia and detergent, the ultrasonics merely
provide the agitation to speed up the process. Small domestic ultrasonic
cleaners are now available, and many jewellery stores sell them as gift
items. We are not convinced that they work better than soap, water and a
brush.
Tarnish
Low carat gold alloys will tarnish or discolour through exposure to air.
This tarnish is not removed by ordinary cleaning. To remove it will
usually require the application of gentle abrasive to rub away the layer
of tarnished gold. In jewellery workshops, acid may to used to dissolve
the tarnish layer, but this is not practical at home.
The best way to avoid tarnish is to buy 18 carat gold jewellery, which
hardly ever becomes tarnished.
Silver
It is unusual for diamonds to be set in silver as it is too soft to be
used for diamond rings.
Repolishing
If jewellery with polished surfaces becomes matt and dull over long
periods of wear, it can usually be repolished, but we believe that this
is not really necessary. Items like diamond rings are bound to become
scratched, but we believe that, particularly with high carat golds and
platinum, the intrinsic colour of the metal retains its beauty even when
scratched and worn.
Gemstone Settings
It is advisable to avoid cleaning stone-set jewellery in a hand-basin.
If stones become loose in cleaning, they can easily become lost down the
drain.
Right after cleaning is a very common time to discover that stones are
missing. Occasionally careless cleaning can be the cause, but usually
wear and tear over a period of time are the real cause, and the cleaning
merely appears to be the cause. Damage and trauma to jewellery can occur
in everyday use, and sometimes the stones are only held in their
settings by a build up of grease. When this is removed by cleaning, the
stones drop out.
Literally, dirt and grease were the only things holding the stones in
place!
Contact Us Email:
greendiam@tiscali.co.za
 
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Diamond Info |
| There
have always been things which looked like diamonds, but were not
diamond. I have already stated that in early times other stones
were confused with diamond. |
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