Caring for Your Diamond Jewelry
Diamonds are the strongest natural substances on this planet. They can cut any type of rock or metal, but a diamond is the only object that can cut another diamond. In fact, you have to heat the stone to about 1290-1650 degrees Fahrenheit in order to burn it. However, the oil from human skin can easily cause dirt to accumulate, making this almost unbreakable gem lose its shine.
So how should you keep your diamond looking perfect? Below are some really good tips:
1. As much as possible, keep your hands off your diamonds.
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Diamonds attract grease, so they’re not very easy to keep clean. When you touch a diamond, the oils from your skin automatically adheres to the stone’s surface and reduces its brilliance.
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2. Clean the stones from time to time.
A great method of keeping your diamond jewelry looking stunning is to soak it in mild degreasing liquid, like water with a few drops of gentle dishwashing soap, around once or twice weekly. Once the the diamond has been removed from the solution, you can brush out any remaining dirt using a very soft and clean toothbrush. The tool has to be new and used exclusively for cleaning your jewelry. Use it to get to those hard-to-reach parts, like the gemstone’s back, where it typically collects a lot of dirt and oil.
3. Be gentle.
Delicate settings, such as older prongs in antique jewelry, or a tension setting in which the diamond is held in position by pressure from the shank, should be very gently scrubbed. After doing so, rinse the diamond jewelry with water and use a a soft, lint-free cloth to dry it. If you’re cleaning the diamond over a sink, don’t forget to cover the drain.
4. Stay away from harsh cleaning materials.
Harsh and abrasive cleaning solutions must never touch your diamonds because they can be destructive, not only to the metals or alloys but even to the stones themselves.
5. Use ultrasonic cleaners very carefully.
An ultrasonic cleaner will be necessary to remove toughened dirt on diamonds from time to time. With the low frequency sound waves that are sent through a solution, ultrasonic cleaners are able to remove the accumulated dirt and grime. The problem though is that these sound waves can also loosen the stones from their mountings, or chip the girdles that found in between the stones. Be careful if your jewelry has feathers or if the stones have been treated by fracture filling.
Before you put your diamond in an ultrasonic cleaner, make sure you have read and understood the grading report, where it will be indicated whether or not the stone has been treated before. Also approach a professional jeweler who can tell you if your jewelry should be repaired, as when stones have loosened, before they can be safely cleaned.
The magic behind a diamond’s sparkle is found in its facets, which are like several tiny mirrors that reflect light in and out of the precious stone. If these facets are cleaned on a regular basis, your diamond will keep sparkling and gleaming forever.
