|
How should it be done?
The Question:
It’s a question we get asked all the
time, “How do I clean my gold?”
Sometimes those nuggets come of the
ground bright and shiny, other times we
don’t get so lucky. Quite often they are
concealed beneath a layer of mud, muck,
clay, ironstone, caliche, grit, grime,
and all the other treats Mother Nature
has at her disposal. In most cases this
crud detracts from the natural beauty of
the gold and must be removed, but what
is the safest way? Do we risk dipping
our newly found treasure in a dangerous
acid to bubble & fizz off the
impurities, or do we chance something
even worse; using our wife’s toothbrush
to scrub dirt out of the cracks &
crevices??? We posed this question to
the members of the Arizona Outback
Prospecting Forum, and these were some
of the replies:
The Answers:
Well, I clean my solid or mostly solid
gold nuggets, with a tooth brush in dawn
dish soap. After scrubbing in that, I
put them in a bottle with a salt and
vinegar solution and shake it up for a
few minutes. Cleans them up really nice.
For quartz specimens I use the same
thing followed by an over night dip in
glass etching solution. Here’s how good
it makes the gold and quartz look.
Grubstake Ps I forgot, if you get one
that has a lot of rust, you can use
navel jelly. Just leave it in overnight
I used to use Hydrofluoric Acid until I
had the nails of three fingers on the
right hand ripped off by the local
medical staff. This stuff can be LETHAL
unless properly treated by trained
medical staff. It doesn’t wash off in
water. These days I use soap, water,
brushes - dishwashing liquid, some times
a little bleach or other strong cleaning
solutions .... but NEVER HF Acid.
I've had pretty good luck with foaming
Ammonia and lightly shaking in a bottle.
Except for this last time. One of my
little nuggets must of been held
together with that mud! I now have 3
little ones and a bunch of flakes.
For cleaning nuggets I use a Jewelers
Ultrasonic cleaner with warm water and a
small amount (spoonful) of Jewelry
cleaner. In a few minutes it's a
beautiful Gold nugget without being too
bright like some I've seen that were
treated with acid. Same thing for
specimen-type gold, except I go over it
with a toothbrush first to get out any
heavy encrustations in the nooks and
crannies. If it is REAL bad, I will
rarely use acid.
I prefer to keep my gold pretty much as
I find it. If I want to clean it, I have
found soaking in dish soap, rinsing and
then soaking in white vinegar to be very
effective...
A good way to clean off the red staining
on a lot of gold here in Australia is to
use Oxalic acid. Oxalic comes in crystal
form and has to be diluted in warm water
before it can be used. The best way is
to get a Pyrex beaker or jug, place on a
low gas flame in a well ventilated area
and gently simmer for a few hours. This
method works extremely well on white
quartz specimen gold, but is no where
near as aggressive as other acids. I
have also used Drano (for unblocking
drains), just make sure the container
can handle a fair bit of heat because
once that stuff hits water it really
goes to town in a big way, Drano will
rip off a lot of the loose dirt but is
not so good on anything hard. If you
have a problem with iron stone the best
acid is Hydrochloric, Hydrochloric will
remove iron very quickly but you need to
refresh the acid at least twice a day as
well as scrubbing the nuggets
individually with a tooth brush before
returning to the acid.
I used to use diluted nitric acid, which
during cleaning actually causes it to
appear slightly tarnished, then I
diluted and poured off the nitric
solution. Next step was to dry off the
nuggets then I heated them up using an
enamel camping coffee cup. I just set it
on the stove burner and set it on high
for about 15 minutes. They come out very
shiny. Nowadays, I don't clean them
unless you just can't tell their
nuggets. I like retaining the
personality of the nugget, just the way
I found them.
I clean my gold by using hardened and
highly polished blend of balls, pins,
ball cones and angle cuts of stainless
steel. I put about one oz. of the
polishing media in a small plastic
bottle along with some dish soap and
water and add dirty gold nuggets. Shake
the bottle for 10 minutes. It will not
remove all the stains from the Quartz
but will leave the gold nice and shiny
without removing any Gold or Quartz. I
have cleaned small gold from dry washing
and the results are amazing. Lime away
can be used instead of soap for removing
large amonts of caliche. I purchased the
polishing media from Kingsley North Inc.
Toll free #1-800- 338-9280, or
www.kingslynorth.com. A one lb. package
costs 16.95 and will last a life time
for you and a dozen friends.
A good toothbrush and dishwashing
detergent can give really good results
on most gold nuggets. If ironstone is a
problem to you I have found that to get
rid of this I soak the nugget in
hydrochloric acid for a couple of days
and then wash them with a toothbrush and
dishwashing detergent. (The ironstone
'turns' into a clay-like substance).
They come up a treat, but common sense
is needed when using any sort of acid
(the hydrochloric acid is the stuff
bricklayers use to wash down brick
walls). I keep away from the other acid
- the Hydrofluoric Acid as that stuff is
mean and nasty, sure it will get rid of
quartz but you can destroy a very nice
specimen. Enjoy the specimen for what it
is - something really special.
Cleaning gold for maximum value and to
enhance it's beauty will vary depending
on host rock, staining and other types
of “gack” that attaches to it . Many
desert areas have caliche or a lime
carbonate build up which is easily
removed with Limeaway or a mild muratic
acid ( pool acid) mix. If there is iron
staining a quick cleaning in an
ultrasonic with green wonder jewelry
cleaner works great. It will also remove
some of the surface staining in quartz.
There is a mineral dealer out of San
Diego (Kristallie) who X-rays their
larger specimens and waxes one end to
make a stand and Hydroflorics the rest
of the quartz off. Making some very
impressive museum type display pieces.
That process really depends on the
nature of the gold contained within. If
the host rock is limonite or limestone a
simple weak pool acid solution and cook
to the desired results will work. Always
after using acid neutralize the item
with baking soda and water until it
doesn't fizz anymore. I have always been
fond of the Aussie ironstone and gold
species. They are mostly ruined by
Aussie prospectors yet they command high
prices at most gold shows. Once any acid
is used for etching the piece will not
be anything that is easily handled. I
have ruined many pieces by handling them
once etched watching them crumble in my
hands. This year at the Gem show there
was a small cube crystal of gold aprox.
1/2 inch by 1/2 inch (I'm sure it was
etched out of rock) that Krystallie
turned down offers at $100,000 !! Yet I
can't believe some people still use a
dollie-pot ??? Well Here's some pix of
posters and post cards I got on my wall.
These pieces are spectacular and most
are beyond our affordability!! Yet they
all started out as hunks of rock.
I just use a toothbrush and tooth paste.
You know I once met a person in France
who had a Mineral shop and saw this
beautiful gold specimen. He showed it to
me
and I asked him, if it had been in acid,
he said yes. So, I took some of my
species out and showed it to him, not as
shiny but more natural. He looked at
them, and then at me, and said that’s
what customers want now. They must
remain as natural, to much outside
intervention on species sure makes them
look nice, but I think they loose there
charm and history. I mean look at it,
they probably took million of years to
be the way we find them, and we can
change there appearance in a few hours
or day's. No, personally I leave mine
the way I found them; ugly or beautiful.
I have cleaned 2 of mine the old
fashioned way. I put it in my mouth and
sucked the crud off.
Materials: A wet mouth and moist tongue
plus 1 dirty nugget.
Steps: 1) Place dirty nugget in your
mouth 2) Roll in your mouth and moisten
3) Suck and lick the grime off 4) Spit
the crud (not the nugget) out on the
ground.
Safety Precautions: Make sure it’s a
gold nugget and not a rabbit or deer
nugget.
Works great on the ones I cleaned! |
