Cleaning Gold Chains
Cleaning gold chains is quite often an overlooked aspect of owning gold jewellery.
Value Of Gold Chains
Gold is an inert or non reactive metal in its pure state, however, once it becomes alloyed with other metals it does need a little care. One of the easiest ways of cleaning chains is by soaking the gold chain in isopropyl alcohol, sometimes called rubbing alcohol. This can be obtained in a variety of percentages the higher the percentage of pure alcohol the less water it contains.
Isopropyl alcohol does a couple of things, it is the same alcohol that is used in gels in hospitals to sterilize hand and instruments. Any gold jewellery will benefit from a clean and isopropyl alcohol removes the thin layer of oil that builds up with use, this applies to all jewellery including bracelets, earings and necklaces. So it is a useful asset to have in the kitchen cupboard.
The oil attracts grime from the atmosphere and takes the sheen off the gold.
In addition to cleaning gold chains the alcohol is great at killing any germs that might accumulate.
Cleaning gold chains prolongs the gold lustre, however, it is important to use the right tools and techniques, gold is often formed into really intricate shapes and some expensive and delicate designs can be damaged. Areas to look at are where the gold is fine and thinner than normal for example around clasps or prongs of settings on gold necklaces.
Cleaning gold chains – products
1. Give it a good soak in ispropyl alcohol, might well need to be a few hours to remove any oil and grease.
2. Rinse with warn water.
3. This should be followed by a clean with jewelers solution, this is a mixture of ammonia and water, 1:4, if preferred proprietary products are available.
4. Usng a soft bristled tooth brush, make sure it is soft as gold and siver can both be scratched.
5. Rinse again and dry by dabbing.
6. The chain can be buffed using a terry towelling cloth.
Gold chains can also be cleaned with jewellers rouge, this can be bought as a powder and mixed with water of oil or as a stick, jewelers rouge is a very mild abrasive, so mild it can be used to polish scratches out of glass. This need to be remembered if you are cleaning gold chains regularly.
There are also a range of impregnated cloths of various sizes that can be used to clean gold chains.
Storing Gold Chains
Cleaning gold chains Storing gold chains so that they do not get tangled and knotted is easy to say but a bit harder to do. Some obvious solutions are to hang them. There are some good boxes available to store gold chains, this example is a very well reviewed example.
Value Of Gold Chains
One of the surprising things to find is that there are now products for everything, one of these that we particularly like at gold supermarket are these anti tarnish tissues. Simply lay the chain on the tissue and fold it in to prevent tarnish for storing. Avoid using rubber bands as over time they lose there elasticity and go brittle, as they do this they give off tiny amounts of sulphur which will tarnish your chain.
Care needs to be taken if you are using plastic bags to keep the air away from gold jewellery. This works fine if you are protecting gold chains alone, however, if your jewellery contains pearls they need to breathe to maintain their condition, so make sure you don’t suffocate them in a bag !
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