Keeping Your Rings Clean
I hear it all the time, “How can I keep my ring looking sparkly??”
Well the good news is that there are a few tips and tricks I have below to help keep your ring sparkly clean at home. You should also bring your ring into a respected and trustworthy jeweler to have it checked.
A few at home tips:
Buy a cheap toothbrush at the grocery store.
Rinse the toothbrush and ring in some water.
Then use a non-abrasive soap (dawn dish soap works great!) Once a little bit of soap is on the ring, go ahead and lightly brush around your ring and diamonds.
Be sure if you’re over a sink that you’ve got something to catch the ring if it falls, last thing you want is for it to go down the drain, or worse, garbage disposal!
You can use a little bowl of water if the sink option freaks you out.
Re-rinse the ring, making sure you’ve really cleared all that soap off. If any residue remains on the ring it can cause irritation on your hand.
Voila you’re all done!
You can always buy a jewelry cleaner at a store which works great too! We have one at Hurdle’s Jewelry for just $6 which includes a brush as well!
It’s nearly impossible to get the ring looking as sparkly clean as a jewelry store can get it for two different reasons.
Jewelry stores use an ultrasonic machine and a steamer
Sometimes the material of your ring requires polishing which takes the scratches out of the metal.
Often, you’ll see an at-home use ultrasonic machine available for purchase online. These don’t work as well as the industrial ones we have in store. Additionally, you need to be careful what gemstones you are putting into these machines, as some of them cannot handle this type of environment. It is also important to know that these machines can loosen your diamonds if they’re being held in by lotions and other stuff that gathers around them.
The benefit of bringing it to a jewelry store is that they can use magnification to check your diamonds and gemstones. They can certainly loosen up over time or if they take a lot of wear. In addition the metal around your gemstones/diamonds need to be checked for cracks, fractures and wear. We recommend having these things checked at least once every six months. If you’re ever down on Pearl Street in Boulder, stop in to Hurdle’s Jewelry, we’ll check and clean all of your jewelry for FREE as often as you want, while you wait!!
What Happens If I Have a Loose Diamond?!
It seems scary, I know. Having your diamonds loosen up/fall out is much more common than people expect. One scenario that we see all the time is side diamonds loosening up or falling out after the ring has been sized.
When a jeweler goes to size your ring either up or down the material is pulled in one direction. This causes the angle of which prongs are holding the diamonds to change. Following a sizing, an experienced goldsmith will go back in and re-tighten all of the diamonds moving the angles of the prongs to properly cover the diamonds. Here’s what many people don’t know, metal tends to have a muscle memory. Therefore as it settles over the weeks following a sizing, the material can move slightly (think about a house creaking and cracking while it settles at night). Depending on the density or purity of the metal, it may have a tendency to move more than other materials do. I always recommend having your diamonds checked within a few weeks of having your ring sized just to be safe!
It’s also extremely important to get your valuables appraised!! Want to learn more about appraisals? Take a look at my blog post:
If you’re in need of an appraisal, feel free to give me a call at Hurdle’s Jewelry. We can schedule you up for a while-you-wait appointment. We offer these events once every few weeks.
What if I don’t live in Boulder?!
It is important to know the jeweler you’re working with is experienced and trustworthy. You can always check Google or Yelp reviews. Additionally, make sure they are an AGS certified store. Jewelry stores must go through a lot of certification to qualify as an AGS store.
Find an AGS certified store in your area here:
Lastly, there is no such thing as cleaning your ring too often! If you had free access to have a doctor check up within 5 minutes at your convenience wouldn’t you do it?! Think of it as a check up for your jewels!
