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Harriet Kelsall
25th May 2007 10:01

How to Clean an Engagement Ring at Home

 
White gold engagement ring with emerald cut sapphire and diamonds

Hello again! My customers often ask me how to clean their engagement rings. Of course the official line is to always take your ring to a good jeweller in order to clean it, but in reality it is possible to give a ring with a sapphire, diamond or ruby a simple clean at home. Sapphires in particular really benefit from cleaning because light does not totally-internally reflect with them as well as it does with a diamond, and so they do so lose their sparkle when the backs get mucky. Even a little hand cream can build up and stop your stones sparkling.

I should just emphasize that home cleaning is only really suitable for a really well made and sound engagement ring. But if your well made engagement ring is made from gold, white gold, rose gold or platinum with no stones other than diamonds, sapphires or rubies, it is easy to give it a really good clean up at home and it only takes a few minutes. You can do this as often as you like and if you try this, you will be pleased that you did as your precious stones will sparkle like they did when your ring was new!

It is, though, very important not to try this with any other stones than diamonds, sapphires or rubies - seek advice from a good jeweller before home-cleaning anything other than this as many stones like emeralds or opals could be severely damaged by home cleaning because they are porous and chemicals or even hard water can damage them

Before you start, have a really good look at your engagement ring. Check that the claws look really sound and that none of the stones are chipped or moving in their settings. If you do have any damage or any claws which look worryingly thin, it is important to take your ring straight to a good jeweller and not try cleaning it at home for fear of loosing the stone if it is dislodged during the cleaning process.

toothbrush and engagement ringRun a basin full of warm to hot water (with the plug in to avoid accidentally dropping your ring down!). Get a very soft bristled toothbrush (I have a baby's toothbrush) or a sable paintbrush and neat washing up liquid... it is very important that the brush is soft so that the bristles could not scratch the metal. Put a few drops of the washing up liquid straight onto the damp brush and brush the bristles in and around all of the stones - including the backs of the stones (which should be open to the finger to enable cleaning on a good quality ring). Rinse this in the water and repeat until you are happy you have got all of the dirt off. It is important not to apply too much pressure when brushing so that you don't scratch the metal or push the stones so much as to dislodge them from their settings. Then dry the ring using a lint free cloth - ideally a gold or platinum polishing cloth (see below for a link). Then rub the metal over with the same metal cleaning cloth to make it shine.

When storing your metal cleaning cloth, you must keep it in a packet and not out in the atmosphere because if you do, not only will the polish dry up more quickly, also dust or grit can get onto it and then when you rub your metal with it, this will scratch the ring.

gin and glassIf there is any really caked-on dirt (e.g. anything like pastry that has hardened onto the ring) or if you haven't cleaned it for a really long time, it sometimes helps to soak the ring overnight submerged in neat liquid flash before you start (that's right - the all purpose or floor cleaner! Or you can use any other similar non-abrasive neat floor or all-purpose). Just pop your ring in a glass and completely cover it in this liquid detergent... being careful to put this in an unusual place so that you don't accidentally pour it away and loose your ring! This soak will help loosen off this dirt before you start. In days gone by, people used to soak their diamonds in gin which also works and is a very good excuse to buy a bottle of nice Bombay sapphire gin (!)

Another thing that my customers often say from our grandparent's generation is that you can clean a diamond ring with toothpaste but I don't recommend this as I think it is a bit too abrasive and could scratch the metal on a fine setting.

You can buy your baby toothbrush, detergents (or your gin!) at your local supermarket or go online for example places like Tesco deliver straight to your door, they also sell Goddardís silver polishing cloths which are quite good for silver. We sell small gold and platinum polishing cloths which we recommend in both of our shops for just a couple of pounds and you can see where our shops are here. (Or find out where to buy some lovely Bombay sapphire gin here!

dazzling imagesSo give it a whirl and be dazzled by the results!

Harriet Kelsall
 

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  • Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design, North Barn, Fairclough Hall Farm, Halls Green, Weston, Hertfordshire, SG4 7DP, England
    Phone: +44 (0)1462 790565 Fax: +44 (0)1462 790140 enquiries@hkjewellery.co.uk
  • Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design, 6/7 Green Street, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB2 3JU, England.
    Phone: +44 (0)1223 461333 Fax: +44 (0)1223 365269 cambridge@hkjewellery.co.uk

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