Featured Ultrasonic Cleaners - Sound Investment?

Ok, so after polishing jewellery and small silver I'm still cleaning all the residue and polishing compound off by hand. I keep thinking about an ultrasonic cleaner, but each time I get going with google I get hit with all the horror stories of items falling apart, stones coming out of the settings, and worse still, a valuable gem fracturing due to an unseen flaw.

Most of the pieces I'm cleaning are vintage or antique, so perhaps more fragile than very recent jewellery. It also means quite a few items will have garnets, paste stones, pearls, marcasites and the range of quartz based stones, so not just diamonds, rubies etc.

Are the horror stories just a myth and it's the equivalent of a hypochondriac googling their symptoms, or are they really not ideal for vintage and antique jewellery?

Many thanks for any thoughts and bonus point if you got the bad pun in the title....

 

Ce, did you read this thread:

https://www.antiquers.com/threads/facebook-strikes-again-silver-mesh-bag.59160/#post-3684051

Don't use it on pearls and foilbacked paste. Don't use it on glued stones/glass.
And check if other stones can take it. I know diamonds can, but that is all I know.

And thanks for the bonus point.

 

Thanks, missed that - I had searched for 'ultrasonic' and not 'ultrasound'.

 

In the thread I called it ultrasonic, don't know why it didn't pick that up. That is how I found it again.

 

What compounds are you using? Water soluble rouge washing off easily. Info on stones etc.that do not belong in an ultrasonic cleaner. https://rauantiques.com/blogs/canvases-carats-and-curiosities/cleaning-caring-gems

 

I just searched the titles, but yes I shows up now if I search generally, thank you.

Oil or tallow based compounds, various grades on felt, linen and swans down mops and lathe brushes. Thanks for the link, that does seem to be the general advice I come across. I'm more concerned with fracturing a sapphire or ruby that has a hidden flaw, but the list of exclusions means I could probably only use it on a small proportion of items, so I'm not sure if it's worth the trouble.

 

I’ve got one and use it very occasionally on low value robust items.
I wouldn’t use it on anything with gems in it that I cared about or has a financial or rarity value.
I damaged some beads with it that must have had faults in them already as they are now very crackled so I am very wary now

 

Like the glass filled rubies and other treatments that are not disclosed.... https://www.today.com/news/red-ruby-alert-major-stores-selling-gems-filled-glass-1D79975847

 

I have come across a few of these in the wild, and I bought one piece at auction to study as it was very cheap (set in silver). Fortunately they seem pretty easy to spot with a loupe, hopefully the process doesn't progress a lot and they become harder to spot.

 

I've used it on some more delicate pieces, back in the days when I could get cleaning solution which did opals and pearls. I agree, never on foil stones. Never had a problem with precious metals or hard gemstones. I've cleaned aquamarine and topaz, too.

 

Many thanks for all the input, I'm still on the fence lol. If I do get one I'll be sure to relate my experiences!

 

Surely this is out and out fraud!

 

I have one and use it all the time. It is especially good for cleaning out all the gunk that gets in the crevices of rings and earrings. I don't use it on a long list of stones that the manufacturer warns against, like pearls, turquoise, opal, emerald, topaz, tanzanite, peridot. I would not use it on any rhinestones or glued in stones.
I had a tiny diamond come loose out of a setting once, no other problems.

 

@KSW - totally illegal here, you could get thoroughly done for it.

@drg642 - I think that depends on the cleaning solution. Agree on glued in.

 

Same here.

 

I've just bought a decent microscope so I put the glass filled ruby under it since we were talking about it. Pretty easy to see the bubbles and fracture lines at 6.5x. You can see them ok with a 10x loupe and decent light as well, but under the scope it really leaps out. At 20x you can see the network of fine fissures and other inclusions, at 40x the bubbles look like soap bubbles in the air. At 70x you can see even the tiny fractures that run through and there are inclusions in the glass area.

Interestingly this ruby tests as corrundum still, so the glass must be largely internal with it forced through the cracks and fissures. I can't really get at it from the culet side to see if that is the same or if it's glass at that point.

I do see some shops selling them as rubies, but they also specify glass filled in the description, problem is if the customer doesn't know what this means. Not sure if that's better or worse than all the 'diamonds' etc on ebay and etsy.

 

I bought an inexpensive home-use ultrasonic cleaner recently, based on the "silver mesh bag" thread that AJ linked to above.

My limited experience so far is that it has been useful -- but not sufficient -- on silver (coins and jewellery). On occasion there has been so little change in the appearance of an item that I wondered whether the device was working properly. On other occasions it's clear from looking at the grey water and crud left in the tank, even if the item doesn't look much different.

Final confirmation that the machine is doing its thing came this morning. It only needed 30 seconds to separate a slice of (I think) tiger's eye from its cufflink. (So now I must find out what glue I need...)

 

GS-Hypo if it’s a little stone, E6000 if it’s chunky. If you use the E6000 it needs 48 hrs cure time untouched.
Never superglue or stuff with Cryo-whatsitsnamethaticantremember- in it.

 

Simple and cheap silver cleaning...Let chemistry do the work for you. Mix hot water, sodium chloride (table salt), and sodium bicarbonate and pour into a bowl lined with aluminum foil. The dull side is supposed to work faster. I use a glass bow. Some people use their stainless steel sink or plastic bowl. Place your items in and watch the magic work.

YOUTUBE has several videos on this method. Also, you can buy kits that have an aluminium sheet. For those who remember their chemical reactions...2Al(s) + 3Ag2S(s) + 6H2O -> 6Ag(s) + 2Al2(OH)3(s) + 3H2S(aq)

 

Arg! That ruins the patina on silver and really damages many stones. It's worse than Tarnex.