How To Clean Emerald Engagement Rings July 6, 2017 – Posted in: Jewelry Blog
Cleaning an emerald engagement ring isn’t complicated, and yet so few people actually do it on a regular basis. Or not regular enough, anyway. Gels, creams, dust, and just life in general all contribute to your emerald engagement ring getting dirty over time.
Accumulated grease and the dirt that attaches itself constantly will almost certainly mean you’ll need to clean the ring regularly if you want it to keep looking its best.
General Cleaning Practices
The principles of cleaning are the same for rings of all types, but some precious stones need a little more thought than others, due to the potential for damage there is when trying to restore them to their former glory.
Diamonds, for example, can take a bit more vigor than other stones, due to their inherent hardness, whereas emeralds are much further down the Mohs Hardness Scale, and so require a different approach if you are to avoid loosening, scratching, or even chipping the stone.
Expert Tip: Make sure that all water used to clean an emerald is below 90 degrees Fahrenheit (that is not Celsius). From prior experience, we’ve learned that anything hotter may run the risk of damaging the emerald!
Prepare well
An emerald engagement ring will not respond well to prolonged exposure to any kind of harsh cleaning product even in a very mild solution, so you need to be careful about your choice of detergent and have all the things you’ll use ready and available. You don’t need anything complicated, and will have most, if not all, of these things around the house.
You’ll need a bowl of lukewarm (not hot) water, dish-washing detergent, 2 lint-free cloths. Contrary to what you may often hear, things you don’t need are a toothbrush, a steam cleaner or anything else that is likely to damage your emerald.
Method
Add a few drops of detergent to the water, and agitate slightly to activate the soap. If your ring is particularly dirty, you can leave the ring to soak for a couple of hours. A few hours in water shouldn’t damage an emerald.
After soaking, or if your ring just needs a spruce up, use one of the cloths with the water/soap solution. Gently wipe down all the parts of the ring to loosen any stubborn dirt. Do not rub too hard, or you might damage the stone, band or both. Don’t use any kind of brush or other implements on any part of your ring. Emeralds are usually treated to fill in surface cracks and other flaws. Both heat and the bristles of a brush can easily remove the oils that are used for the fills, leaving the stones looking much worse than when you started.
Once you have finished cleaning, rinse the ring under lukewarm, running water and gently dry using the 2nd cloth.
Allow the ring to finish drying naturally, do not try and speed it up by applying heat. Heat helps to make emeralds, and it will most certainly kill them as well.
Final Thought
As we said, cleaning an emerald engagement ring isn’t complicated. It may be more complicated than a diamond ring, but will only be difficult if you don’t clean it regularly.
Emeralds are precious stones, so they need a precious approach to cleaning. This May Birthstone represents an important month and needs plenty of love and care.
Click here to view our rare collection of Emerald Engagement Rings.