With that being said, I took in a trade the other day, one of the pieces traded in was an old engagement ring with a small diamond center stone. I noticed that there was a lot of dirt under the diamond, and this caused the brilliance in the diamond to die. I decided to take the ring home, and clean it using my own Jeweler in the Dishwasher; this is the only way I clean my own jewelry. Even though I have all of the equipment at my jewelry shop that is necessary to clean my jewelry, I prefer using Jeweler in the Dishwasher. The vibration from an ultra sonic has always concerned me, because if any stones are loose, the vibration can cause the stone to wiggle out. Jeweler in the Dishwasher is a soaking process, there is no vibration. The pieces to be cleaned are either put in the eggs, and/or the soaker tank. I always use the soaker tank on mountings that contain any gemstones, the water is retained in the soaker tank longer than it is in the eggs. This allows for a longer soaking process, and after the piece is removed from the soaker tank, it is a speedier process to brush the residue away.
This is where people tend to get a little confused. Using Jeweler in the Dishwasher is not going to remove the dirt, it's a two part process. Jeweler in the Dishwasher loosens and softens the dirt, allowing any remaining residue to be brushed away once the jewelry is removed from the dishwasher..
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| This is the ring that I took in on trade, notice all of the dirt trapped under the diamond, there is so much, that you can't even see the stone! |
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| I placed the ring in my soaker tank. |
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| I placed the soaker tank inside the outer basket of my Jeweler in the Dishwasher, secured the locks, and placed the basket on the top rack of my dishwasher. |
After the dishwasher was finished running through all of the cycles, I took the Jeweler in the Dishwasher out of the dishwasher and looked inside the soaker tank (pictured above). I noticed that a lot of the dirt was actually gone, but there was some remaining residue.
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| I removed the ring from the soaker tank, took a soft bristled tooth brush, and gently brushed around the diamond while holding the ring under hot water. |
Notice that the dirt is COMPLETELY gone. It took about 10-15 seconds of brushing to remove the residue, and now the area around the diamond it extremely clean. The brown looking area at the base of the prongs is tarnish, this happens when a mounting is allowed to become extremely dirty for a long period of time.
To sum things up, Jeweler in the Dishwasher is the first step in the process of cleaning fine jewelry, the second step is using a toothbrush to remove remaining residue. Sometimes, the dirt is caked on so thick, that the piece needs to be ran through the dishwasher a second time. It is a lot better for your mountings to keep them clean, it helps to prevent tarnish, Also, if there is a small pit in the mounting, and dirt is allowed to build up, it can put pressure on the area where the pit is, and will weaken the metal, resulting in a crack or a break.
I hope this explained the functionality of Jeweler in the Dishwasher, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me!
ALWAYS HAVE YOUR MOUNTINGS CHECKED BY YOUR JEWELER EVERY SIX MONTHS TO MAKE SURE STONES ARE SECURE, WHETHER, OR NOT, YOU USE JEWELER IN THE DISHWASHER.
