diamond cleaning, cleaning rough diamonds Options

[rrhobdy]

Hydrofluoric Acid no longer available in stores or on sale in USA on-line. Fed Govt controls it like dangerous drugs. Unless you are working in a commercial lab or at university lab with environmental safeguards, you wont be able to obtain it.

What would be a good alternative to clean diamonds with to remove surface dirt and attachments? I've got about 40 diamonds from the State Line District to clean up that were panned out of the local creeks. They are not shiny smooth like the one's

I've found from Crater of Diamonds. In fact, at first glance you would think they were a piece of clear quartz until you put them under microscope and perform scratch test on corundum crystal. They all tested 3.5 for specific gravity, but they do not glow

blue under uv, but they do color change and glow faintly red. (which is another color that diamonds glow). They do test positive on a diamond tester. And yes, I am heading back to pan for more come July. The first trip was just one days effort!

[CP]

Hi rrhobdy and welcome to the forums,

What might still available and possibly work for that would be some household rust stain removers or rim and tire cleaners, some of which use diluted hydrofluoric acid as a component in it's products.

Sounds like you did quite well on your one day of panning for sure, nice work!
Good luck on the diamond cleaning project, we'd all like to see some pics of those finds later too.

[rrhobdy]

Hi rrhobdy and welcome to the forums, What might still available and possibly work for that would be some household rust stain removers or rim and tire cleaners, some of which use diluted hydrofluoric acid as a component in it's products. Sounds like you did quite well on your one day of panning for sure, nice work! Good luck on the diamond cleaning project, we'd all like to see some pics of those finds later too.

As soon as I figure out how to store and retrieve fotos on my new AmScope microscope, I'll upload some.

[rrhobdy]

As soon as I figure out how to store and retrieve fotos on my new AmScope microscope, I'll upload some.

Figured out how to upload fotos...

Attached image(s)

 

[prospector]

Figured out how to upload fotos...

wow very nice find i am always up in and around that area would you be willing to tell me the creek name you were in or one near by ?? just curious thanks

[rrhobdy]

wow very nice find i am always up in and around that area would you be willing to tell me the creek name you were in or one near by ?? just curious thanks

I'd love to tell where the "honey hole" is, but I want to go back this summer and work it again. It is in the State Line District. Accessable by 4x4, and like most of that area, is surrounded by private property adjacent to Roosevelt National Forest. I did get permission from the property owner. The area I worked had only small stuff except for the large fragment. I am going to try the Wyoming side of the border. Not all of the drainage out of Kelsey Lake was into Rabbit creek. Some of it drained north towards Laramie. Gonna check it out on some of the dry creeks near Tye Siding, and bringing my own water for panning. That whole area (before it was uplifted) drained northward. Another area I am going to check is Dale creek. I located a new kimberlite pipe adjacent to it, about a mile east of the Moen Ranch. Dan Hausel can give you more clues where to look. The Red Feather Lakes region is also accessible still by road, and there are about a dozen anomalies that show up on sat map just NE, with a couple of good creeks to work that are on forest land and not locked gates. Those have tested to have diamonds in them. You might bump into me up there in July. I'll be driving a black envoy with 2 wiener dogs for protection. Good luck prospecting.