Specimen cleaning, Tips and techniques Options

[CP]

the Colorado rutilated quartz cabochons are way to smooth to have in your throat, they'd get swallowed for sure!
Interestingly enough though, these were said to be found up near your area Coalbunny...... Ya' seen any green funky lookin' quartz points lately?

Cool Swizz, we are looking forward to seeing the cleaned up specimens afterwards.

Here's a pic of a batch we need to do an SIO process on next, they sure look dirty and ugly here but when finished there will be some real eye catchers. I'll post updates later as we get it going, these have been rinsed and washed with soap and water so far.


Don't know if all these will get into one batch at the same time but we'll keep ya'll posted.

This thread has some really good information so we added a link on the Colorado Prospector plans and tips page for easy reference as well.


Who else has some cleaning processes to demonstrate?

CP

[swizz]

Here's an interesting piece I found and will start the cleaning process today.
Nice druzy on one side and the other side shows some agate. Ill post some pics after she's cleaned up.

[CP]

Nice find Swizz, I'll bet that will have a nice sparkle in those cavities when cleaned up too. We'll all be looking forward to the updates of it cleaned.

CP

[swizz]

... and here are two shots of the specimen 'after' cleanup for comparison.
I used this process:
1. Washed with distilled water with lightest setting on Textile Gun
2. Soaked in Distilled White Vinegar for +/- 12hrs (this did most of the work)
3. Soaked in medium strength solution of SIO for +/- 12hrs
4. Soaked in distilled water for 24hrs
5. Blasted and rinsed with low-med pressure using Textile Gun with distilled water

[dickb]

Hi Swizz:

Really cleaned up great. Now to figure out what to do with it. Might make a nice display specimen to keep on the table.

Dickb

[swizz]

Thanks dickb!
Yup.... I don't own any lap gear so it either goes to the specimen display or out in the back yard.
If any of you lap dawgs would like to make something from this I'd be happy to send it your way, kinda bubbly inside
Here are a few more pics:

Interesting mineralization on the crust


..... and some translucency pics

[Denise]

Cool piece of Agate Swizz, and it cleaned up nicely!

[yotafly]

Hi every one new guy here, awesome specimens. I use SIO works great but have been trying to find a textile gun, when I lived in Salida, I visited the rock doc and the nice lady there told me to get a textile gun any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Crusty]

Hi every one new guy here, awesome specimens. I use SIO works great but have been trying to find a textile gun, when I lived in Salida, I visited the rock doc and the nice lady there told me to get a textile gun any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I got mine on ebay; a quick search there will get you lots of results (and a good idea of the going price on them). They do work really well!

[Wisher]

We get alot of questions about the do's and dont's when specimen cleaning. So I thought a thread with some good tips and links would be handy here in the forums. Knowledge is power right? After a good day of prospecting and digging in the dirt, we have these flats filled with muddy/clay specimens, some even with Iron deposits all over them. Now what?! Picture of Anita with a flat of fresh Fluorite and Smokey Quartz finds. We like to keep it as safe and simple as possible. We start off with a plastic black tub, filled with water (room tempature). Some minerals are sensative to quick tempature change, so be careful with the water temp! Place some of the specimens into the water. Gently hold one in your hand, and agitate it in the water to remove some of the dirt. You will be supprised how well just a little water works. Repeat several times till you can see If there are more minerals present on the specimen. Colorado is well known for combo specimens, so keep a close eye open! After examining for other minerals present, you can use an old tooth brush to remove more dirt in the crevices. I have even had tiny Fluorites, Goethites and Quartz crystals etc. pop up in those crevices after using the tooth brush and spray bottle! Sometimes just the water helps to clean, but when you get those iron stains you might want to move on to straight vinegar. It is a very mild acid, and can remove some mild iron stains. Leave sit in the vinegar for several days as needed, and gently agitate the vinegar every once in a while to help remove the stain. If the vinegar fails to remove all the stain, you might want to try "SuperIronout" stain remover. This product is used for removing iron stains in sinks, tubs, toilets etc., and is easy to find at your local hardware store or any where they sell plumbing chemicals like drain cleaners. Always read all instructions and warnings for use, before attempting to clean any specimens! It's best to use a small sample for testing first, before cleaning the better pieces. For mineral cleaning with SuperIronOut (SIO), we mix up enough SIO powder in the water to completely saturate the mixture with as much SIO as the water will dissolve (or close to that). This is a strong mixture and depending on your stains to be remove, soak time will vary from a few hours to a few days or a week. The mixture does not always need to be this strong. Use in a well ventilated area, we put lids on our soak containers to keep down the fumes/smell. Use containers just big enough for your specimens to be cleaned. Always use distilled water with this soak process as the SIO will leach any minerals out of the tap water and cause a crusting on your specimen. After soaking you will need to rinse off the specimens. If you have a pressure wash gun (textile cleaning gun) you can use this with tap water. Very carefully rinse off the specimens with the pressure wash gun. Depending on the specimens and delicacy, you will want to adjust that gun's output and distance used from specimen while rinsing. If you do not have the textile pressure gun, go to the rinse soaking step. Next you will need to rinse soak (distilled water again) for at least the same time as the SIO soak or longer. Some pieces with heavy staining (iron deposits) may need to have clean rinse water about half way through the soak period. After the soak period, some pieces may need a repeat of the whole process, some may just need sprayed off after one process for the desired effects. Here are a few before and after pictures of a Smokey Quartz crystal we cleaned using SuperIronOut. Picture of Smokey Quartz with only water cleaning. Picture of Smokey Quartz after cleaned with SuperIronOut. Rock Currier at Mindat.org did an excellent article on cleaning Quartz that goes into alot more details and methods if needed. Very good reading and an awesome write up! http://www.mindat.org/article.php/403/Cleaning+Quartz We hope this info will help you some when cleaning your mineral specimens. Good luck with all your finds, and remember to stay safe out there!

[MikeS]

I was able to use my textile gun for the first time yesterday. I was very impressed with the results on my goethite and the more complex fluorite pieces. It also works very well on some coral fossils although the visual difference was less dramatic with the fossils.

Both of these Goethite sprays were gently scrubbed with a toothbrush and soapy water. The one on the left was worked for a few min. with the textile gun using water only. It needs a little more work but the difference is even more dramatic than the photos can show.


This Goethite piece was mostly covered with the orange coating even after a gentle scrubbing. A few min with the textile gun and it now shows hundreds of tiny fine blades. The reddish looking area on the left I believe is a Hematite formation. This piece needs a little more work also.



Here is a piece of coral fossil from New Mexico that my buddy found on the surface. It is in great condition for a surface find. This one was lightly sprayed on the left side but we didn't get into cleaning it yet.



Here is a smaller piece of coral on limestone that I did clean the right side with the textile gun. These corals are likely from the Pennsylvanian sub-period, approx. 300 million years old.

[Denise]

Sweet specimens Mike! I'm glad to hear the textile gun is working out for you, the Goethite results are great.
Fantastic NM coral fossil, especially for a surface find!...Score! I bet your eyes were peeled the rest of the day after finding that one!

[swizz]

Really nice Mike!
Can I ask which brand of textile gun you bought? Do you like it?
I busted mine and haven't pulled the trigger for a new one yet.

[MikeS]

Can I ask which brand of textile gun you bought? Do you like it?

I bought it of Ebay for $50 w/free shipping and the company it came from was Golden Cutting & sewing supplies (goldstartool.com)
It has an adjustable nozzle on front and volume control on back and I like it so far. It also came with extra springs.

[jfresh]

What's a textile cleaner? Is that just a fancy word for a paint gun with a compressor?
Thx,
J