Specimen cleaning, Tips and techniques Options

[Denise]

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.