Cleaning gold at home with hydrogen peroxide and soda

Over time, even the most exquisite and expensive gold items lose their attractive appearance - they become dull and inconspicuous. To fix this, you can clean your gold at home with hydrogen peroxide and baking soda. The method is highly effective and is best suited for cleaning bracelets, chains, ornate jewelry with many hard-to-reach places.

Will such cleaning do any harm?

It is not for nothing that gold is classified as a noble metal. Its advantages include not only its attractive appearance and high price, but also its strength and resistance to solvents. It is quite difficult to spoil gold items. Of course, if you act within reason. Stick to the recipe and observe the dosages, and then you will not risk damage to your jewelry.

Let us remind you: pure gold is a soft, ductile, but at the same time dense and heavy metal. 100% gold can only be found in bars. And in jewelry there is 38-75% gold (385 standard - 38%, 585 standard - 58%, 750 - 75%, etc.).

List of contraindications

Hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, ammonia and most other home remedies are safe for gold. But you need to take into account that the products may contain stones and glue, which dissolve in an aggressive environment and deteriorate. It is not recommended to clean with home remedies:

• Jewelry with adhesive setting. Stones of complex shapes, as well as amber and pearls, are often glued.Such decorations should not be immersed in water or liquid solutions.
• Jewelry with organic inserts and soft stones: pearls, amber, coral, malachite, turquoise. They are very sensitive to various influences and to hydrogen peroxide in particular. Jewelry with the listed stones can be cleaned either by a specialist or at home with alcohol diluted in half with water.

Gold jewelry with sapphires, emeralds, quartz, aquamarine, topaz, beryl and other hard stones can be cleaned with peroxide and ammonia. As well as irradiated gold, matte, white.

Gold below 585 contains 50% or more different alloys, so it reacts more easily with strong oxidizing agents and alkalis. But it is stronger and practically not subject to deformation and scratches.

Cautions

Before cleaning gold items at home, you should familiarize yourself with a number of rules.

To prevent your jewelry from getting damaged:

• Use only soft materials and brushes. Of course, something tough and hard will clean your jewelry faster. But then there is a risk of leaving scratches on the product. They may not be visible to the naked eye, but if you look at the reflections through a magnifying glass, the gold will appear dotted with thin stripes and depressions.
• Avoid abrasive cleaning products. Powders and gels with hard particles also leave marks on the gold. After such cleaning, the gold can only be restored by polishing by a master.
• Do not use bleach or other aggressive substances. They can lead to loss of shine and stains on the product. Gold itself is resistant to most oxidizing agents and solvents, but additives in the form of silver, nickel, palladium, and copper are not.
• Use only glass and ceramic dishes. Metal containers will participate in a chemical reaction, but we don’t need that.
• Do not clean items of different samples, white and yellow, red gold, silver, in the same container. This may cause color changes.
• Prepare your jewelry for cleaning. Remove pendants from chains and sort different types of gold and items with different types of stones.

Cleaning gold at home with hydrogen peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide is a well-known remedy for treating wounds. Upon contact with pus, damaged skin, or blood, the liquid disintegrates, releasing molecular oxygen. Foam is formed, which oxidizes and dissolves particles with proteins and mechanically cleans the wound surface. And, as you know, dirt on gold jewelry is particles of skin with dried sweat and cosmetics mixed together. This is why hydrogen peroxide is so effective at cleaning not only wounds, but also gold. The plaque dissolves and easily comes off the surface.

A weak 3% hydrogen peroxide solution is used to clean jewelry. This is exactly the common and affordable option that can be found in any pharmacy. The cost of a bottle barely exceeds 20 rubles. There are several ways to clean gold with peroxide:

• Soak a cotton pad in the pharmaceutical liquid and wipe the jewelry. If the impurities are fresh, the gold will immediately be cleansed.
• To quickly and effectively clean gold from old plaque, pour 200 ml of water and 30 ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide into a glass. Immerse the jewelry in the solution for 30 minutes and then rub with a cloth.

When cleaning gold, it is recommended to use a piece of felt, suede or a soft toothbrush. They will help remove remaining plaque and polish the surface of the product to a shine.

Hydrogen peroxide with soda

Peroxide itself makes the plaque soft. But often it does not go away completely. Dirt remains in places where stones are attached and grooves. In this case, use 3% hydrogen peroxide with baking soda.

Instructions for use:

• Dilute 2 tbsp. spoons of hydrogen peroxide in 100 ml of water.
• Soak gold jewelry in the solution for 15-30 minutes.
• Mix half and half baking soda with water.
• Take out the jewelry, apply a mixture of baking soda to a cloth and rub the jewelry.

Another common way to use hydrogen peroxide with soda. You need to cover a container for cleaning gold with foil, pour 200 ml of water and dissolve 2 tbsp in it. spoons of soda and peroxide. Jewelry is placed in the solution overnight, and in the morning it is rinsed with water and wiped.

How to clean gold with ammonia and peroxide?

In a duet with ammonia (ammonia), hydrogen peroxide cleans gold jewelry in a matter of minutes. Both products are added to the water, where the jewelry is then placed. For a better effect, add a little liquid soap into the solution. Then, when polishing, the cloth glides better and quickly removes the remnants of softened plaque.

How to properly clean gold with ammonia and peroxide:

1. Fill a glass beaker with 100 ml of water.
2. Add 2 tbsp. spoons of 3% hydrogen peroxide and 0.5 tbsp. spoons 10% ammonia.
3. Add a little liquid soap (shampoo, dishwashing detergent).
4. Mix everything with a wooden stick.
5. Lower the gold and leave for 15 minutes.
6. Rub it with a cloth and then rinse with water.

Cleaning gold with ammonia and peroxide - proportions

To clean gold items, different concentrations of peroxide and ammonia are used. Depending on the proportions, the exposure time changes.The less concentrated the solution, the longer the products need to be soaked, and the safer this cleaning is. High doses allow you to refine gold faster, but come with some risks. Recipes:

• 200 ml warm water, 30 ml hydrogen peroxide, 5 ml ammonia, 2.5 ml dishwashing detergent. Soaking time – 10-20 minutes.
• 20 ml of peroxide, 5 ml of ammonia. Use for wiping or keep in solution for 1-2 minutes.
• 200 ml of water, 2 teaspoons of peroxide, 1 teaspoon of ammonia, 1 tbsp. spoon of washing powder. Boil. Place gold items in a hot solution for 2 hours (without stones or other inserts).

When rubbing gold, apply a little colorless lipstick to a cloth. After such polishing, the jewelry will sparkle like new.

Hydrogen peroxide, ammonia and soda are some of the simplest and most affordable means for cleaning gold at home. They can be found in every home, and if not, then purchasing them is not a problem. Even if there is something left after processing, you can use the remains on the farm. In general, all of the above recipes are good. Choose the one you like best. And don’t forget about safety measures: use gloves while cleaning, and when treating with ammonia, open the window and try not to inhale its fumes.