Cleaning your gold and gemstone jewelry couldn't be easier with white vinegar. Simply drop the jewelry into a jar of vinegar and let sit for 10 to15 minutes, agitating occasionally. Remove and scrub with a soft-bristled toothbrush, if necessary.
White vinegar is another great option as well, and your pieces can be soaked in the solution to remove debris. Once again, do not use this on plated or gemstones with a low hardness on the Mohs Scale. Baking soda is a better alternative to the acidity of vinegar and is excellent for silver and gold.
Mix 1/2 cup vinegar and two tablespoons of baking soda in a small bowl. Allow your jewelry to soak in the white vinegar and baking soda solution for a few hours. Then, rinse the jewelry with clean water and pat dry with a cotton cloth before storing your pieces away.
Start by applying a few drops of white vinegar to the piece of gold jewelry. If the piece of gold is real, it will not change color, however if the piece of gold is fake, the vinegar will cause it to react and change color.
Scratch test.
If you cut deep enough that you expose underlying metal, you can assume that it is plated. If it appears to be made of a uniform composition throughout, then it is probably solid gold.
While vinegar doesn't affect solid gold, and is actually a wonderful cleaning solution, gold-plating, or plated jewelry of any kind, should not be cleaned with vinegar alone. Vinegar is an abrasive substance that can corrode gold-plated surfaces.
You can use a baking soda-vinegar or a baking soda-dish soap solution to clean your gold pieces. You can also use baking soda and boiling water to clean your gold. If your gold contains pearls, avoid cleaning it with baking soda.
While vinegar is slightly acidic and needs to be used with caution on more porous stones, it will do a fabulous job on your diamond ring. Simply mix a half cup of white vinegar with 2 tablespoons of baking soda. Stir until the baking soda is totally dissolved, then soak your diamond ring in the solution for 2–3 hours.
Vinegar, specifically acetic acid, reacts with a metal oxide to break down the corrosion and remove it from the surface of a metal object like steel or iron.
Is vinegar good for cleaning jewelry? Yes! Here's how to clean jewelry with it: Soak your pure silver bracelets, rings, and other jewelry in a mixture of 1/2 cup white vinegar and 2 tablespoons baking soda for two to three hours. Rinse them under cold water and dry thoroughly with a soft cloth.
The most useful and important vehicle for dissolving gold is aqua regia, (royal water), composed of two parts of hydrochloric (muriatic) acid, and one part of nitric (aquafortis).
You can use mild detergents or a few drops of dishwashing liquid to make the solution. Dip your gold jewellery into this mixture. Let it soak for 15-20 minutes. Next, rinse with cold water and lay it flat on a soft, clean, and dry cloth or towel.
Fill a cup or bowl with water and carefully drop your gold piece into it. If the gold is real, it will sink to the bottom of the cup. If it's fake, it will float to the top or hover in the middle of the cup.
Gently drop your gold item into the water. Real gold is a heavy metal and will not float, so if your gold item floats you know it is not real gold. Also, if you notice rust or tarnishing on the item after being in water, this is also a sign it is not real gold since gold doesn't rust or tarnish.
Vinegar Test
Once you have some vinegar, clean your piece of jewelry with a rag or cloth to remove any dirt so you don't get faulty results. Then, place your jewelry into a bowl and add a few drops of your vinegar into the bowl. Real gold will not change color, but fake gold will turn either black or green.
Never use toothpaste, baking soda, or a commercial metal cleaner on gold. If you use these abrasives, you may scratch the gold. Never use bleach. Bleach reacts with gold and will eat away at gold alloys.
The first step is to put and soak the jewelry in an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner. The high vibrancy of ultrasonic waves with a chemical cleaning solution dislodges the tiny dirt particles adhering to the metal or gemstones. The second step is polishing.