Cleaning Crystals With Acid
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- Опубліковано 12 сер 2020
- I have consistently seen these three products recommended over and over as a way to clean quartz crystals, let's test them all side by side and see which one will yield the best results.
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Vinegar comes in different percentages. If you're using regular household vinegar it's 3-5%. 15% is cleaning strength. 30-45% is really great, but 75% will eat through hardened steel tools in less than 12hours.
Good comment. I forgot about this. I currently have rocks sitting in a container of regular vinegar. I’m a newbie BTW so I tried what I thought might work…. I have no idea what kinds of stones I have so this is going to get interesting with either the cleaning vinegar or the Macid 😆
I laid brick and stone for years, we used muriatic acid to clean the mortor off the stone after laying it. Muriatic acid works better and faster than anything else you can use. However, that is because it is SO STRONG. The only thing you did wrong with the MAcid was not scrubbing it immediately. The stone, even the brick, yellows if you leave it in contact with acid without removing it.
So how long should you leave it soak in the acid and what do you suggest scrubbing it with? And do you scrub it before neutralizing it or after? Thanks in advance!
Questions from Brit… I’d like to know also. What type of gloves are best for use with this chemical? I use regular nitrile gloves for everything but I’ve never used acid. Thinking they probably wouldn’t hold up well
Nice video. One tip: if you pre-soak your pieces in distilled water for a few hours before the acid bath, it allows saturation so the acid can penetrate more deeply. Also, using distilled water with your acid bath reduces the chance of yellow staining that HCL can produce.
With regards to the acid treatment, you can carefully heat the solution causing the acid to be more effective. Adding H2O2 also provides more aggressive dissolution working with several acids. You can also use oxalic and citric acids with cleaning up crystals. Just be sure you don't have gold or silver present when working with oxalic acid. Also, as with any acid, do not allow oxalic acid to get on your skin. Your body will absorb it where it will bind to calcium in the kidneys forming calcium oxalate kidney stones. I've only ever used citric acid to remove lime scale.
Vinegar with hydrogen peroxide can be pretty viscous. Try it sometime. It's crazy how well things can be dissolved in vinegar if H2O2 is present.
As always you have great tips! Now I just need some more material to clean up!
i realize I'm pretty randomly asking but do anyone know a good place to watch newly released movies online ?
How much peroxide do I add to the muriatic acid. I have some what I believe to be quart's clusters from Arkansas. My boss want them cleaned I have the acid and everything ready just trying to make sure I'm doing it right I don't wanna ruin the clarity of the crystal's.
@@jessysamel9600 results?
Kidney stones?! Wow thanks for the head’s up. Will def wear gloves. 😮😮
I stand behind iron out! It works so great for cleaning my rocks beach glass and pretty much anything else! I love the stuff.
Reliable channel. My memory issues cause me to revisit this channel. Thanks for this clip. I currently have a Ellensburg blue with a crystal platform. Exactly what I needed to see.
I'm happy that you have found it to be helpful.
This was super great to learn. My GF ad I just collected a tons of quartz and are trying to clean it so we will be going with iron out. Cheers!
Nice! I watched several videos before finding this one. Very comprehensive and informative. Thanks!
Thank you, I have a number of educational videos here on the channel. I'm glad you liked them.
I prefer the Iron Out method and have never diffused it. But since you showed me how I will do that from now on to be safer. Excellent video.
I’ve used vinegar as well as muriatic acid for years. Vinegar takes forever, weeks as opposed to hours with muriatic. There are different stains as well. Vinegar won’t touch some that muriatic will. The yellowing is hard to get out. Vinegar will work sometimes but it can take weeks as well. I’ve never tried Iron Out. Thanks for the info.
Does vinegar remove iron staining on quartz in your experience? I have a piece of quartz with a patch of yellow that i'm assuming is iron staining and i'm hoping to remove it without oxalic acid (as its poisonous and i live in a small apartment without much ventilation). If vinegar does work, how long does it usually take?
I had my bets on the muriatic to be honest... But I like the results... I use iron out and I think it works great. Used it on the seam agate you sent me...made a good difference. Brought out some more off the stone I didn't see clearly before thats for sure.
Great video Jared🐾
I also had my bets on the muriatic acid but I think the iron out won.
Thank you! Very helpful
Happy to drop by , for more helpful information
7:55
Thanks my friend was needing to see the difference
Amateur Quartz collector here. I have been dabbling with different ways to clean my quartz finds until I can get out and get some of the acid. I was reading some comments somewhere that suggested soaking the crystals over night in vinegar and then another over night soak in ammonia. Much like your video shows I didn't see much difference after the vinegar soak, but the ammonia really surprised me with how clean it got the crystals. Might be worth another test for your viewers :)
Thanks for the tips on it I really haven't worked with ammonia at all so its something that will be new for me.
I do damn near 1 to 1 with iron out. I let the rocks sit for 3 days. Then flush them well water. Then scrub with a toothbrush that has the bristles shortened to halfway.. followed by carefully picking at stuck debris in little cracks, followed by another 2 days of iron out. Flush again. Now they're good.
Thank you so much for this demonstration!
I'm glad you liked it.
Good info, thanks! I have some similar rocks that I need to clean. Now I know what I will use. 🙂
I'm glad you found it to be helpful.
Always looking forward to these videos :)
I hope you like it.
Cool. Thanks for showing.
A nice comparison. Thanks!
This is great! Thanks! I put a BUNCH of stuff in iron out today for the first time. After just a couple hours i'm already seeing great improvement in some of the stuff I have! SO COOL! Thanks for the video CR! It's even removing white crud on some chalcedony i have, as I hoped it would, so I guess that's iron stainage? I'm trying to figure out the diversity in iron stain appearance. Right now I'm thinking rust-colored, black, white, brown? Didn't realize those were iron stains! Yes! I'm stoked.
Iron our can really work some magic on cleaning up rocks, it can also kill stuff like moss and lichen that may be on your rocks.
The white crud probably ISNT iron, but some other similarly charged(+) mineral like calcium/magnesium/chromium. The acid will remove those deposits as well. Its the magic ingredient in CLR(Calcium, Lime, Rust) cleaner
I just used Iron Out powder and it worked so well and it was so easy! Much easier than Oxalic Acid.
Iron out is what I use to clean my agates.
I've also used it with great success but I wanted to test it against these other things I'm always seeing people recommend.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding yes it's very educational for the beginner so good job! I've never tried muriatic acid but I know from experience that vinegar dont do diddly, unless it takes days to work. I dont have that patience lol.
Yeah I think if it does work the amount of time it would take rules it out for me.
You should use hot water with the iron out.
Thanks for a great info video! I needed this info! 🤗
Vinegar works really well if you have calcium carbonate buildup. Most of the pet wood around here has it and the vinegar works like a charm.
Great content 👍🏻 Im gonna use the iron out and leave them in longer.
Whoa! Thank you so much for this🤗 now i have confirmation that vinegar is not the one
Absolutely!
Thank you 😊 always learning, vinegars works best on calcite , but awesome experiment
Thanks for watching!
LOL. I've got that same 3 lbs "persuader." I've got a 10 lbs sledge I'm still anxiously waiting to use.
Swinging a 10lb sledge around is quite the workout.
i don’t use vinegar, I have tried previously to clean stuff and had very poor results. I have used iron out, but I put it in a covered jar and set it out in sun for days, kinda forget its there.
I prefer muratic acid, diluted. I place it in a 5 gallon black bucket, put a lid on it and set it sun for a day before I check on it.
i use baking soda to neutralize both.
and yes, acid resistant gloves are a must along with splash goggles and a respirator. you definitely do not want to breath these fumes.
also, do not use anything metal. use plastics #2 or glass.
All solid advise.
I usually use oxalic acid on my rocks with good results. I got some Iron Out and gonna try it today.
One thing I have found out, after cleaning rocks, I put them in a big bowl covered in vinegar.
I'll leave them in the bowl for 6 weeks and it pulls a lot of the salt off the quartz, crystals and agates. Leaves a huge salt ring at top of the bowl, like a margarita!
if you do any prospecting with your rockhounding, be advised oxalic acid can dissolve your gold and silver . . .
This is a test, it's only a test. Thanks for the info.
Hello CR, Thanks for the great test video.
Thank you.
Got some spray Iron Out a few days ago and tested it on some rocks yesterday. The cloth I used to wipe them off had red stain on it. So surface level staining has definitely been removed more.
I didn't realize they had a spray, I have only ever used this powder.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding yeah, the spray is a gel spray
Great video thanks for sharing
I'm glad you liked it.
great ADVISE!!
Hello, I'd suggest trying the vinegar with salt, you should get a different result, maybe not the best but different. I have a bucket of rock salt and I'll grab a handful to add with distilled vinegar. Thanks for showing this, I have all three ingredients, but have not tried the other methods yet. I like MeMiner's videos using the acid to do some etchings. Take care.
I love hearing things like this, Ill give the salt trick a try and see how it stacks up, thank you.
I watch some videos on cleaning things around the house also reading some labels on bottles and found I could use It on rocks, like, Iron Dissolver from Rust-oleum, It’s a gel, It’s so nice You only need to use Ot on sum of the area's and not the hole rock. The next thing I use Is a cheap bowl cleaner that I found at the dollar store. One that I like is called, The Works. A basic acid. Yes leaving the rock In the sun first or a warm room for a couple of hours that helps alot then add the chemical. Thanks for the great video.
Ill have to look into the bowl cleaners, thanks for the tip.
The works is muriatic acid if I'm remembering right
Hey man, I actually have some Fluorites w/ amethyst that I found yesterday soaking in Iron out right now.. lol. I haven’t had the chance to use the Muriatic Acid yet, plan on doing so in the near future on my Utah Jasper and chalcedony. Vinegar does work but depends on the material. Thanks for the video 🤙
I'll be looking forward to see a fluorite and amethyst video from you!
Currently Rockhounding my recent video from yesterday has Fluorites but I also went back yesterday and found better material. All of the Fluorites are tumbled from the Creek bed. Can’t wait to find some cubed Fluorite
I still need to watch your latest video!
The yellow on there is muratic acid in the cracks. I soak my specimens in baking soda longer if they have the yellow tinge
I have used iron out some and I think it makes a diff what kind of quartz you have as to the yellowing. Never had that problem. I also use citric acid for creek scum and cleaning vinegar for removing unwanted calcite. Good vid Jared. Havagudun bud..
Interesting, ill need to test this with other quartz to see if it yellows.
I don't think yellowing is a problem unless you mix too much muriatic acid with the distilled water. In the video here he uses muriatic acid straight without adding distilled water and he got yellowing right away. Only once have I gotten yellowing and I used a stronger solution that time, the other times when I cut it about half and half with distilled water it does the job and does not turn yellow
Definitely going to use iron out for mine that I’m finding
I have a nice solid piece of what looks like chalcedony/quarts i pulled from the river. Was covered in a red rusty iron. Nothing could get it clean until i used muriatic acid. And it worked real quick.
Thank you for the video! Could you give me an advice regarding muriatic acid? How to determine when you need to change it? It turns orange after the first use, but is there any indicator when it’s bad to continue with it?
Also, if you put the yellowish tinted rock in Iron out, would it really remove the tint? I mean, you say in the video that it could. But did you do it?
There is really no hard rules to how and when to change it or in what concentrations. It depends on what you are trying to remove and from what rock.
The iron out did remove the yellowing tint.
ty!
Thanks for that video. I just found some nice litte quartz clusters yesterday and they definitly need some cleaning. I don't know if "iron out" is available here, maybe I'll have to find an alternative. Until now I always tried my luck with vinegar, but not normal vinegar. We have something called essence of vinegar, which is stronger than normal vinegar. It works perfekt with calcite, but the effect on iron is poor. Maybe I'll try citric acid next. At least it smells much better 😉
The active ingredient in Iron Out is sodium dithionite. Perhaps you can just find a local brand that has that?
@@CurrentlyRockhounding
Ah, so chemicaly it is what we call "Blankit". So I have to find a brand that contains Blankit and try that. Thanks a lot!
I would recommend covering them. Definitely helps with the iron out. The other two it might help, but keep critters out of the liquid. And with vinegar I cover the container and let it sit a few days. Interesting test.
Next time ill try covering them and see if it helps, thanks for the tip.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding also add salt to vinegar probably late with this comment but just incase
@@chrisfrench2019 What does the addition of sodium do to the reaction in the Vinegar?
Thanks for sharing :). Was that a brass wire brush (I'm assuming b/c of the color but I've been wrong before 🙃)?
It sure was a brass brush. You can buy them at Harbor Freight for next to nothing.
Have you ever tried evaporust? typically its what i use in my shop as a general purpose rust remover, used it on some small rock samples with good results, haven't seen it take off as much manganese oxide yet though (my sample size is a mere 4 rocks, smaller than my thumb), I have been searching the web to see if someone uses it for cleaning specimens.
I have not tried evaporust but I have heard good things from people using it to restore tools.
Excellent content. What would you recommend for opal. Took a trip to the Royal Peacock opal mine a few weeks ago and pulled out some nice sized rough black fire opal.
I have no idea, isn't most opal kinda fragile?
@@CurrentlyRockhounding What we dug out of the wall at the mine is considered very fragile. Still keep it in water actually.
i believe non of these are compatible with opal, check with meminer, he should have more insight
Thank you for the experimen♧♡❤
I'm glad you liked it.
Muriatic left a lot of yellow staining on mine sulfuric took a long time. And vinegar took a lot of color out but inleft mine in for a long time
Did you ever try to take the yellow out of the acid treated crystal, with a follow up bath in Iron Out?
It seems like the acid does the best job removing unwanted material, but I want to keep my Arkansas finds looking crystal clear!
Iron out works decently.
Hi, I have rough tourmaline from Congo with white dirty things on it, how to remove it
I did the same test with a bunch of corundum crystals. Only the Muriatic acid did the job, vinegar: nothing, Iron Out: changes the iron but doesn't necessarily remove it, Muriatic Acid: Removed most of the iron over night. From now On I will never try vinegar, I have my doubts about the effectiveness of iron out, and Muriatic acid did exactly what I wanted . . .
My son and I went to Jackpot, NV after seeing your video. Crazy long drive from Spokane 8:14 for a weekend, but we had lots of fun. Now we have all of these agates that need cleaning. We’re first timers for all of this. What do you recommend?
That's a really long drive isn't it?
Hot water and dish soap should clean that stuff up.
Thanks for the video. I have sprayed the Iron Put directly to my rocks, do I have to add water and soak it for overnight?
Soaking in water is highly recommenced.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding really thanks for your reply, have a great day!
Thanks for the video. I have a question for the end portion. Maybe a dumb question but I want to be safe. Once I'm done using both bins (water/Iron Out and water/baking soda) and I've neutralized the Iron Out, what is a good safe way to dispose of that water?
I just dump mine in gravel where I park.
Vinegar is good for heavy algae and silt.
Did you ever give the acid magic rock a second soak in iron out? Curious to know if the yellow tint went away with iron out.
I have done that and it does work sometimes.
Hey, just wanna ask if carnelian is safe in lemon juice. I have a lovely wire wrapped carnelian pendant and wanna clean the oxidised copper with lemon juice and wanna make sure it won't dissolve the carnelian
It should be fine but I have never tried anything like that so you might be best to try it first on something you don't really care about.
Very good test! I swear by the Iron Out these days. I had first used muriatic acid to clean my crystals, but just like you found it tends to leave a yellow stain, plus I just find it generally more of a nuisance to work with since it's much more aggressive and then you need to neutralize it. I find the Iron Out takes a little longer to work on hard deposits, but still pretty fast. I like to use a little weaker solution and leave it for a full day, and then it is easy to clean up. Another good tip with Iron Out is to dissolve it first in warm water, and then cover and leave the container in shade, since apparently the solution breaks down faster in sunlight and open air.
**Edit: Iron Out is also great on agate! I use it on blue agate and it did not affect the color. I'm not sure though if it could affect the color of carnelian, since those are colored by iron impurities. Might be something to test some day.
Good tips! Yeah I think it would be interesting to test on some other materials as well, I got some carnelian I can try it out on.
I’m really curious with how to clean my Rutilated Quartz. Is it more delicate having the rutile?
I think it depends on what you are trying to clean off.
What about citric acid it cleans river sludge off anything I have tried in a hour or two of soaking it's easy on the environment and you can use fruit like lemons and I use them for polishing and cleaning them two I squeeze a half of a lemon on the rock and use the rind to scrub it all over and rinse w clean water and I like magic eraser to get it really clean. I need to try muriatic acid one day.
i usually throw them back in the iron out when they get that yellow stain. i let them soak in baking soda and water for a bit then throw them back in and it does the trick. iron out works well but takes a few days. the iron out spray is actually oxalic acid and the iron out powder is the bismuth cleaner. ive found the oxalic acid spray to work better with heavy hematite n iron stains. but lightly stained ones work well w the powder. just have to be patient and let them soak however long it may take. usually a few days does the trick. ive never used the muriatic acid and watched this because i want to try it on a specimen thats really coated heavy w hematite but a lil worried because i never used it. whats a good way to dispose of it? the oxalic acid n iron out i dilute and neutrilze w baking soda then dump in my sewer drain. how do i dipose of the muriatic acid?
Good tips! You should be able to put muriatic acid down the drain if it's fully neutralized. Mixing it with some baking soda outside and diluting it at a 1-5 ratio will make it safe to dump down the the drain.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding ok thanks! ive been a little intimidated by the muriatic acid but i have a few pieces that really need something a bit stronger.
I use a cup of 50% muriatic acid and 50% distilled water, when it's done I dump the muriatic acid into the driveway gravel and flush dilute it with the hose, it neutralizes really quick once it hits the gravel and flush . . . It's a small amount, I've never done more than a cup at a time
I think that I would have separated the rocks from the Muriatic acid while soaking in the baking soda because of the stain. And maybe mix up the Iron Out periodically as the specimen soaks. Just a thought.
You should recreate it and make a video doing that to see if you get a different result.
What do you recommend for a citrine cluster? Got one from Congo, some call it “kundalini” citrine. Idk why haha but lmk if you think oxalic acid will work best?
What is it you are trying to clean off it?
@@CurrentlyRockhounding the bottom has what I believe is iron staining and in between some of the little points there’s black
@@Ashley__Rose I would test a small spot with some ironout to see if you get a result you like.
What about cleaning amethyst crystals? My amethyst is already clean but not shiny. Thanks.
Do you know why its not very shiny? Is it a coating of another mineral that you're trying to remove.
Vinegar works for me. but over days, not hours.
me too...I let mine sit for 2 weeks...take electric toothbrush and clean um us some...refreshing the vinegar and do it again till the soft rock I want gone is gone...I also use CLR
I’ve noticed the iron out turn things blue.
Acid wash does it have to be a certain streakth?
What?
Any advice for cleaning the white calcium staining off of a crystal?
Are you sure its calcium? If so CLR can clean that off really easy.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding it’s a white film on some elestial amethyst I have. I suppose I am assuming it’s calcium but the iron off did nothing.
And in large quantity please remember water 1st then acid. It can bubble up and be super dangerous acid burnns are no joke. And happens so fast.
You could save your acids your using to dissolve minerals also and not have to neutralize them and not buy as much too and then if your more adept you could distill the acids and get brand new stuff again basically!
Could you update if the yellow goes away after iron out?
Absolutely! I just have had the time to soak it since shooting this.
Thanks 😊
Would acid and iron out be ok to use on quart with tourmaline inclusions?
Do you know the mineral that you're trying to remove?
Yep calcite
@cleopatraa8842 For calcite, I would use a mild acid such as vinegar. It will be slow but will work
Using hydrogen peroxide on a piece right now. Scrub with tooth brush, soak and repeat. Seams to be working, not sure if it will get it all. Time will tell. Will try the iron out first chance I get.
So much good information on here. Not just your video but all the suggestions in the comments section as well. I’m a newbie with zero experience. I just like rocks 🤣 I have a bunch currently sitting in a container of regular vinegar since that’s all I could think of at the time. I also have ZERO clue as to what type of rocks I even have. Google reverse image hasn’t been helpful either. Anyone know of any good ISO apps that identify rocks? I tried one a few months ago and it was horrible… free version; can’t remember which one. Any tips would be helpful. TIA! 😊
I'm glad you liked the video!
I have a video up on the subject of apps and the short of it is that there's no such thing as a reliable rock ID app.
Do you know what can’t be cleaned in muriatic acid or iron out ? 🤔 can you use hydrochloric acid that we use in a pool?
That's really a hard question to answer.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding
That’s why I enjoy your channel so much! You are honest! Thanks for all you do to educate us🙏🏼
Vinegar helps against limestone so people use it
Ever used a like water pick like for your teeth or a pressure washer?
I have used things like a textile gun which is like a more durable waterpick and they can work wonders.
I watched that video after leaving this comment haha
I tried iron out on my amethyst and it turned some of them black. Do you know why and what I have to do to fix this?
You have to fully let the iron out powder dissolve in the water solution before you add the Crystal Or it will leave a permanent black film on your crystal that will be very hard to get off
@@kacorum I did it was a weak solution as well. I'm figuring it was something in some of the samples.
I just watched a different video on this topic and they said it turns the amethyst black if it soaks too long or it can be a reaction to a chemical in the soil that is on the crystal.
this might not be your specialty but I have a 21 lb piece of rough hewn milky quartz pillar style. Do you have any idea how much that would be worth?
I'm sorry but that;s not something I really know much about.
Gotcha, well thank you for replying and love the content, always been a big rock and crystal fan
that is hammer is what we call in vice grip garage the Tanya Harding 1000
Word
what happens if u mix all 3??
It's never a good idea to mix acids but I don't know what would happen.
Please can you tell us how we can clean apatite specimen
What are you trying to clean off them?
👍
Do you know of any issues with soaking Quartz in Iron Out for too long? I’ve just recently started using it and some pieces seem to be somewhat eaten away. They aren’t smooth and have lost their luster.
Also, how do you remove the dirt or mud after soaking in Iron Out? Thank you so much!
I clean all of the rocks with soap and water first to try and get as much of the dirt off that I can. I have not had that issue but it sounds like perhaps they were soaked too long?
If you have a dremel, that helps for removing hidden dirt and sometimes reveals sites otherwise unseen. If not a dremel then a slender tool. Ive scrubbed and scrubbed pieces and will still find dirt
Oxalic acid is best for such materials as quartz. Materials that oxalic acid will attack use sodium dithionite which unfortunately is stinky.
I will give it a try.
How to use oxalic acid?
Would bleach work?
Generally no.
Oxalic acid in croc pot ❤
what about citric acid for quartz crystals?
What about it?
Sorry, I guess I should’ve been more clear. Is it OK to use citric acid to clean quartz crystals?
@@tracynunes1 You certainly can, but it may not be very effective. Really, what it comes down to is that you need to pick the right acid for what you want to remove.
Thank you! As a newbie, I’m learning a lot from your channel.
Can I use bleach to clean the crystal
It depends on what crystal you're cleaning and what you're trying to remove.
Hi! How about bleach? Is it safe and effective? Can it affect the crystals' quality?
Bleach really doesn't have much of an effect.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding thank you so much for your prompt reply 🙏 Keep up the good work!
hi❤
Are you using muriatic acid without adding water?
Yes.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding what %?
Now you are a very intelligent man, but when you put the rocks from all into the same baking soda neutralizer, I held my hands over my face waiting for an explosion. Each probably should have had their own neutralizing bath. Muriatic acid is very nasty skin dissolving stuff. Some idiots use this for cleaning pools. I wouldn't use this for cleaning rocks, or anything out of the lab.😂 Iron Out makes sense, as you are deleting iron oxides. This was such a fun video, Buddy, let's do more science experiments!