How to clean gold with ammonia at home: is it possible, recipes for solutions with ammonia and hydrogen peroxide

The main causes of contamination of gold items

Due to the impurities contained in the composition, jewelry fades and oxidizes over time.
There are many reasons why a noble metal loses its luster and natural beauty. The main ones:

Copper, cadmium, zinc, silver, found in a gold alloy, make jewelry more resistant to external influences, but lead to oxidation and tarnishing. Unsightly dark spots appear on expensive things, especially when exposed to sea water.
The human sebaceous glands constantly secrete secretions to soften the epidermis. When particles of this substance fall on the surface of jewelry, the gold becomes “washed out.” And if dirt sticks, it also gets darker.
Particles of smog, exhaust fumes and street dust settle on the shiny surface and stick, giving the jewelry a cheap look.

Jewelry can also be contaminated with body care products. Fatty creams, makeup bases and decorative cosmetics are especially harmful.

Cleaning gold with ammonia

Before starting cleaning, it is advised to understand the nature of the contamination itself in order to understand what measures to take to obtain the most effective result. Dirt can be in the form of dust that has adhered over time or caused by oxidation of the metal. In simple situations, use water and soap, make a solution from them and safely remove dirt from the jewelry.

Important! The nature and degree of contamination directly determines the cleaning method used for a more effective result, which will help avoid possible damage to jewelry.

But if the metal has oxidized, you can tell by the black and greenish spots on the gold. In this case, the most effective method

Gold cleaning will include 3 stages:

Primary cleaning.
Cleaning with chemicals.
Mechanical cleaning.

Now it’s worth taking a closer look at what each stage will include separately.

Cleaning gold with ammonia and peroxide

The choice of cleaning method and the effectiveness of the result are influenced by the form in which the decoration itself is made. If it is complex, with curves, stones and ornaments, the cleaning process can be long. You will probably need to repeat the cleaning procedures several times in a row. The easiest way to clean precious items at home is with ammonia and hydrogen peroxide.

An aqueous solution of ammonium hydroxide combined with ordinary washing powder works wonders. You can clean gold with ammonia at home as follows:

Find an unnecessary plastic or glass bowl.
Pour a glass of boiled, but not hot, water into the container.
Add four milliliters of ammonia.
Add a large spoonful of plain laundry detergent without additives.
Stir until the detergent is completely dissolved.
Place the gold accessories in the liquid so that it completely covers them.

After two hours, the products are removed, rinsed under running water and thoroughly wiped with a soft piece of fabric without a pronounced texture or patterns. Instead of powder, you can use uncolored dishwashing detergent.

Also, with a two-hour soak, followed by rinsing and drying, you can clean gold with ammonia. To do this, take a 25% solution of the reagent. This method is used to remove stains from gold items that have a matte finish.

Cleaning gold at home with ammonia is also possible with the addition of crushed chalk. Five large spoons of alcohol per three chalk “columns” are required. Clean heavily soiled jewelry with a soft brush or a piece of fleecy cloth, then rinse and wipe.

The most effective cleaning agent is an aqueous solution of ammonia, liquid soap and hydrogen peroxide:

Mix a teaspoon of the first and second components in a glass of water with 40 grams of peroxide.
The action of the solution is fast - jewelry is kept in this mixture for only 20 minutes.
Wash the products under the tap especially thoroughly.

Finally, they are carefully dried with a soft, light cloth.

Recipes for cleaning the product

Immediately before cleaning, wash the product in soapy water. This will help remove the layer of dirt and dust stuck on top. In this case, you will spend less time on the cleaning itself. And then choose one of the ways to clean gold with ammonia. There are several recipes for preparing a solution used to clean the product. Several methods include only ammonia:

Take a cotton swab and moisten it with ammonia. After this, carefully wipe the product or any stains on it. For small stains, use a cotton swab. Of course, you won’t be able to get into hard-to-reach places, but if the decoration is not very dirty, then you shouldn’t put it in ammonia again.
If it is heavily soiled, you can completely place the item in an ammonia solution for two minutes, and after that you should rinse the jewelry under running water and dry it.
A cleaning solution of ammonia for products with moderate contamination is easy to prepare. To do this, take a glass of cold water and dissolve a tablespoon of ammonia in it. Place the gold product in the solution for half an hour. Then the decoration should be removed, washed and dried with a napkin. This recipe will not harm precious stones such as diamonds. But only on the condition that the stone is set and not glued to the product.
For cleaning, you can take ammonia and water in a 1:1 ratio. It is also effective and safe for gold jewelry without adding inserts or stones.
More aggressive cleaning methods using ammonia include not only ammonia, but also abrasives such as powder. One of the recipes for cleaning gold with ammonia says that one teaspoon of ammonia and one tablespoon of washing powder or liquid soap should be added to a glass of hot water. Gold should be kept in this solution for up to two hours, depending on the degree of contamination. After cleaning, the products should be rinsed in cool water and dried. To dry your jewelry as efficiently and evenly as possible, use a hair dryer.
There is a recipe for particularly stubborn stains, which, in addition to ammonia, also includes hydrogen peroxide. The cleaning solution is prepared as follows: add 30 milliliters of three percent hydrogen peroxide, one teaspoon of ammonia and half a teaspoon of liquid soap to a glass of water. Keep the product in this solution for up to fifteen minutes, after which follow the standard procedure of rinsing under water and drying.

Cleaning gold with ammonia
Of course, this method has its drawbacks. They consist of the following factors:

Pungent odor of the substance. In medicine, ammonia is used to bring a person to consciousness. The smell is quite strong, so not every person will be able to withstand it during cleaning.
Residual odor on the product. If you have used a concentrated solution to clean gold, be aware that the smell of the substance may remain on the product for some time, which will disappear within three days.
It is better to clean hard-to-reach places in chains, rings and other jewelry mechanically. This is not easy to do at home using any method, including ammonia. Therefore, the quality of home cleaning may be reduced.
It is better not to clean matte products with ammonia, since they are initially covered with a layer of other substances that impart a dull appearance. And ammonia can disrupt this layer.
It is better not to clean a gold item with precious stones or inserts of pearls or coral yourself, but to immediately take it to a craftsman, since the substances are fragile enough to be cleaned with ammonia and other cleaners.

If cleaning gold at home does not give the desired result the first time, you should not try aggressive cleaning; it is better to take the jewelry to a specialist. In the workshops, this work is completed within two days. It’s even better to periodically care for your gold so that you don’t have to clean it.

Using ammonia to clean gold is more suitable for situations where there is time for it, as it takes several days for the smell to dissipate. But the substance copes with stains reliably and quickly. Therefore, ammonia can be safely used as a cleaner, returning products to their original shine and beauty.

Other folk methods

You don't have to suffer from the smell of ammonia or peroxide to clean yellow and rose gold. You can use other effective methods.

Available means

As the main component, you can use dishwashing detergent: a small spoon per 250 ml of water. Place a soft rag in the bottom of an enamel saucepan, dirty jewelry on top and fill them with the composition. Heat on low flame for 10 minutes. Then the jewelry must be removed and rinsed under running water, and wiped with a soft towel.

You can remove greasy deposits using a saline solution. You need three large spoons of powder in half a glass of water. After the grains are completely dissolved, place the products in the solution overnight. In the morning, you should thoroughly rinse and dry your jewelry.

You can deal with stains on gold using onion juice. Squeeze it onto a soft paper napkin, wipe the jewelry, rinse in running water and dry with a soft cloth.

Experimenting with unusual cleaners

You can clean the gold so that it shines brightly using foil mixed with two large spoons of soda. The last component is dissolved in a glass of water. The foil is placed on the bottom of a glass bowl, accessories are placed on top and “soda” is poured over. The purification process takes place over 12 hours, after which the gold is thoroughly washed and dried with a soft cloth.

Heavy contaminants are removed with borax solution:

Soak a piece of natural silk in the mixture.
Use light movements to polish the jewelry.
Rinse thoroughly.

After washing, rub until shiny with a clean piece of silk.

Gently and without scratches clean the noble metal with lipstick. It should be a light shade. The lipstick is simply applied to the jewelry without stones and polished with a velvet scrap.

An egg-beer cocktail has an excellent effect on metal surfaces. Whisk an egg white with a spoon of beer, wet a piece of soft wool with it and simply remove dirt from gold jewelry.

Abrasives

Mechanical cleaning is not suitable for jewelry with stones.
If none of the proposed methods yielded results, and the dirt remains, mechanical action cannot be avoided. Abrasive pastes are not used for products with precious stones or coating, since the surface of jewelry and stones is very easy to scratch. Cubic zirconia stones especially suffer from such cleaning. But smooth rings and bracelets can be “offered” a kind of peeling.

To prepare an abrasive composition with your own hands, you will need:

toothpaste without dyes;
petrolatum;
crushed chalk;
grated laundry soap;
water.

The resulting paste is applied to the decoration with a soft cloth. Once completed, you need to rinse the gold item to remove the Vaseline. At the end, the product is additionally rinsed under water and dried.

If you want more effective cleaning, you can add alcohol to the composition and slightly heat the water.

A good scrub for gold jewelry would be regular tooth powder. It is also diluted to a paste-like state:

Mix four large spoons of powder with a little water.
Dip your toothbrush into the resulting paste.
Clean your earrings and rings with it.
Rinse with clean water.

Don't forget to wipe your jewelry dry.

Sugar peeling is done for white gold accessories. The sweet product will quickly remove blackness and dirt. To do this, you need to dissolve two tablespoons of sugar in a glass of water. Place the products in sugar syrup for 10–12 hours: this will return them to their former shine and shine.

White gold is composed of an alloy of three metals: nickel, gold and copper. The coating is usually made of rhodium. The surface of such jewelry can wear off quickly, so they must be cleaned gently and gently.

Stage two: chemical cleaning with ammonia

To begin with, it is worth noting that unless otherwise indicated, this refers to a 10% ammonia solution, sold in a pharmacy under the name “Ammonia.” The unique feature of this substance is that it is a very strong solvent and helps remove many substances from the surface of gold without damaging the jewelry in any way. There are several recipes for cleaning gold with ammonia at home:

For this method, it is necessary to purchase at the pharmacy an ammonia solution of a higher concentration than ammonia, at least 25%. You will need to pour it into a container and put the product there for a while, which depends on the degree of contamination; it may take several hours. Heavily soiled items will need to be left overnight. After this, it is washed and thoroughly dried.
Another recipe with ammonia also includes hydrogen peroxide. Carefully clean items with stones, and you should not resort to this method at all if the item has inserts that are sensitive to chemicals. To prepare a cleaning solution, you need to take a pan, glass or enamel, and pour one glass of clean water. Next add 2 tbsp. l. peroxide and 1.5 - ammonia and also add a little liquid soap. Gold left in such a solution for several hours will shine like new, even if it was previously very heavily soiled.
The following recipe looks like this: add 0.5 tsp to a cup of warm water. ammonia and 1 tsp. shampoo. Place decorations into the solution and stir with a spoon. When the water becomes dirty, you need to remove all the gold and rinse it under running water. After this, put it on a napkin. The gold will shine like new; The method is suitable for cleaning products with stones.
For high-quality cleaning of gold products, you can prepare such a product based on ammonia and washing powder. Pour a glass of boiling water into a glass container and add 1 tbsp. l. washing powder and 1 tsp. ammonia. Mix the mixture and place the decorations in the prepared solution for one hour. Instead of powder, any other surfactant-based cleaning product can be used. After that, we take out the gold and wash it. It is necessary to dry it after each wash, since otherwise the metals in the alloy may oxidize, and after a while you will have to clean it again.
Another ammonia-based gold cleaning recipe also includes cleaner and hydrogen peroxide. How to clean gold with ammonia using this method? To make a cleaning solution you will need: a glass of water, 30 ml of hydrogen peroxide (3%), 1 tsp. ammonia and half a spoon of liquid soap. Pour warm water into a glass, ceramic or plastic container. Next, add all the ingredients to it and mix thoroughly. Place jewelry in the solution for several hours.
For severe stains, a more aggressive cleaning method with ammonia is used. This method is also good if you need to clean jewelry that has a complex shape with many small bends and holes. An example of such decoration are chains with complex weaving “Fox Tail”, “Spike”, “Cleopatra”, “Byzantine weaving”, “Singapore” and others. In order to apply this method, it is necessary to dilute ammonia with crushed chalk or old, no longer suitable powder. You will get a strong-smelling thick paste. They coat the jewelry with it, then cover it so that there is no smell, and leave it until it dries. After this, rinse the products well and dry them with a napkin.

You can improve the effect of ammonia by packing the gold in a ziplock bag and leaving it overnight after applying ammonia. Many housewives use this trick to remove the most difficult stains.

Cleaning gold with ammonia

Safe compounds and tools

You can clean gold without damaging or scratching it using table or apple cider vinegar. The essence will need to be diluted in advance. A cotton rag is soaked in vinegar, dirty areas are wiped, the items are rinsed and dried.

Jewelry with precious stones should be treated with the utmost care. Gasoline, cologne or alcohol are suitable for cleaning them. How to restore shine to a diamond necklace:

Dip a cotton swab in any of the liquids.
Use smooth movements to clean the stones. It is better to do this with a soft cloth, as hard bristles can damage the frame.
Wipe the items with a clean cloth and dry.

Safe tools for cleaning and polishing are a velvet or felt cloth and a soft eraser. Dry products are polished. This requires a lot of time and patience.

How to clean products with stones with ammonia

Using a solution of ammonia and shampoo dissolved in water, you should carefully clean the product. If your ring is encrusted with a diamond, then this will not harm it. But still, it is better not to immerse gold items with stones in any of the ammonia solutions. In this case, prepare a soap and ammonia solution, put on gloves and wipe the gold jewelry with this solution.

Important! The fabrics you use to wipe the gold should be soft and dense. The pile should not remain on the gold. Also carefully inspect the piece of flannel so that there are no crumbs on it - they can easily damage the gold.

The easiest way is to wipe a ring or earrings with stones with alcohol and let them dry. There is another simple and very quick way to give a product a bright shine. Take chapstick, rub the gold and wipe again with a soft flannel.

Home care for gold jewelry and accessories

It is recommended to store jewelry in a dark, dry place.
To maintain the spectacular shine of gold jewelry and prevent the appearance of plaque:

Do not allow the product to come into contact with alkali-containing substances and various acids.
When cleaning, wear protective gloves or remove jewelry first.
Do not expose products to solvents or other aggressive substances, including nail polish remover.
Protect gold from paints and abrasives.
Do not expose to high temperatures or ultraviolet radiation.

If accessories become wet, they must be dried thoroughly with a soft cloth. After bathing in sea water, the jewelry is washed with fresh water. It is not recommended to keep jewelry en masse in a box: friction creates microcracks, which quickly absorb dirt.

Gold refining is required not only for decorative purposes. Dirt on jewelry is harmful to health. It can cause inflammatory and allergic reactions.

Soft remedies

There are several more ways to clean gold at home, but with more gentle solutions that cannot damage products with inlays and decorative inserts. For example, one quick method is to boil in diluted soda:

You will need to prepare an enamel pan, pour 250 ml of water into the container and add 1 tbsp. l. powder. Mix the mixture well and put on fire.
Before the liquid heats up, you need to lower the gold items into it and bring it to a boil. 5 minutes is enough, after which the solution can be drained, and all that remains is to wipe the jewelry with a rough cloth.

This is not the only method using soda; the main thing is to use it only in dissolved form. Since this powder is still an abrasive, being “raw”, it can severely damage high-grade metal. However, in this case, you can replace it with detergent and repeat the steps described above.

If time permits, it is worth resorting to another method that has a longer period of influence. To implement it, you need very little: baking soda, any deep dish and foil (the bottom and walls of the container are lined with it). Fill the bowl with hot water, add up to 3 tbsp. l. soda and drop gold into the solution. To effectively remove darkening, you will need to soak the jewelry in the liquid for 12 hours.

Thanks to the abundance of options, cleaning gold at home does not bring problems and does not require special material costs. Therefore, you need to choose a suitable method wisely so as not to spoil an expensive product and your own health with fumes of caustic substances.