Best way to clean a dirty nugget??

[mellowyellow]

Hi all, hope all is well.


So I found a nugget in the desert and its covered with caliche and dirt, ect. It had quartz all around it and the quartz is stained dirty looking as well.

Is CLR the best house hold product to clean it? I'm letting soak for and hour and see if it looks better. I scrubbed it with hard brush and nothing happened at all, it's caked in there.

Pics to come!

Mellow yelllllow




















ATTACH]751991[/ATTACH]

I'm calling this the "peace out nugget". LOL. Look at one of the sides, looks like the hand peace sign. Btw , 1.27 oz/ 36 grams.

 

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[CoinHunterAZ]

Here is how I clean mine...I take a shot glass and fill it with enough vinegar to cover the nugget. I then add a little table salt to the mix. This will react to form a weak hydrochloric acid. I then drop the nugget in for about 20-30 minutes. It will come out shiny clean! This is also a good way to clean cruddy pennies or tarnished brass items. (don't do this to valuable or collectible ones!).

 

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[Fullpan]

MY - I agonized over etching this with hydroflouric acid (it eventually eats all the quartz away) but wasn't sure, like you, if some gold might be lost in the
process (not lost, but become detached). I have seen gold/quartz specimens where some of the quartz was left intact to preserve the integrity of the piece
but the quartz remaining always looks "sickly" gray. Also thought about slabbing it into polishable jewellery cabochons. Well, i'm thinking about these options
25 years later, no regrets.