Identification and Cleaning process help please :)? (Maybe it’s a Quartz)

Irinakhoi

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Nov 25, 2020
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Hi Guys,

I found this beautiful milky quartz (maybe someone can confirm me this ahahha). I putted 2 pictures (to help with identification). The first one is the same stone than the second one. Except the second one is a bit dirty. All the work I need to do, it’s on the second one.

I need a little bit of help please. First, I want to be sure it is really a quartz please. I found this in the city of Mansonville in Quebec. Maybe someone knows the place :).

I want to clean this stone the best I can. I soaked the stone for 4 days in the Iron out. After the 4 days, I rinsed the stone and I gave another soak for 3 days. Nothing had change. Do someone has any advice please?

I thought about sanding the black part? And speaking of the black part, what is it exactly? Is it a kind of mineral who stick to the stone?

Any advice would be kind

Thanks :hello2:
 

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Steve1236

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Stick them I heavy bleach water, hot water works best, do it outside in the sun, let them sit for a day or two or until all the dead lichen is gone, if in fact that is dead lichen, looks like it, then soak them in fresh water for another couple of days in the sun changing the water daily to leach out all the bleach, pressure wash them, your hose will work fine and use a brush to, then buy super iron out (powder) only and stick it in hot water also outside in the sun for a day or two, then fresh water for a few days, if it's not cleaned by then that's just how the rock is and yes that's quartz.
 

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Steve1236

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Oh one more thing, never mix chemicals, the fumes could be very toxic, that's why I said to leach all the bleach out of the stones before adding super iron out powder version, just wear eye protection goggles and do it outside only and you'll be fine.
 

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DDancer

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Looks like organic material to me to, as steve says bleach it and hit it with a power washer and a brush. I dont know that it needs a shot of iron out but that can be determined after a heavy cleaning.
 

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Irinakhoi

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Nov 25, 2020
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Stick them I heavy bleach water, hot water works best, do it outside in the sun, let them sit for a day or two or until all the dead lichen is gone, if in fact that is dead lichen, looks like it, then soak them in fresh water for another couple of days in the sun changing the water daily to leach out all the bleach, pressure wash them, your hose will work fine and use a brush to, then buy super iron out (powder) only and stick it in hot water also outside in the sun for a day or two, then fresh water for a few days, if it's not cleaned by then that's just how the rock is and yes that's quartz.


Thanks a lot Steve. Very appreciated! I already use the iron out, it’s work really well but I didn’t did the bleach before. Do I need to neutralize the bleach with baking soda after the soak? Can I used ammonia instead of bleach?
I’m not lucky enough to have sun here, in canada it’s winter with a lot of snow ahahha!! I will try to put the solution with the rock near the heater.
 

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Steve1236

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No you don't need to neutralize the bleach, if your not going to use iron out again then just stick them in hot water and bleach in a bucket or something with a lid for 12 to 24 hours then just stick them in your bathtub with hot water till it gets cold or like an hour or two then drain the tub, repeat 2 or 3 times to leach out any bleach, that should work faster if you're just trying to remove that black dead organic lichen/algae
 

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Irinakhoi

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Nov 25, 2020
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No you don't need to neutralize the bleach, if your not going to use iron out again then just stick them in hot water and bleach in a bucket or something with a lid for 12 to 24 hours then just stick them in your bathtub with hot water till it gets cold or like an hour or two then drain the tub, repeat 2 or 3 times to leach out any bleach, that should work faster if you're just trying to remove that black dead organic lichen/algae

Perfect, I will try that! Thanks again :)
 

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DeepseekerADS

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I have a very similar heavy quartz rock on the floor near me right now. It was too pretty to walk away from. When I get off my lazy rear to do something other than surfing TNet, I'll be looking at the solutions posted here. So far they make perfect sense.
 

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Irinakhoi

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I will try to use a sandblast gun with soda. I will keep you in touch and put some pictures. Maybe it could help someone else :)
 

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