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Gadgets, Gizmos, and Dohickeys => Tool Talk => Topic started by: crazyjays on May 02, 2016, 04:43:09 PM

Title: I Need alittle help
Post by: crazyjays on May 02, 2016, 04:43:09 PM
Some of the rocks i got this weekend has a white build up on them.
Whats the best thing to use to clean. I can scrape some of it off with my
thumbnail. Is there anything i can do this with faster? I will be posting last weekends
find here in a couple days.

Thanks,
   Jay
Title: Re: I Need alittle help
Post by: Kaljaia on May 02, 2016, 04:55:16 PM
Is it a calcium or water scale buildup? maybe white vinegar and an old tooth brush?
Title: Re: I Need alittle help
Post by: lithicbeads on May 02, 2016, 06:44:44 PM
Muriatic acid which mason's use is often used. No skin contact and no breathing of the fumes and radical rinsing afterwards. I always add some limestone to neutralize the partially used acid and keep it away from the plumbing. Caution  is paramount.
Title: Re: I Need alittle help
Post by: jakesrocks on May 02, 2016, 06:58:45 PM
The safest way if you're not familiar with acids is as Erica said. Plain old white vinegar. Put your rocks in a plastic or ceramic container, cover them with vinegar & let them soak over night. Most if not all of the white coating will be gone in the morning. Take your rocks out of the vinegar & let them soak in clean, cold water for an hour or so. The beauty part of using vinegar as an acid is you can safely put your hands in it. To dispose of it, if you have weeds in your driveway that you want to get rid of, just pour the used vinegar over them.
Title: Re: I Need alittle help
Post by: crazyjays on May 02, 2016, 08:28:11 PM
Thanks everybody i will stay with the vinegar.
How many times can i use the same tube of vinegar?

Jay
Title: Re: I Need alittle help
Post by: jakesrocks on May 03, 2016, 09:50:24 AM
When you pour vinegar over that white deposit, it will start to bubble. When the bubbling stops, the acid in the vinegar is depleted. Time to throw it away. But plain old white vinegar in gallon jugs is cheap compared to the more common acids used for cleaning rocks.
Title: Re: I Need alittle help
Post by: crazyjays on May 03, 2016, 09:55:44 AM
When you pour vinegar over that white deposit, it will start to bubble. When the bubbling stops, the acid in the vinegar is depleted. Time to throw it away. But plain old white vinegar in gallon jugs is cheap compared to the more common acids used for cleaning rocks.

Ok Thanks Jake

Title: Re: I Need alittle help
Post by: rocks2dust on May 03, 2016, 10:17:06 AM
Just a caveat, since you didn't say what sort of rock you are trying to clean: Vinegar or muriatic acid works great on things like agate and quartz - however - don't use it on calcite, limestone, marble, metallic or other stones that acid will etch, dissolve or otherwise harm. Same for some rocks and petrified materials that may consist of mixed mineralization, or you could damage/lose some interesting formations like pyrite inclusions or calcite pockets.
Title: Re: I Need alittle help
Post by: jakesrocks on May 03, 2016, 10:29:09 AM
When you pour vinegar over that white deposit, it will start to bubble. When the bubbling stops, the acid in the vinegar is depleted. Time to throw it away. But plain old white vinegar in gallon jugs is cheap compared to the more common acids used for cleaning rocks.

Ok Thanks Jake

Actually it's Don. Jake is my dog & protector of the rock pile.  :LOLOL:
Title: Re: I Need alittle help
Post by: crazyjays on May 03, 2016, 10:32:42 AM
Good point there

Jasper and some with jasper with quartz in it.

Should i not use it on the jasper with quartz vain in it.
The rest is just jasper rocks.
Title: Re: I Need alittle help
Post by: crazyjays on May 03, 2016, 10:34:07 AM
 :LOLOL:  ok thanks Don.

Title: Re: I Need alittle help
Post by: crazyjays on May 03, 2016, 10:36:07 AM
Because its my first time doing this i will post photos of the rocks before i give them a bath.

Well off to by the UV light and vinegar.
Title: Re: I Need alittle help
Post by: rocks2dust on May 03, 2016, 11:35:58 AM
Should i not use it on the jasper with quartz vain in it.
Jasper and jasp+quartz should be fine. The exceptions would be if a piece contains things like pyrite or marcasite, for which acid can trigger an irreversible deterioration reaction that will eventually eat it up over a period of months, even if you quickly neutralize the acid on the exterior. Though some jaspers can contain calcite, fossil material, metals, limestone, etc. inclusions that are vulnerable to acid, those don't sound like your material. If in doubt, try on a small piece. You might want to consider giving your soaked pieces a final rinse in water containing baking soda to neutralize any remaining acid prior to storing or cutting. I gotta try out jakesrocks's suggestion for weed-killing!

Around here, our caliche is hardly affected by vinegar or muriatic acid. I'm not sure what it is, probably silica-heavy something, but my windows and toilet bowls sure could use an easy way to remove those deposits.
Title: Re: I Need alittle help
Post by: Gergis on May 04, 2016, 06:51:41 PM
A product I've used to clean up iron stained quartz crystals was to soak it in this stuff called "iron out" that I got at home depot. I've heard of people using it on rocks also to clean the rinds up but I haven't done that myself at all. Like rocks2dust said test with a small pebble or break a small chunk off and try that first to make sure your not damaging the stone with the acid.

Sent from my LGLS990 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: I Need alittle help
Post by: jakesrocks on May 04, 2016, 07:25:08 PM
Gergis, I've used Super Iron Out to clean Fairburn agates for my collection. I use a small ceramic lined crock pot and let them cook over night. Best done outdoors because of the fumes. The next day I rinse them real good, then let them soak in fresh cold water for the day, changing the water every hour or so. Then they go in another crock pot filled with cheap baby oil to cook for a couple hours. After coming out of the baby oil they sit on a plastic screen over the crock pot to drain for an hour. They are then dried with a soft cloth. The cleaning & oiling really makes the colors pop out.
Title: Re: I Need alittle help
Post by: Ranger_Dave on May 04, 2016, 08:44:54 PM
Use the powdered Iron Out. It contains; Sodium carbonate, Sodium hydrosulfite, Sodium metabisulfite, Citric acid, Sodium sulfite, and Sodium bisulfite.

The liquid Iron Out contains; Oxalic acid, 1,2-Propanediol (aka Ppropylene glycol).

I've had better luck with the powered version when cleaning rust stained quartz and jasper.
Title: Re: I Need alittle help
Post by: crazyjays on May 04, 2016, 09:35:31 PM
Here are photos of the 3 rocks in the bath. I for got to place a ruler to show the size.  :Bash:
I will do that after the bath when cleaning is done.
Title: Re: I Need alittle help
Post by: Gergis on May 05, 2016, 08:47:33 AM
Are you gonna slab those when they're all cleaned up?

Sent from my LGLS990 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: I Need alittle help
Post by: crazyjays on May 05, 2016, 09:00:44 AM
Are you gonna slab those when they're all cleaned up?

Sent from my LGLS990 using Tapatalk

The goal is to slab them. When i get a slab saw.  :LOLOL:
I should be able to get a slab saw in July or Aug,

They cleaned up real good. I didnt even need to use the brush to them.
I should be able to add the photos of them later to do.
Title: Re: I Need alittle help
Post by: Enchantra on May 05, 2016, 10:12:30 AM

Around here, our caliche is hardly affected by vinegar or muriatic acid. I'm not sure what it is, probably silica-heavy something, but my windows and toilet bowls sure could use an easy way to remove those deposits.

Same problem I have.  Caliche is a nasty creature.  I swear it has it's own life form to it.  I can get a hole dug through it, and break through that layer, plant something, water well and I swear it reforms on the surface of the watering well of the tree.  I periodically need to go in and break it up.  Mind you my watering wells on trees are good sized and deep. Often six inches deep by a good five feet wide - and that is for a 5 gallon tree.  Some of my neighbors think I'm nuts.  But I plant mostly natives, water them really darned good, then wait several weeks before watering again so the roots go down towards water.  My neighbors all have the drip irrigation they run on their trees for an hour every week and seem to think that is going to sufficiently water their trees and allow the roots to grow properly.  I wonder how many of the Ash trees my neighbor has planted will go over in storms in the next decade because their roots stayed in this tiny itty-bitty hole?

I get the toilet rings all the time.  I found a stone called a "Pumie" at the store marketed for taking scale off toilet bowls.  It's pumice on a stick!  It works too, no chemicals required.  Vinegar and citric acid really haven't touched it.  Despite using a squeegee on our glass shower doors, we still have buildup that I cannot get off no matter what I use - vinegar, citric acid, bleach, Citrus cleaner - none of it works.  I'm starting to think it's something other than calcium myself.  I'm tempted to make a solution of CLR to spray it with and see if that works.  The problem I have is I am on a Septic so I need to be careful of what I use.

As for the rock - if you know it is solid jasper/agate/quartz, using the vinegar is a good option.  I also second the motion of soaking it in baking soda and water to neutralize any acid residue that remain, then rinse off the rock afterwards.  Goodluck and show us what you find under that white stuff!
Title: Re: I Need alittle help
Post by: Gergis on May 05, 2016, 05:44:22 PM
Are you gonna slab those when they're all cleaned up?

Sent from my LGLS990 using Tapatalk

The goal is to slab them. When i get a slab saw.  :LOLOL:
I should be able to get a slab saw in July or Aug,

They cleaned up real good. I didnt even need to use the brush to them.
I should be able to add the photos of them later to do.
Saaweeettt!! :-) when you do and and if you are going to try to sell some I am certainly interested in a thick(1/2"-3/4") slab each of those conglomerate stones they look promising ;-)

Sent from my LGLS990 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: I Need alittle help
Post by: crazyjays on May 05, 2016, 06:35:38 PM
The goal is to slab them. When i get a slab saw.  :LOLOL:
I should be able to get a slab saw in July or Aug,

They cleaned up real good. I didnt even need to use the brush to them.
I should be able to add the photos of them later to do.
[/quote]
Saaweeettt!! :-) when you do and and if you are going to try to sell some I am certainly interested in a thick(1/2"-3/4") slab each of those conglomerate stones they look promising ;-)

Sent from my LGLS990 using Tapatalk
[/quote]

I did not have time(more like sun light) to get the photo of the other rock that looks pretty good too.
Just remind me im thinking of just doing polls in a forum on what to slab up each time.

Jay 
Title: Re: I Need alittle help
Post by: crazyjays on May 06, 2016, 02:56:52 PM
Here are the 2 rocks that got a bath.
Title: Re: I Need alittle help
Post by: Kaljaia on May 06, 2016, 08:09:21 PM
Looks like they sure cleaned up nice! That conglomerate is stunning.