Sound technical content, curated with aloha by
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ
The authoritative public forum
for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Hot tub problem: gold rings turned to copper color
Q. All our rings lost their gold and turned copper color while we were in the hot tub.
James Formolojewerly - Iron Mountain, Michigan
2006
A. James,
I assume you are talking fine jewelry here, not electroplated jewelry. Chlorine is an enemy to any type of gold jewelry. It is a oxidizer and the oxidation rate is increased with your high temp hot tub. The rings are most likely "bleached out" and oxidation film has to be removed by professional polishing. Fine gold jewelry are normally a cast alloy (10k-14k) and the alloys are homogeneous throughout the rings. So the gold is still there, it just has to be revealed again by polishing. Watch that free chlorine concentration in the tub! Good Luck to you.
Process Engineer - Syracuse, New York
2006
Q. My 14K gold ring turned copper color when I was in the hot tub. It is now a dark gold/coppery color. What can be done to reverse this?
Cheryl Curran- Palm Coast, Florida
October 27, 2014
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Ed. note: As you see, we appended your inquiry to a previous thread which answers it. Good luck.
Q. Do I need to take my ring to a jeweler to be polished?
Cheryl Curran [returning]- Palm Coast, Florida
October 27, 2014
A. Hi again Cheryl. Yes, that's what Mark suggested. But if you have jewelry working skill and think you can do professional polishing yourself, that's a possibility. Or if you are content for the copper color to gradually and unevenly dissipate, I suppose you could also wait it out and see what develops. Best of luck.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
October 2014
I will take it to a professional jeweler and have it polished. Thank you.
- Palm Coast, Florida
October 28, 2014
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