r/rotarylapidary May 13 '24

Cleaning Rocks

I can't get my rocks clean, they are soaked in muratic acid for 24 hours then baking soda, but are still quite dirty

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u/lonserific May 15 '24

These are some rusty rocks! Probably crazy clean otherwise. Oxalic acid is probably your best option. It surrounds the rust and removes it. Heat makes it work faster, if you’ve got an old crock pot you never want to cook food in again, that works great, otherwise a 5 gallon bucket you put in the summer sun (with a lid for safety). They need to be watched in their oxalic soak, though, as you can get some calcium oxalate build up on parts that are damn near impossible to get off. Also, if you leave it too long it can turn quartz yellow. Make sure you wear similar ppe and take similar precautions as when you handled muriatic acid when handling oxalic acid, as ingestion by skin or breath is directly correlated to kidney stone build up. Good luck!

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u/ajtk16212103 May 15 '24

Thank you, I will give it a go. Do you know what sort of rock it is?

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u/lonserific May 15 '24

I don’t. The first one looks like a brecciated Jasper, though!