Many of the Herkimer “diamonds” I dug from the ground were clear, but many were a sort orange/yellow color. I was told this was actually rust. A couple people told me that the rust could be removed by soaking the crystals in something called Iron Out. The one guy said he left his diamonds soaking in Iron Out overnight, and they were white the next morning.
So when we go home, I went to the grocery store and also to Target to look for Iron Out. But I didn’t see any. I found CLR (Calcium-Lime-Rust remover) and bought some of that. First, I cleaned the diamonds in water with dish soap and Oxyclean. Then I soaked a few of the diamonds in a mixture of water and CLR. After while we scrubbed on the diamonds, and some of the rust came off. But this was nowhere as easy as what I had been told about the Iron Out.
I did some research. I went online and checked out the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) for both Iron Out and CLR to see if they were the same or different. I found they were not even close to the same thing. I managed to find some Super Iron Out at Lowes Home Improvement. I bought a 5 lb jug of the stuff for a little about $11. I found it was a powder, and not a liquid. The directions called for 1/3 or 1/4 of a cup into a gallon of water. I wasn’t using near that much water. So I guestimated and pour just a little bit in and put a few diamonds in. They bubbled for few seconds then settled down. I checked periodically and even in a short time I could see the rust color fading or disappearing altogether! Wow, it worked fast! I left the diamonds in the Iron Out overnight and most of them were clear by morning. A few still have rust stains, so after taking the finished crystals out, I replaced the water and added more Iron Out.

Posted by Rob in Rockhounding on April 21st, 2008 |