Thread: Polishing platinum?

Hi all, sorry about a topic unrelated to razor restoration.... but I thought this was the "closest" area to ask.

As I've been cleaning up some razors, I dobbed some MAAS on my weddding band, which is platinum and edged with 18k gold. When I wiped it off, I was amazed at the gunk the MAAS was able to get off the ring (which I thought was pretty clean).

OK... on to my question. While getting some of my wife's jewlery cleaned at a jewely store, they told me that they could clean my ring, but would have to send it out to be "buffed", because even their softest buffing pad would, ummmm... do something bad to the platinum because it is so soft. I've got my Dremel and tons of buffing pads, etc., but now I'm a bit nervous to try to polish my platinum band.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Peter

Platinum is a very unusual metal. When scratched, the material is just compressed or moved. Whereas other precious metals actually shed off some material when scratched. The platinum polishing process takes several times longer than other precious metals --- and there's actually a special bench jeweler's certification for platinum work. Some folks (myself included - I also have a plat. band) prefer the patina that comes with wear. Bottom line is that, given the value, I'd just let the pros do their thing if you want it brought back to luster. [NOTE: I'm not a jeweler, but have read much on the topic].

-Steve

Keep us posted!!

I have a platinum band as well, and have thought of 'going at it' myself with a lil' Maas and the dremel buffer.... I suppose just the rub down with Maas is not concern, but when you get that thar dremel rarin' to go it might cause some damage...

C utz (admiring the 'patina' of his platinum band )

The "gunk", (black residue) that is left on the rug when polishing with MAAS or other metal polish is actually metal residue that is removed with the paste's abrasive. Think of it like sanding with very fine sandpaper.

You will get black marks polishing any metal, steel, gold, silver, platinum. So, be careful, and don't use it too much...


Nenad

Platinum develops its own tarnish which helps to protect it. Though I have a platinum wedding band also I'm not a big fan of the stuff. Eventually it just looks like steel unlike gold which retains its luster. What the jeweler told you is untrue. Platinum is actually quite hard when compared to gold or silver. I wouldn't bother with polishing it because it will only tarnish up again very quickly.You just need a special rouge to do the job. A jewelry supply house would have it. Remember Platinum is truly a rare metal unlike gold. All the Platinum ever mined could fit into a typical house easily. Gold is mined by the ton.

I was once told that if you melted down all the gold in the world and reduced it to pure 24K form, it would fill 5 Olympic swimming pools. And if you took all the Platinum in the world, and melted it down, it would fill one Olympic swimming pool - to about your ankles.

)

Platinum usually is sometimes plated with Rhodium to give it a reflective white surface. This is known as rhodium flashing in the jewelry business. It protects the Platinum from developing the dull patina common with age.


Of note, while Platinum commands high prices because of it's limited supply, diamonds on the other hand are NOT rare stones either - over 95% of all diamonds are bought by diamond houses (read: De Beers) and kept OFF the market. By artificially limiting the supply this accounts for their huge markup.

Actually Gold is kept by most countries to guarantee their currencies and countries like the U.S, Russia and the like have tens of thousands of tons of the stuff and its all 24K. Platinum on the otherhand has limited uses and the supply is a tiny fraction of that of Gold.

I've never seen Rhodium used to coat Platinum. Its done with silver to guard against tarnish and used to coat white gold in the U.S because of the nickel content and give it a whiter appearance. In europe "white gold" is called grey gold and is alloyed with palladium and is ususally about 20% more expensive than the other golds but has no nickel and is not plated.

Your right about diamonds. If de beers released the diamonds its hoarding in its vaults in S Africa you could buy a 1 Karat diamond for about the price of a tank of gas these days.

Funny how nobody goes after DeBeers for being a monopoly excercising unfair business practises, no?

I live close to Antwerp, where 80% of the uncut diamond gets traded.
I once went to a limited tour of the diamond exchange with my wife. We also got a couple of presentations about 'blood diamond', which are diamonds sold by local warlords to finance their wars.

It wasn't said out loud with so many words, but the impression we got was that the entire diamond industry is based on power struggles and oppression.

And another time I watched a documentary which explained that DeBeers can basically make or break your business with impunity.
As a jeweller you try to get accepted as a direct buyer. This can take 1 to 3 generations. Then you get to buy whatever selection they want to sell to you for the price they set.
If they are pleased with you, you get good diamonds for a good price. If they're not, you get expensive crud, and there is nothing you can do about it.

But then again I never understood why people are so impressed by big diamonds. To me they're just ovrepriced big shiny rocks.