"Should I clean them?" I hate cleaning gold nuggets!


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Hello All,

Here is a picture of two small batches of nuggets I found on my last two short trips with the GPZ 7000. As much as I want to see their true character under the dirt, I have always hated cleaning my nuggets. I guess once you clean them, you can't put the dirt back on ..... haha ....

What are you thoughts, clean them?

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28.1 Grams for two short hunts is not too bad. Minelab GPZ 7000 Metal Detector in "BEAST MODE!"

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I would rather look at gold then a dirt clod. I can find dirt clods anywhere :)
CLEAN Them!
Tom H.

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Like I said on Facebook, leave them dirty!

I don't know anybody else that leaves them like that, it's kinda cool. Everytime you look back at them you can get that "just dug" feeling again.

I'm sure part of it also has to do with the sheer amount of nuggets you have in your collection and how long you've been nuggetshooting for. Don't have time to clean them all, especially the little dinks!

Just pop them out of the ground, take a quick peek "ok it's gold" and drop them in your poke.

With lots of nuggets being recovered in places like California and Alaska using water in dredges and sluices and getting beat up making their way through the equipment, I think nuggets with "desert patina" is unique to detecting and our area.

Personally if I was a collector I'd like to purchase "virgin" nuggets like that, not ones dipped in acid or polished up to look nicer.

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I am the same as you Rob. Always battle with that question.

I have finally come to the conclusion, that I throw them in WINK, or CLR, or in the heated ultra-sonic cleaner with that green cleaner stuff.

However they come out, is the way I am happy with them. Nothing extra, never use a brush. This cleaning is enough to get the dirt off, maybe a little of the rust. But by and large, it keeps all the rust in the crevices, and cracks, cleans the quartz up a little, so it still looks like a natural nugget. Maybe a little brighter and cleaner, but basically still looks like it came from Mother Earth.

I have some larger pieces, 1 ounce and 2 ounce that have been treated with hydroflouric acid. They are absolutely beautiful and pristine, and somehow, even with all of that, they have lost their charm. There are no little bits of quartz, no little cracks with iron staining, I don't know, they just sort of leave me dry.

With a nugget all cleaned like this, I look at it and go, wow, cool. Put it back in the pouch and back in the safe. With a nugget that has just undergone superficial cleaning, I will get the loupe out, and look at the little pieces of quartz, the nooks and crannies, the little place where it looks like the nugget formed up against a crystal of pyrite. Substantially more interesting to me.

Take care!

Doc

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Nice going Rob, they look like the stuff the ZED really loves.

I'd pop em in the ultrasonic cleaner with warm water and a dash of detergent and buzz em for 5-10 minutes, no brushing.

Sometimes uncovers real nice crystalline structures in the cavities, that usually stay filled with grime.

I'm like Doc, I enjoy sitting in the sun with a loop and looking at them up real close, real eye candy, but only if they're clean.

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