Removing Oil from WITHIN a Crystal?

So I just noticed that some oil from hands or just handling must have gotten in some hairline fractures in some of my polished crystals and it's made interior parts of them CLOUDY where they were once clear/translucent.

I'm really bummed about this because it's a couple of gorgeous pieces I have (including my smoky quartz sphere that had gorgeous clarity (see my other thread) except for this amazing rainbow inclusion in the center... but now, close to the outside of the sphere, there is a piece that must have gotten oils in it and now looks like it could chip off (not that I think it will - just that it's much more obviously a "chunk" attached to the sphere rather than some hairline fractures going into it, if that makes any sense?)

Anyway, if anyone has any helpful info for me I'd appreciate it. I tried googling the topic, but given the fact that there is an oil company called "Crystal" it made it difficult to sort past all of their propaganda

Also (maybe I shouldn't ask this...) is the structural integrity of these crystals now compromised due to the oils? I will be very sad if this is the case and I hope there's some way to clean them and hopefully remove the oil that has penetrated into them without damaging them any further.

Mahalo!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQDGOKfYg0A


I am not sure you would be interested to buy this, probably sold on e-bay. Or you can contact a high school science lab teacher and ask them if they can help you.

That was a great video, Briar Rose! I enjoyed it.

Dee Ell: Here's a great article about cleaning stones. I bookmarked it in case I want to go beyond the video Briar Rose found. The guy who wrote it has an online gem and mineral website. Maybe he could spare a minute to advise you?

http://www.rockhounds.com/rockshop/john_betts/clean1.html

Along the same line, given your location, I suppose a lot of stones become smeared in cocoa butter, oil and suntan lotion. ;-) I'd look around for museums or people with large private collections and ask what they do. In Hawaii, I'm sure this is a common thing.

Lastly, maybe it would be a good idea to have people wash their hands before handling your babies, and perhaps wait if they have lots of oil on. When I use coconut oil on my hands (mostly for hand drumming), I don't handle any of my stones until my hands are back to normal. Please let us know if you manage to extract oil from those cracks!

hmmmm... thanks for the info both of you.

Interesting articles/video which I will definitely bookmark, however it seems the information is mostly aimed at removing exterior dirt/minerals/crustiness from crystals rather than something like oil. And it doesn't really address *interior* issues - even in the video she comments on how the iron was removed from the outside of the crystal, but iron deposits that had penetrated to the interior of the crystal through cracks weren't reached.

Also, I will have to google whether oxalic acid reacts in any way with oils and if it can damage polished stones like the ones I am having problems with...

I'll keep you all posted if/when I make any progress!