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Now, to get them cleaned......
Make sure all the mud is off.....yep, even in the vugs. This can take some time. I recommend a good hosing with the water hose set on stun the plants...full blast!
This will get most of it off. Then let them bake in the sun. The mud in the vugs will get dry and cracked, then hit them with the hose again. Repeat as necessary. This could take a few times depending on how deep the vugs are..sometimes a tooth pick is necessary, but I only do this for the really nice ones...it's work!
As you get some that are ready for that acid bath (oxalic acid), you will need some clean buckets.
I recommend about half a pound of the acid in a big bucket, and about two gallons of water. You can put your quartz in the bucket first then add the water and acid. "do not inhale the dust" Make sure all the pretties are exposed, don't over fill the bucket with quartz, single layer them.
Put an old window pane on top to keep out bugs and animals...especially the pets. In the summer you can leave them in the shade, the water will heat up just from the temperature outside. When it gets cold you can put them in the sun. However when they are in the sun if you leave them in the solution too long they can get some yellow staining on them. If this happens, when you take them out wash with a tooth brush immediately to get the yellow off.
To reuse your acid in the buckets....put some new crystals in another bucket and take the acid from the crystals soaking and gently dump as much of it on the new quartz to be cleaned without loosing the clean ones.
Take the bucket with the cleaned quartz after dumping the solution and add some water, then add some baking soda. Stand back, do not inhale the fumes. It will not have a real bad reaction because you just diluted the acid by adding water. But there could be some harmful fumes escape.
Do not get acid on you or in your eyes, take any precautions you deem necessary. The acid can be absorbed through the skin, you will not feel it, it's just good to be protected.
If you get it on you wash immediately, with the eyes, flush with cold water for several minutes. Contact a doctor.
You can reuse the acid bath until it turns a light shade of green. This is when you use some baking soda to neutralize the acid and then you can dump in out on the ground.
Getting the mud off is important, that is what eventually turns the acid green.
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