Let’s move on to a slightly harder subject to clean; a bolo tie.  Bolo ties add a bit of complexity to cleaning turquoise jewelry because of their leather braided cording.  If you spray this cording with the silver polish spray you will find that the leather seems to absorb the polish spray making it hard to wipe away.  Also, the braiding of the cords make it additionally difficult to remove the dried spray polish.  So what to do?  I have found a fairly simple way to attack this problem; take the bolo tie apart!  Don’t worry, it’s not as hard as it sounds!  First, the tips.  Bolo tips are typically held on my nothing more than the sharp grooved teeth at the top of the tip.  When the artist slips the tips over the braided cord, he gently bends the little teeth inward to grab the leather and stay put.  To remove them, simply reverse this process.  Gently bend the teeth away from the braided cord.  Once you get them all, you should be able to easily remove the tips.  Once removed, the tips can be cleaned as simply as the turquoise ring example from earlier.  Once clean, simply slip them back onto the corded braids and gently bend the teeth back into place.  In my next blog I’ll explain how I clean the reverse side of the bolo tie without getting spray on the tips.
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