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Post by Alice on Mar 3, 2005 11:28:58 GMT -5
Yippy! My Emeralds came in the mail today! Some of you wanted a picture, so here it is. Sorry about the picture quality. andy321.proboards16.com/index.cgi?board=Pictures&action=display&thread=1110655754I've put them in the tumbler already, along with some other rocks as a filler. They are nowhere near as hard as the emeralds, but they're no loss to me if they come out as sand in the end (the filler rocks that is).
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MichiganRocks
starting to spend too much on rocks
"I wasn't born to follow."
Member since April 2007
Posts: 154
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Post by MichiganRocks on Mar 3, 2005 11:33:15 GMT -5
Hey Alice, the problem I had with that stuff is the emeralds turned into sand. The pieces just kept getting smaller and nothing got any smoother.
Ron
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
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Post by stefan on Mar 3, 2005 11:43:20 GMT -5
Where is the picture? Hey I feel cheated!
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Post by Alice on Mar 3, 2005 11:48:15 GMT -5
You can tell that some of the emeralds will in fact break up into smaller pieces (particularly the largest one... looks to be many pieces held together by the matrix).
There are quite a few though that are a good size which apear to be just one chunk. But we'll see about that when the tumbling stage is over.
I'm expecting some cracks, and broken in half rocks... but only time will tell. Alice
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Post by Alice on Mar 3, 2005 11:51:27 GMT -5
Stefan the picture is there. Have you tried refreshing your page?
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Post by sandsman1 on Mar 3, 2005 14:02:14 GMT -5
hey alice you got some nice pieces there i bet they come out real nice
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
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Post by stefan on Mar 3, 2005 14:14:22 GMT -5
All I see is a bigger version of our Avitar I refreshed and still got the same thing- I think it is a plot against me
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Post by Alice on Mar 3, 2005 16:41:32 GMT -5
I sure hope they come out nice Sands. If not then it'll be a learning experience. (it's not like I paid a lot for them). Alice
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Banjocreek
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since March 2003
Posts: 1,115
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Post by Banjocreek on Mar 3, 2005 17:10:40 GMT -5
They should be just fine. I don't think I left mine in the 60/90 long enough, and if I were doing some again I would tap them with a 4 pound sledge (lightly) to seperate some of the matrix from the emerald before I ran them in the course grit. But you should have no problem polishing them right up.
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Post by Cher on Mar 3, 2005 17:29:35 GMT -5
Would it make a difference to use pellets for cushioning starting in coarse or do those things break apart anyways? Very cool, take pics in each stage as you go.
Cher
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Post by Alice on Mar 3, 2005 17:46:09 GMT -5
I'm really not picky on how they turn out. They're for my 9 year old son's treasure chest.
I hope there's a few good ones in there that I might be able to get faceted for him- Would be a real treat for him to own a few "real gems" (as he puts it) . Not tumbled stones, but CUT stones.
I think that's why he lost interest in tumbling. After doing our very first load in a kiddie tumbler, There was a look of disapointment on his face. He was expecting the rocks to come out like cut diamonds. He even blamed me for tumbling the stones wrong!
Anyway (I'm babbling here .. and can go on and on)... It would be nice if they turned out nice, but I'm not really getting my hopes up.
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Post by Alice on Mar 3, 2005 17:51:09 GMT -5
Cher, I have no idea if plastic pellets would do the job. But I do know it doesn't hurt to put in a few other types of rocks in there as long as they won't harm the emeralds.
I might put in some beads in at stage 2 if I need a filler. Which will more then likely be the case.
Alice
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Post by docone31 on Mar 3, 2005 19:49:23 GMT -5
The Electricals took the picture!!!! I wanted to see! Just let them run. They will seperate and you should get a black graphite film on top of the tumble. If you get one or two large enough to be worth faceting, seperate them from the 60/90. There is no point in running them full cycle. Faceting will remove about 60% of the stone. You gonna have a ball with them. I love tumbled, faceted, cabbed emeralds. Good luck. Emeralds got me started in tumbling, and this forum.
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Post by Alice on Mar 3, 2005 21:19:58 GMT -5
Docone One of The large ones literally looks like a bunch of tiny emeralds held together by matrix (Can't really see it from the picture). But it's quite big... bigger then the size of a Toonie (that really shiny coin at the top of the batch). I have it in the tumbler right now. I'll check on it in a few days to see if there's a larger chunk in the core (hopefully all the little ones will have fallen off). If there is something big under it all I will definitely take it out, take pictures, and get everyone's opinion on it (Along with all the others which might be worth faceting.
BTW - what's the smallest size that can be faceted? The size of a pencil eraser? Smaller?
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Post by docone31 on Mar 3, 2005 21:46:54 GMT -5
The picture came through! It looks great. How small can an emerald be to facet? That is a real question. For an hand faceted emerald, bigger is better. A small emerald can be purchased over the counter for about 150$. It is not worth it to just facet a small emerald unless it means something. The chunks you have need to be tumbled to see what the stone to be faceted will be like. Emeralds fracture, crack, and just plain crumble if they are not intact inside when set. They look great to hold, but when setting them, the pressure of setting is hard on topaz, amythist, quartz. I cannot tell you how many times I have started faceting an emerald and half way through, it just crumbles on a corner, or the table. The 100.9 ct emerald I am doing for MGM, I have lost about an easy 65% already. I was almost done when a corner just fell off during polishing. I had to cut the entire top of the stone and, reshape the girdle. I was lucky, a lot of times the entire stone has to be redone to compensate for a chunkoff. If the stone has real meaning to you, 4mm is about minimum for a quality stone that will be worth the expense of faceting. If you have a design in mind, and a design for the stone, the larger the stone, the less it costs a ct for faceting. The larger the stone, the more it is worth. Then you have to take into consideration, the three C's. Colour, cut, clarity. I can facet a 1mm piece of rough, but in my opinion, it should be the rarest piece of rough in the world. It will be miniscule when done. You have some good potential there, the smaller longer crystals might make real good emerald cuts. In my opinion, the longer the table, the better the stone. However, with emeralds, the longer the table, the more fragile the stone. Emeralds fracture real easily.
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Post by Alice on Mar 3, 2005 22:35:52 GMT -5
I'm just thinking of your MGM stone. Isn't there a way you can repair it? If you have a long Emerald, wouldn't it be better if you made 2 gems out of it instead of just 1 long one, as they are really fragile? The stone(s) I would want faceted would be for my son's treasure chest. Sure I'm going to try to pick the best emerald(s), but just might end up picking a mediocre one (if I don't have any good ones) just so that he can say he's got a "real" emerald that "MOM" tumbled. It seems VERY important to him for some reason. I am also thinking of building another small treasure chest sometime in the FAR future, and perhaps imbed some stones into some sort of metal setting, perhaps a channel setting (Gold / plated, or brass) and then into the wood. of course this is will probably end up costing a fortune in the end and will probably not become reality with actual gem stones, but there is a plan for "some day". OH! I have a question.... When I open my barrel for the first time, should I put in some plastic pellets to cushion them (seeing that they're so fragile) like Cher had suggested? Or will my softer filler rocks do?
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Post by docone31 on Mar 3, 2005 23:01:57 GMT -5
Alice, I never liked pellets. Of course, finish polish never mattered too much to me, and if I got some real shiners it was mostly luck rather than skill. With the emeralds I tumbled, I used corundum as filler. I had a bunch and it needs to be tumbled over and over and over. As the smaller stones got smaller I put them in with the emeralds and it worked out all right. I ended up with enough really good large emeralds that I am going to have more stones cut than designs made. The emerald for MGM, there was no way to put back the pieces. The stone is a T-1 deep green, and the fracture was almost invisible just before it crumbled. A piece, .5mm X .02mm just crumbled away. It was an internal stress fracture and just fell away. I was lucky, the depth was not so great as the length and recutting the depth eliminated the length. I had to recut a corner as well as the table so I had to re-do the entire crown/table/girdle. It came out great and actually looks better smaller than it did larger. I do not know what happened to the photo shoot on it and I am going to try to find out. The studio is aware of the crumble and verified it with other gem cutters. I am ok with that, so are they. If it does not meet their size criterion, I get the stone. It is one of my better cuts, and I will not be sorry. It has a very high apraised value. And is a striking looking stone. It is my baby.
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Post by Alice on Mar 3, 2005 23:08:35 GMT -5
I probably asked this before, and you probably answered... but how long do you think I should let them go through the first stage (coarse grit) before all the matrix is gone, or at least know if they are faceting worthy?
4 days? 1 week? 2 weeks? Impossible to tell?
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Post by docone31 on Mar 3, 2005 23:13:38 GMT -5
I like a solid two weeks, with one recharge without dumping the slurry.
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Post by Alice on Mar 3, 2005 23:20:16 GMT -5
Thanks Docone, It's an impatience thing, but I'm going to check on them every 4 days or less But at least I know I should expect 14 days or so. Alice
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