sierra
off to a rocking start
Member since January 2016
Posts: 1
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Post by sierra on Jan 7, 2016 10:30:16 GMT -5
I love pretty things and that's no lie!
I started buying loose gemstones about 15 years ago & have a pretty good collection now but have never dealt with the rough stuff until very recently when I bought a (approximately) 54 ct Columbian emerald off of EBay for $2.50. I haven't gotten it yet but thought I'd better do my homework before it arrives to find out how to get it clean & shiny without having to go to a professional and pay a small fortune. I have a tumbler but so far have only used it on common stones like quartz, agate & granite, and now I find myself in need of some knowledgable advice on how to proceed. Do I add other stones in with the emerald along with the various grit compounds or just tumble it by itself? I also have a small opal in matrix that needs to be polished up...can it go in with the emerald?
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,685
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Post by Fossilman on Jan 7, 2016 11:43:09 GMT -5
1st off welcome to the forum.....There are a few on here that are Gemstone collectors too...I have a few in my collection also,but not educated enough to give advice out yet.... Stay here and your questions will be answered..Thumbs up
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herchenx
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2012
Posts: 3,360
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Post by herchenx on Jan 7, 2016 11:56:35 GMT -5
Welcome Sierra. Like fossilman I have some gem stones but don't know a ton about gems specifically. One thing I do know, if you tumble it (not sure that's the best thing for emerald) - don't put it in with opal. Emerald is very hard, opal is relatively soft and will be destroyed. Depending on the TYPE of opal it may polish well in a tumbler or not. If it is precious opal please don't put it in a tumbler, if it is a less valuable opal I've tumbled some Peruvian stuff and it came out OK.
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Post by jakesrocks on Jan 7, 2016 13:46:50 GMT -5
If your emerald is going to be a specimen stone in rough form, try cleaning it in a weak acid first. Common white vinegar should work.
As John said, emerald is much harder than opal. DO NOT tumble the two together. Also, much opal is prone to fracturing. Tumbling may reduce your opal to a small pile of chips. If you must tumble it, Get a large chunk of common opal to break up into smaller pieces. Use these pieces as filler in your tumbler. Never mix harder stones with opal to tumble. Also, being a softer stone, you may be able to skip the rough grind stage & start your batch with 220 grit.
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Post by vegasjames on Jan 7, 2016 19:26:09 GMT -5
I have bought a lot of Colombian emerald. A couple were actually gem quality. Most was actually green beryl since it was not green enough to actually be called emerald.
The stones will be coated with kerosene, which is a common practice there. The black on the stone is black tourmaline (schorl). I have not found an easy way to take it off and just use diamond burrs with a rotary tool.
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Post by gingerkid on Jan 8, 2016 5:37:45 GMT -5
Welcome to RTH, sierra! Would love to see your gemstone collection!! We have a few faceters that participate on the forum, and I hope gemfeller sees your post. I think he was having a time trying to log onto the forum. I started collecting gems several years ago, mainly garnets and quartz gems with inclusions. Which tumbler do you have? The stones will be coated with kerosene, which is a common practice there. Very interesting, vegasjames, I didn't know that. I would love to have a trapiche emerald cab.
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Post by vegasjames on Jan 8, 2016 17:38:20 GMT -5
Welcome to RTH, sierra ! Would love to see your gemstone collection!! We have a few faceters that participate on the forum, and I hope gemfeller sees your post. I think he was having a time trying to log onto the forum. I started collecting gems several years ago, mainly garnets and quartz gems with inclusions. Which tumbler do you have? The stones will be coated with kerosene, which is a common practice there. Very interesting, vegasjames , I didn't know that. I would love to have a trapiche emerald cab. I did not know that either when I bought mine. I like to get stones in bulk, unsearched. Since they are still covered with a lot of matrix and dirt they are not cherry picked and I luck out once in a while. Even found three nice gem quality rubies in a 9 pound lot of ruby. Anyway when I got the emerald (or more technically mostly green beryl) I cold smell and feel the kerosene on them when they arrived. So I did some research and found out about the practice of coating them with the kerosene. Here is a link with some information on both emerald vs green beryl and the practice or coating with an oily substance: www.minerals.net/gemstone/emerald_gemstone.aspxAnd: www.bwsmigel.info/lesson8/de.gem.enhancement.html"Gems which are assumed to be enhanced are those species in which enhancement is the standard practice, or those which don't exist, to any extent, in Nature in the treated color or form . Examples would be blue topaz, and black onyx which are found in only tiny quantities in Nature, but produced in huge amounts by irradiation, and dyeing, respectively. This category would also include oiling of emeralds, a process used on more than 90% of emeralds in commerce."
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Post by gingerkid on Jan 9, 2016 6:53:03 GMT -5
Thanks, vegasjames! Both of the links you shared are excellent online resources. Dr. Smigel's free gemology course is tops! Sure would like to see the facet-grade rubies if you still have them.
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Post by vegasjames on Jan 12, 2016 2:59:25 GMT -5
Thanks, vegasjames ! Both of the links you shared are excellent online resources. Dr. Smigel's free gemology course is tops! Sure would like to see the facet-grade rubies if you still have them. I have them still but have not had them faceted yet. I was going to send them off to Thailand and was advised against that. So I have a friend who is going to do my emeralds and will probably have her do the rubies when the emeralds are done.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,685
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Post by Fossilman on Jan 12, 2016 9:54:31 GMT -5
I had some faceting done in the states by Ray....He did a great job,but I think he retired out of it.. (not sure though)..
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micellular
has rocks in the head
Rock fever is curable with more rocks.
Member since September 2015
Posts: 640
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Post by micellular on Jan 12, 2016 12:48:42 GMT -5
gingerkid , I picked up a teeny 4mm trapiche emerald polished slice with a perfect pinwheel when I was in Colombia a few years ago. Just about the only size they had that I could even think about. Looked a lot like this one, but even smaller. I think I paid $65.
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Post by rockjunquie on Jan 13, 2016 0:37:16 GMT -5
Welcome I was collecting gemstones long before I began cutting and collecting cabochon gems. Now, my faceted gems sit around looking lonely.
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herchenx
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2012
Posts: 3,360
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Post by herchenx on Jan 14, 2016 22:08:51 GMT -5
Welcome I was collecting gemstones long before I began cutting and collecting cabochon gems. Now, my faceted gems sit around looking lonely. Or pretty! I love seeing a collection of faceted colorful gems, I need to find a good, safe way to display them.
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Thunder69
Cave Dweller
Thunder 2000-2015
Member since January 2009
Posts: 3,102
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Post by Thunder69 on Jan 16, 2016 22:16:49 GMT -5
WELCOME ..My father in law dose a little bit of faceting ...He did a few stones for me...
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