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Post by orrum on Oct 19, 2016 18:09:33 GMT -5
You need to back it with Devcon steel reinforced epoxy. Soak it in wster before cabbing. Use plenty of water and batch process the csbs, that way they cool between duffer entry grit wheels.
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timloco
has rocks in the head
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Post by timloco on Oct 19, 2016 18:25:06 GMT -5
You need to back it with Devcon steel reinforced epoxy. Soak it in wster before cabbing. Use plenty of water and batch process the csbs, that way they cool between duffer entry grit wheels. Cool, that is one thing I was thinking about. I saw a post on another site that suggested soaking it in epoxy that was watered down 4:1 with acetone to thin it out and get into all the cracks. My #1 problem were the bits coming off the top of it.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2016 18:25:25 GMT -5
Not gem silica if it's soft. Gem silica is agate stained with chrysocola
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timloco
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Post by timloco on Oct 19, 2016 20:18:09 GMT -5
Not gem silica if it's soft. Gem silica is agate stained with chrysocola It has clear veins going through it that are hardness 7, while the rest of the material is 5. The clear bits have little bits of green in them, malachite I'm guessing. Gem silica is what others have called it, I guess it could just be agate?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2016 20:27:01 GMT -5
Not gem silica if it's soft. Gem silica is agate stained with chrysocola It has clear veins going through it that are hardness 7, while the rest of the material is 5. The clear bits have little bits of green in them, malachite I'm guessing. Gem silica is what others have called it, I guess it could just be agate? I encourage you to google gem silica composition or chemistry and see mindat or other credible sources describe what exactly is "gem silica". Make the decision for yourself if that is what you have. I feel that description is used to pad value on a material. Often to the detriment of the artist. I lost a friend over it.
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Post by rockjunquie on Oct 19, 2016 20:39:43 GMT -5
Yeah, calling something gem silica is a tricky business, to be sure. I absolutely go nuts when I see really run of the mill material called gem silca. Having said that, this looks a lot like gem silica because of the clear areas. Whether it is chrysocolla with gem silica or another way you want to describe it, only you can know by working with it. It is beautiful, though.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2016 21:05:53 GMT -5
Yeah, calling something gem silica is a tricky business, to be sure. I absolutely go nuts when I see really run of the mill material called gem silca. Having said that, this looks a lot like gem silica because of the clear areas. Whether it is chrysocolla with gem silica or another way you want to describe it, only you can know by working with it. It is beautiful, though. Well said. Thanks! I am mostly concerned with the reputation of our friend here. If a picky client expects agate hard material throughout, and it's not. That is hard to overcome. I am certainly no expert. As a buyer, I wouldn't accept a material as gem silica if it wasn't 100% agate hard. Chrysocola WITH gem silica. That is a different animal. This is the same discussion as "jade". What is jade? To us non academic geologists it is very hard to know for sure.
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timloco
has rocks in the head
Member since April 2012
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Post by timloco on Oct 19, 2016 22:39:26 GMT -5
It's not that big a deal, a woman in my silversmithing class brought it in knowing I had a saw, her mom found it in her Dad's basement while cleaning it out. Nobody had any idea what it was. Kinda thinking about offering her a deal on it, maybe exchanging some cabs for some slabs. It's gorgeous material if I can just figure out how to work it.
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hh5
starting to spend too much on rocks
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Post by hh5 on Oct 22, 2016 12:38:01 GMT -5
Being in Kingman Az I have run into a lot of Chrysocolla and Gem Silica and a lot of the Chrysocolla materials can be heart breaking to work and cab just to have them break apart. Not so much with the Gem Silica.
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