christianswest
having dreams about rocks
Member since June 2023
Posts: 54
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Post by christianswest on Aug 31, 2023 22:05:57 GMT -5
I need some advice or direction on separating crystals from the surrounding rock that they are found in. The rocks I am talking about are all 5-7 mohs like Amazonite and smokey quartz. I have read the forum archive about acids but what about material that doesn’t come off with acids. How do you clean the hard stuff manually? Any help or direction is appreciated.
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Post by vegasjames on Aug 31, 2023 22:27:20 GMT -5
Would depend a lot on what the matrix you are trying to remove is composed of.
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christianswest
having dreams about rocks
Member since June 2023
Posts: 54
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Post by christianswest on Sept 1, 2023 9:37:04 GMT -5
The Smokey quartz is in pegmatite and the Amazonite is in a crumbly conglomerate that I am not sure of.
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Post by vegasjames on Sept 1, 2023 9:51:02 GMT -5
The Smokey quartz is in pegmatite and the Amazonite is in a crumbly conglomerate that I am not sure of. Pegmatite is a structure, not a chemical make up. Some matrixes can be dissolved away with certain chemicals, but again you need to know what the chemical composition of the matrix is.
The other option would be to slowly and carefully grind the matrix away.
Although, you mentioned the amazonite matrix being crumbly. Maybe you can use a "sandblaster" with walnut shell or dry ice to blast the crumbly material away.
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,341
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Post by quartz on Sept 1, 2023 21:44:45 GMT -5
I have an old hand held engraver that works well for removing soft/crumbly matrix from fossil material we found.
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