desertdweller
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since August 2006
Posts: 1,803
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Post by desertdweller on Mar 28, 2007 19:57:50 GMT -5
Hello onlookers of nice cabs and such! (Weird mood today) I cut a couple of bronzeite cabs, they look a lot like pietersite, I had a hard time getting a picture of the flashes of copper and gold but the silver flashes showed up great.  same cab  And this is a piece I brought home from the woodward ranch trip  Different angle   These are just mediocre cabs but the material they are made from is kind of unique. If any of you cabbers out there have any advice, tips or tricks as to how to hide the little pits or how to get the compound out of the little pits after the cab has been polished, I'm all ears and would greatly appreciate any little pearls of insight. Thanks for looking! Oh and Stoner? I know, you will polish them for me right? LOL |
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WyckedWyre
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since April 2007
Posts: 1,391
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Post by WyckedWyre on Mar 28, 2007 20:00:20 GMT -5
Both cool but that second one is awesome. Lots going on in there...
;DS
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Post by Toad on Mar 28, 2007 20:21:57 GMT -5
What the heck is bronzeite. I like what I see so far.
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spikeict
fully equipped rock polisher
Alba gu bra! In Promptu
Member since November 2006
Posts: 1,413
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Post by spikeict on Mar 28, 2007 21:32:55 GMT -5
I would offer my first born for them, but I am afraid the Army, his wife and two kids might object. outstanding stuff and great job.
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Post by akansan on Mar 28, 2007 21:46:54 GMT -5
Oooo - bronzite looks like a metallic charoite or seraphanite from here! Beautiful stuff!
I also love the mossy green-red fortification agates from Woodward. I've cut into a couple small chunks of that myself, and it's just too neat.
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desertdweller
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since August 2006
Posts: 1,803
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Post by desertdweller on Mar 28, 2007 21:49:07 GMT -5
Hi Toad,
It's also called Hypersthene and it is Magnesium iron silicate, its a "Rock forming mineral" and has a hardness of 5-6. It has flashes similar to Pietersite and Labradorite in bronze colors, goldtones and silvers. Bronzeite is hard to distinguish from Augite and its often mistaken for Hornblende. I know of only one location where good bronzeite can be found and that is in the state of New York in the Adironack Mountains.
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Post by stoner on Mar 28, 2007 21:51:09 GMT -5
Cool looking cabs Jamie. The first one looks 3D. Very nice WWR material and nice job on the shape and cut. Let's see...pits, fill them with super glue and sand and polish. Use diamond paste for a polish and it will accomplish two things. One, I won't have to put a shine on your cabs!!!! and two, there will be no compound to get into the pits in the first place!!!!!
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desertdweller
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since August 2006
Posts: 1,803
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Post by desertdweller on Mar 28, 2007 21:56:52 GMT -5
Rhonda, did you see my post in your wire wrapping thread? I was just messin with ya. Still could use a class in all the SS GA, IF U NO what I mean. LOL
Spike, you lost me........(Not too hard to do these days)
Who is Army and his wife and kids?
Thanks Susan!
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desertdweller
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since August 2006
Posts: 1,803
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Post by desertdweller on Mar 28, 2007 21:59:37 GMT -5
OK Ed, Please oh please send me a little smiddgin of paste? How'd ya like that word,
smiddgin < just made that up.
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spikeict
fully equipped rock polisher
Alba gu bra! In Promptu
Member since November 2006
Posts: 1,413
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Post by spikeict on Mar 28, 2007 22:04:52 GMT -5
Just meant my first born is not mine to give anymore. He belongs to the Army first and then his wife and kids. But if he were, he would be in trouble against those.
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Post by beefjello on Mar 28, 2007 22:20:51 GMT -5
Very nice!!
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Post by joe on Mar 29, 2007 0:26:46 GMT -5
How did you guys get all the Hippie rocks??
Very nice cabs Jamie!
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JEFFD
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2004
Posts: 242
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Post by JEFFD on Mar 29, 2007 5:12:31 GMT -5
Nice cabs, to get polish out of the pits I use a battery powered tooth brush under running water.
Super glue the pits sometimes works, sometimes it pulls out when you try to repolish it.
I leave the pits, it's a rock, God made it that way.
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Post by Tweetiepy on Mar 29, 2007 7:59:46 GMT -5
Jamie, that fillament stuff is pretty cool! - amazing job on the cabs, that first one is amazing - would love to see that one in person!
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stefan
Cave Dweller 
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,113
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Post by stefan on Mar 29, 2007 10:58:27 GMT -5
WHOOAAA BEEP BEEP BEEP Back up the cabbin truck!!! You can get WHat??? WHERE??? OK details on a material available in my great State (yea if you love taxes that is) of NEW YORK- I have a TON (ok not a ton- but lets say a lot) of Horneblende from the Adirondaks- but NONE of it looks ANYTHING like yours- bronzeite- bronzeite bronzeite- Sorry trying to memorize it- Any details you may have on it would be MUCH APrreciated- (location, properties- what to look for)
Oh BTW those are some Sweet Cabs!!!!
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Post by deb193 on Mar 29, 2007 11:17:58 GMT -5
Yes, wait! - I can drive to NY. Where, how, I need to know.
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Post by freeform on Mar 29, 2007 15:21:15 GMT -5
Very nice cabochons for Sure Jamie. I can personally tell your skills have gotten much better from the frist time seeing your cabs. Thanks so much for sharing.
But, i have to ask becasue its my peev. I know Brozenite, but not as Hypersthene. They are not the same animal. Bronzite that i know of since 1999, came out of Wyoming and is a ture "bronze" colored stone. Often its sold as American Pietersite. It is similar to habit to Hypersthene(can be soft, and partly crystaline), but from what i know. They are not the same local?
Though Hypersthene can produce copper colors, like you have in that cab. True Bronzeite is a full over all red/copper color with similar flash habits as your piece there. Hypersthene in cab grade is new to the market in the last two years from my experince. But i am no expert on that manner. new grades of Hypersthene are starting to produce nice blues and purples. Similar looking to Spectrolite. BUt the mine hasnt hit that full blown yet.
Just know ive seen and bought Bronzite that came from Wyoming and does not look in color like Hypersthene or your cab their, except that is flashy. I do have a soruce for Hypersthene if anyone wants it. The rough that i saw tonage of is a black charcol color. Bronzite rough is a copper color. Lots like the Red oxides we get in those Copper quantoms.
And i only bring this up becasue i saw allot of Hypersthene for sale at the Shows this past season. It did look allot like your piece there. But those sellers were not calling it Bronzite.
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Post by rockds on Mar 29, 2007 17:17:28 GMT -5
really like the cabs and the 1st one is killer, may have to get some of that.
FYI - smiddgin is a old, old southern word.
robert
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Post by krazydiamond on Mar 29, 2007 19:18:33 GMT -5
what Stefan said.......never heard of that bronzeite material before.....looks interesting and fun...where did you get it?
KD
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desertdweller
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since August 2006
Posts: 1,803
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Post by desertdweller on Mar 29, 2007 21:25:46 GMT -5
Hi Shain,
BRONZITE a member of the PYROXENE group of minerals, belonging with ENSTATITE and HYPERSTHENE to the orthorhombic series of the group. Rather than a distinct species, it is really a ferriferous variety of enstatite, which owing to partial alteration has acquired a bronze-like sub-metallic lustre on the cleavage surfaces . Enstatite is magnesium metasilicate, MgSiO3, with the magnesia partly replaced by small amounts (up to about 5%) of ferrous oxide. In the bronzite variety, (Mg,Fe)SiO3, the ferrous oxide ranges from about 5 to 14%, and with still more iron there is a passage to hypersthene . The ferriferous varieties are liable to a particular kind of alteration, known as "schillerization" which results in the separation of the iron as very fine films of oxide and hydroxides along the cleavage cracks of the mineral. The cleavage surfaces therefore exhibit a metallic sheen or "schiller" which is even more pronounced in hypersthene than in bronzite.
Its specific gravity is about 3.2—3•.3, varying with the amount of iron present . Like enstatite, bronzite is a constituent of many basic igneous rocks, such as, norites, gabbros, and especially peridotites, and of the serpentines which have been derived from them . It also occurs in some crystalline schists. Bronzite is sometimes cut and polished, usually in convex forms, for small ornamental objects, but its use for this purpose is less extensive than that of hypersthene . It often has a more or less distinct fibrous structure, and when this is pronounced the sheen has a certain resemblance to that of cat's-eye.
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