spokanetim
has rocks in the head
Member since October 2009
Posts: 656
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Post by spokanetim on Dec 18, 2009 0:33:52 GMT -5
Hello, I posted some pic's in the ID section yesterday of a rock I found that that I think is black jade. Today I took it to local guy who's 95% sure it's the good stuff, but not 100% as he's never actually seen good black jade. He's has lots of green and bit of white. Anyway he cut me off a slab of the rock where I mangled it with the tile saw. Tonight I cut off a bit of the slab (took forever to cut with the diamond trim saw) and made a pendent for the wife. It turned out looking about how I wanted. It was a end cut and there were some inclusions that ran a few mm into the stone that I left there. The back side was perfect, should have used it for the front side, it's sort of tear dropped shaped. I destroyed a diamond drill bit to make the hole and yes, that's a shoe string for the cord to give an idea of how it hangs. I'll get some nice leather or something later. Anyway it really took a beautiful shine with tin oxide.
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Post by Toad on Dec 18, 2009 8:20:17 GMT -5
Could be jade - I'm not versed enough to know for sure. My other guess would be amphibolite. I bought some off eBay years back. Hard as hell. Took forever to reduce it with my 4-pound crack hammer. Nice pendant regardless.
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NDK
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 9,440
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Post by NDK on Dec 18, 2009 22:26:45 GMT -5
Very cool pendant. Awesome polish on it too!
Nate
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elementary
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2006
Posts: 1,077
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Post by elementary on Dec 19, 2009 20:29:26 GMT -5
Shoelace or knot, that's great! I love the organic shape to it!
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Post by rockmanken on Dec 19, 2009 22:03:02 GMT -5
Tim, if a white frothy, waxy feeling stuff came off while sanding it, it is jade. If it didn't it's not. Jade is waxy feeling. Irreguardless, you did a great job on it. Looks great. Ken
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Post by frane on Dec 20, 2009 8:51:50 GMT -5
Very Pretty! I agree with Ken on that. Sometimes it is hard to tell by the look of something to find out what it is. When we get the tips from others on here, it really helps us to find out or get a better idea of what it is. You did a great job! Fran
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spokanetim
has rocks in the head
Member since October 2009
Posts: 656
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Post by spokanetim on Dec 20, 2009 12:58:12 GMT -5
Thanks guys for the comments. Ken, it could have been waxy. I doubled the water flow while concentrated hard trying to free form the shape on the wheel. I know it was a green tented black colored water while carving. New as I am I can say it's very different material than any agate, jasper, wood or anything I've done before.
There's a western WA guy who know's a lot about the jades found here. I've e-mail him about it and he's really curious about what it is because of where I found it and it will stick a magnet on its side but it's not magnetic. Apparently only Edward's Wyoming Black jade will stick a magnet because the iron content is so high. Most black jades will attract the magnet but not stick. He asked for and I sent him a sample to test for free! They will grind it into a powder and do x-ray deffraction, then do spectrometer readings and somehow tell exactly what it is. I'm not going to touch the rock again until those test results are back.
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