Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2014 18:18:23 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2014 18:19:44 GMT -5
you are the best judge of that.
Are YOU happy with the results?
Me? They look frosty, not wet. But that may have been your goal.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2014 18:36:36 GMT -5
no my goal is to make them red and see through as possible....I can only see the glow when shining a beam through them with a flashlight, sun or lamp......I guess my question is would more tumbling make them give me that effect more, or will they never give me that glow I see when shining a lite through them? they are all mostly a nice size I don't want to lose them all just too make them perfect..if mother nature didn't want them to be perfect I know I cant
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2014 18:37:46 GMT -5
I do want the wet look
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2014 18:39:11 GMT -5
what should I do to make them wetter looking, more polish, or burnish? or both?
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Mar 25, 2014 19:30:49 GMT -5
no my goal is to make them red and see through as possible....I can only see the glow when shining a beam through them with a flashlight, sun or lamp......I guess my question is would more tumbling make them give me that effect more, or will they never give me that glow I see when shining a lite through them? they are all mostly a nice size I don't want to lose them all just too make them perfect..if mother nature didn't want them to be perfect I know I cant You've just run into "the dark garnet problem." No amount of tumbling of that particular garnet species (probably almandine) will improve the "glow." In ancient times dark garnets were called "anthrax," the name for charcoal, because when viewed against the sun or a lamp they seemed to be burning from within like charcoal does when ignited. They were thought to have mystical powers. The only type of garnet that exhibits really strong red hues (and then only in small stones) is chrome-rich pyrope. Other garnet species can be much lighter in tone and make beautiful gems in many colors but none except chrome pyrope are ruby-red. Garnets are very complex. They're not a single mineral but a mineral group consisting of some 15 or more species differentiated by chemistry. Only about 6 are commonly used as gemstones. Since they share certain properties they can mix with each other in what is called "solid solution" resulting in many colors of varying saturation. When the almandine and pyrope species mix the lighter-toned intermediate variety known as "rhodolite" occurs. It cuts very attractive stones. A huge number of other colors result when multiple species are present in the same crystal.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2014 19:41:19 GMT -5
Thanks gemfeller, this post I like a lot...I like learning=]
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2014 20:08:14 GMT -5
im guessing I could make a really cool necklace with them...considering they are all atleast a carat a piece ..when I get into making jewerly
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rollingstone
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Post by rollingstone on Mar 25, 2014 20:27:35 GMT -5
It's tough to tell if you've maxed out on those. To me they look matte finished, whereas if they are decent garnets they should take a bright gloss finish. As to whether they will transmit light well, that depends on whether there are inclusions, as well as how thick the garnets are. If you can see through them, ie they look like crystals, when you wet them and shine a light through them, then you should be able to get that same effect if you get them nicely polished. But most garnets are very dark, so they really do need a light shining on them to show them off to their best. Here's a pic of some garnets I ran back around 2007. They are from India I think. As you can see, they are very dark if they pile on top of each other, but individual stones show the purple color nicely. (I ended up sandwiching them between glass and using them as window ornaments). -Don
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2014 20:32:16 GMT -5
rolling this is what I want mine too look like...I guess it is what it is...similar size, I don't see the same outcome..but I still am proud of them...just will save mine to cherish
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rollingstone
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Post by rollingstone on Mar 25, 2014 21:10:30 GMT -5
Did you run yours by themselves or with other, bigger stones? When did mine, I used them as cushioning for a big chunk (one pound) of Stone Canyon jasper. I figured that by themselves the small garnets wouldn't have enough mass to really get the grit working on them, whereas mixing them with larger stones would get around this (plus make good cushioning for the larger stones). Not sure if that logic is legit, but it did seem to work nicely in the end for both the garnets and the big piece of jasper. I don't think you'd have to run them with anything bigger than regular size tumbling size material, but I think it would be helpful to not run them as garnets only, if that's in fact what you did. -Don
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2014 21:16:04 GMT -5
Ty for asking, this I can tell will help me, I posted my first tumble pics, it was almost all large emerald/matrix, quartz, aqua, really hard large rocks ive posted almost all of them
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2014 21:16:33 GMT -5
yeah I ran them all together
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Mar 25, 2014 21:52:39 GMT -5
I didn't mention polish. Yes, you can get a much better polish but I doubt it will do much to lighten the color. Here's an image of your stones adjusted for white balance. Even with a better polish I think they'll be about as dark in reflected light but will have more surface luster.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2014 23:10:07 GMT -5
thanks gemfeller I get ahead of myself but hell all my rocks are my babies lol
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2014 23:15:10 GMT -5
I really like what you did there!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2014 23:26:30 GMT -5
I see a braclet or necklace in them, they would be pretty in sterling silver the way they are
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Post by gingerkid on Mar 26, 2014 14:14:54 GMT -5
Very pretty almandine (?) garnets! I think you did a good job tumbling them. Are these the garnets that you've been finding in the gem buckets?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2014 14:51:38 GMT -5
Hey ginger, thanks =] Those one specifically all came from unclassified Alabama pay dirt I think......Unlike most garnets I found before that are tiny but already a seethrough red or orange......those all just looked like round rocks about the size of coco puffs cereal......but just a really rough exterior and so round they would just roll around in my pan so I wasn't sure if they were garnets or not but I suspected it so put them in my tumbler and I was right....it was cool when I first looked through them and saw the light shine through after the rough exterior had worn off
Chris
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Post by gingerkid on Mar 26, 2014 15:14:49 GMT -5
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