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Post by fantastic5 on Jan 23, 2015 22:12:56 GMT -5
fantastic5, what faceting machine are you and your husband learning to facet? What gems have you faceted? I would love to learn one day. We have a Ratech Shaw. My husband has faceted quartz at this point and my first stone is still on the dop and getting smaller. I get too distracted by the kids and mess up a facet. They dont even think about disurbing their Dad, but im fair game. |
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Post by 1dave on Jan 24, 2015 17:30:25 GMT -5
I'd love to tag along, but it's a ridge too far for me. Remember garnets are magnetic. Advice: find an old ski pole or something similar and attach a heavy duty magnet.I prefer: 74 lb but a 34 lb will do.     rockpowell, Sugar Babe, and Slave Labor Garnets. |
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Post by 1dave on Jan 24, 2015 17:49:15 GMT -5
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Post by gingerkid on Jan 25, 2015 10:23:02 GMT -5
1dave, are they looking for ant hill garnets/chrome pyrope?? 
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Post by broseph82 on Jan 25, 2015 23:23:56 GMT -5
gingerkidYou should have come today! It was lots of fun. We found small garnets, medium garnets, and larger (not huge) garnets with flat sides all around. We also found some arrow heads made out of white quartz, quartzite, rutilated yellow quartz, and went mudding. Also went into some unfriendly backwoods road where a woman stood in her doorway with a hand on a shotgun(presumed). Lots of laughs were had and future trips planned.
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Post by broseph82 on Jan 26, 2015 0:44:26 GMT -5
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jamesp
Cave Dweller 
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Jan 26, 2015 6:20:19 GMT -5
The 'kids' wore me out gingerkid. Eat your Wheaties before you go to central Alabama !! They took it easy on the ole man. You were missed, but may have been forgotten as the hounding commenced. |
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Jan 26, 2015 7:10:13 GMT -5
What does it mean if the magnet does not pick up any of my 4-5mm almandines Dave ? out of thousands of them. Obviously they are iron free, but how does that rate to their quality ? They are glassy little buggars. is this a good thing ? |
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Post by gingerkid on Jan 26, 2015 9:00:56 GMT -5
Awesome garnet crystals and pet wood finds, broseph82!  Where did y'all find those in 'Bama? I love your large garnets!! Very nice! (I see y'all snuck off without letting me know... just kidding.) ROFL, jamesp! Hope we'll receive some input from gemfeller and 1dave about almandine magnetism. I don't have a clue, but read that almandine are paramagnetic (magnetic after heating). I've only played around with garnet gemstones and magnetism where you float the gem and test it for magnetism by pulling it with a magnet. gemstonemagnetism.com/how_to_pg_2.htmlGemologists, Bear and Cara Williams of Stone Group Labs, have excellent information about garnet magnetism on their website. stonegrouplabs.com/wp/?page_id=17 |
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Jan 26, 2015 11:31:07 GMT -5
Awesome garnet crystals and pet wood finds, broseph82! Where did y'all find those in 'Bama? I love your large garnets!! Very nice! (I see y'all snuck off without letting me know... just kidding.) ROFL, jamesp! Hope we'll receive some input from gemfeller and 1dave about almandine magnetism. I don't have a clue, but read that almandine are paramagnetic (magnetic after heating). I've only played around with garnet gemstones and magnetism where you float the gem and test it for magnetism by pulling it with a magnet. gemstonemagnetism.com/how_to_pg_2.htmlGemologists, Bear and Cara Williams of Stone Group Labs, have excellent information about garnet magnetism on their website. stonegrouplabs.com/wp/?page_id=17 So you can float it and check for 'micro' magnetism ? |
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Post by broseph82 on Jan 26, 2015 12:20:06 GMT -5
The 'kids' wore me out gingerkid. Eat your Wheaties before you go to central Alabama !! They took it easy on the ole man. You were missed, but may have been forgotten as the hounding commenced. Ha ha. You were fine. You also have to remember this: every time we got back into the car we were snacking. Ha ha ha ha |
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Post by 1dave on Jan 26, 2015 12:25:44 GMT -5
1dave, are they looking for ant hill garnets/chrome pyrope?? They just like all kinds of crystals! These are too small to do much with but look at. Lots of iron in Iron County, so they are probably Almandine. |
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Post by 1dave on Jan 26, 2015 12:30:58 GMT -5
What does it mean if the magnet does not pick up any of my 4-5mm almandines Dave ? out of thousands of them. Obviously they are iron free, but how does that rate to their quality ? They are glassy little buggars. is this a good thing ? I would say if they are glassy, that is a GOOD thing! Good faceting material. Perhaps they are another variety? Variable formula means they take in whatever is available during metamorphism. |
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Post by gingerkid on Jan 26, 2015 12:34:36 GMT -5
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Jan 26, 2015 12:40:42 GMT -5
airhead-that is a term I avoid. It is overly telling, and cold. Jan no airhead. LOL. Wax will sure make stuff float. Like waxing a magnetized steel needle to make it float by cohesive forces to make a magnetic compass.... |
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Jan 26, 2015 12:42:39 GMT -5
The 'kids' wore me out gingerkid. Eat your Wheaties before you go to central Alabama !! They took it easy on the ole man. You were missed, but may have been forgotten as the hounding commenced. Ha ha. You were fine. You also have to remember this: every time we got back into the car we were snacking. Ha ha ha ha Did you see me whip into the Mexican restaurant ?? James was hungary, nothing but a biscuit at 7 AM ha |
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Jan 26, 2015 12:47:23 GMT -5
What does it mean if the magnet does not pick up any of my 4-5mm almandines Dave ? out of thousands of them. Obviously they are iron free, but how does that rate to their quality ? They are glassy little buggars. is this a good thing ? I would say if they are glassy, that is a GOOD thing! Good faceting material. Perhaps they are another variety? Variable formula means they take in whatever is available during metamorphism. listening to the garnet conversations, what a complex stone. |
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Jan 26, 2015 13:21:21 GMT -5
James, garnets with different chemical makeups are sometimes found in the very same deposits, to emphasize what Dave said about metamorphism.
A clear example occurred in the 1980s when rhodolite (pyrope-almandine) miners in Africa started finding very pretty garnets with non-rhodolite colors: orange, pinkish, etc. alongside the red-purple rhodolites. They sent them to dealers who set them aside and called them Malia (meaning "out of the family") in Swahili. The same word is commonly used to describe prostitutes and did the American gem marketers ever have fun with that!
It turns out that Malaia is another garnet with "intermediate" chemistry like rhodolite. When some of the minerals that make up rhodolite were depleted during metamorphism the garnet-formation handily adapted to what was available, resulting in a pyrope-spessartine intermediate and some of them are very beautiful. In fact it's garnet's chemical adaptability that results in its many beautiful colors -- and makes it so bloody complicated!
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Post by broseph82 on Jan 26, 2015 13:24:06 GMT -5
Ha ha. You were fine. You also have to remember this: every time we got back into the car we were snacking. Ha ha ha ha Did you see me whip into the Mexican restaurant ?? James was hungary, nothing but a biscuit at 7 AM ha Yes we did. I wasn't sure what you were doing but since we were in Wedowee city limits I figured you were good. |
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Post by fantastic5 on Jan 26, 2015 15:24:24 GMT -5
 broseph82 I love that big limonite cube! Sweet find for sure! And to answer the PM, the bubble gum pink sapphire is HARD to find. If you got a few pieces you did really well!! Soak that stuff in muratic acid and it will really show off the pink. |
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Where did y'all find those in 'Bama? I love your large garnets!! Very nice! 
