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Post by iant on Feb 13, 2015 11:43:26 GMT -5
These are great. Would like to see what you make of them Jim! People look for these on a beach up the coast from me. They call them Elie Rubies, but they are actually garnets. They don't find them in any significant quantities at all. Elie Rubies |
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Post by gingerkid on Feb 16, 2015 15:59:58 GMT -5
 Beautiful Emerald Creek garnets, jamesp!! Gotta check out your vibe tumble vids with beauties rollin' 'round, and need to read up on what grit you started the garnets tumbling. Starguy, do you have any tips on tumbling the garnet sand, along with your tip of adding an agate to the batch? Thank you for your kind comments on my garnet collection. It means a lot to me! Thanks, iant, for posting a link to the Elie 'Rubies' (garnets) found in your neck of the woods. I read a little bit more on them, and read that they may be pyrope?
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jamesp
Cave Dweller 
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Feb 16, 2015 16:21:34 GMT -5
These are great. Would like to see what you make of them Jim! People look for these on a beach up the coast from me. They call them Elie Rubies, but they are actually garnets. They don't find them in any significant quantities at all. Elie RubiesVery similar situation to our N Georgia creeks eroding granites and schists Ian. Rubies, sapphires and garnets. Most of the more gem grade stuff is mined in hillside mines dedicated to such. Believe me, you would rather collect them off your beaches Sri Lanka style. The mines are pick and hammer for the most part. Maybe you can find granites with the gems imbedded in them. Like zoisite. Fine cab material. I'm coming over there. |
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Post by Starguy on Feb 16, 2015 20:37:07 GMT -5
jamesp and gingerkidIt's been a while since I tumbled garnet sand. I always tumbled it without grit and let the garnet act as its own grit. I only added the agates as filler and weight. Always used the 2 lb rotary tumbler. In no time the garnet grinds everything else away, leaving nothing but pure garnet. Even the Quartz sand disappears. Garnet is a very durable stone/grit. I haven't tumbled Emerald creek garnet as it is illegal to mine it outside of the FS site. I always tried for the larger stones. It Gives the agates a nice finish, but I couldn't tell a huge difference when they were polished. Try tumbling it by itself to get pure garnet sand. I think I went straight to polish after purifying it and had good results. It took a while without grit. It's difficult to clean grit out of it because the crystals are too small. Later Brent
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Feb 16, 2015 21:52:28 GMT -5
jamesp and gingerkidIt's been a while since I tumbled garnet sand. I always tumbled it without grit and let the garnet act as its own grit. I only added the agates as filler and weight. Always used the 2 lb rotary tumbler. In no time the garnet grinds everything else away, leaving nothing but pure garnet. Even the Quartz sand disappears. Garnet is a very durable stone/grit. I haven't tumbled Emerald creek garnet as it is illegal to mine it outside of the FS site. I always tried for the larger stones. It Gives the agates a nice finish, but I couldn't tell a huge difference when they were polished. Try tumbling it by itself to get pure garnet sand. I think I went straight to polish after purifying it and had good results. It took a while without grit. It's difficult to clean grit out of it because the crystals are too small. Later Brent I tumbled some rough agate chips with garnets and it smooths them. I could see them putting a polish down. In abrasive ratings it is rated similar to sapphire. Sounds like you were tumbling a small batch just for abrasive. |
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Post by Starguy on Feb 25, 2015 20:17:18 GMT -5
jamespI always used a 3 lb tumbler for my garnets. You'll be surprised how fast they get rid of impurities. They're so tough that everything other than garnet disappears. I'll try to get some polished garnet sand photos up soon. Too busy at work for doing much fun stuff lately. Later Brent.
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Post by gingerkid on Feb 27, 2015 19:52:44 GMT -5
Thank you for the tumbling tips for the garnets, Starguy! I wondered about cleaning the grit off of the garnets due to their size. Do you use a collander to clean the grit off of the garnets? Have a sink strainer that may work? |
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Post by Starguy on Mar 7, 2015 10:49:34 GMT -5
gingerkidJan I use an old screen from a window. It's pretty fine and it doesn't leave metal marks on stones. I got an 80 grit diamond grinding wheel yesterday. Boy does it work good for removing pits and cracks from rocks. It should help speed up my tumbles. It seems like I always have some stones that take forever to coarse grind. Sometimes they tumble for months and the only thing left is the crack or pit. I don't think I will be able to use the new wheel for garnets though. It's too coarse.
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Post by gingerkid on Mar 9, 2015 12:50:41 GMT -5
Thank you, Starguy! I think we have some window screen in our utility room. Not sure if Rick will approve, but what the heck. What wheel did you get that you mentioned you won't grind the garnets? |
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Post by Pat on Mar 9, 2015 12:58:54 GMT -5
I have a quart jar full of garnets. I know they are used for grit, but they are too pretty! Got them at a club silent auction years ago. Google "garnet beaches". Wow!
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Post by gingerkid on Mar 9, 2015 13:06:38 GMT -5
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Beautiful Emerald Creek garnets, 
