wwwriondocom
starting to shine!
Member since February 2007
Posts: 45
|
Post by wwwriondocom on Feb 9, 2007 21:07:05 GMT -5
Hi, Can I tumble emeralds & ruby's together in the same barrel? Thanks
|
|
rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
|
Post by rollingstone on Feb 9, 2007 21:49:00 GMT -5
You could run them together in coarse grind, but I'd separate them after that. Emeralds are a form of beryl, and have a mohs hardness of 7.5, compare that to quartz at mohs 7. Rubies are a form of carborundum, and have a mohs hardness of 9. That is essentially as hard as the silicon carbide grits used for grinding, which are mohs 9.1-9.3, and is as hard as aluminum oxide polishes, which are also mohs 9, as they are essentially powdered carborundum.
Now the bad news -- rubies are usually poor tumbling materials. Some places sell mine-run rubies for not a ton of money, but they tend to be very opaque stones with a bit of red, essentially rough carborundum. Their hardness makes them very slow to shape up. I think someone on this forum did eventually get a few to shape up and take a shine, but I think they said it took a year of tumbling.
Emeralds are better. They often come mixed with a black matrix, but if you persist at it you can tumble off the matrix and then put a shine on the stones and the stones do end up looking pretty good. A couple folks here have produced some very nice results -- use the board's search feature to search for "emeralds". Puppie96 did a very nice batch of emeralds, but you'll have to search back several years for that, as it's near when the board first started. I think someone else produced a very nice batch within the past 6 months or so.
-Don
|
|
rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
|
Post by rollingstone on Feb 9, 2007 21:53:59 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by puppie96 on Feb 10, 2007 5:37:28 GMT -5
We are recycling the emerald/sapphire thing. I believe it usually happens at this time of the year. I recall my obsession was especially bad from Thanksgiving, through Superbowl, through the spring, the year I was on my em/saph thing. Now it seems to come to the surface about that time every year.
RS, I agree with you in principle and it always made me nervous to mix them, but the reality is that they help one another and the emeralds, and that black matrix around them, are damn near impervious it seems, sometimes. I think everybody finds that you really have to do a long and patient coarse grind to get decent emeralds. You can stop sooner or you can go after more of the matrix. When you really see how long they take, you appreciate the addition of the corundum. I don't think it hurts. And yes, I do have a few rubies/saphs that took a polish. Now and then I try another experiment with the many that I've been tumbling since before time began.
BTW why is this in the vendor section?
|
|
spacegold
has rocks in the head
Member since September 2006
Posts: 732
|
Post by spacegold on Feb 10, 2007 16:19:54 GMT -5
I am really glad to see this information. And thanks for saving me the search, Don. I have a half pound of mine run emerald that I got last fall with the thought of putting it in my coarse tumbler as rumble stone. The stones are pretty small, like 1/4-1/2 inch, so they should rumble well. They can stay in there as long as it takes to grind them out. I plan to move them as they clean up. Probably leave them three or four weeks in 220 as other stones pass through on the weekly cycle. Time in pre and polish will depend on progress, I guess.
I remember trying some minerun ruby years ago, and giving up after tumbling them for about three months with no visible effect.
|
|
wwwriondocom
starting to shine!
Member since February 2007
Posts: 45
|
Post by wwwriondocom on Feb 10, 2007 23:26:00 GMT -5
Tumbling emaralds. I'm amazed at what they looked like after just one night in the tumbler!
|
|
|
|
Post by puppie96 on Feb 13, 2007 11:40:25 GMT -5
Space, this is a good thing to do. It seems to shape up faster when in with a load of agates or something (same with rubies and saphs.) You will just have to use judgment in pulling them when ready. Some pretty crystals will pop out quickly and you'll want to get them out of there before they are ground to nothing. Others will have matrix continuing to adhere and you'll have to decide whether to keep rough grinding or not. As my Dad used to say, it's kind of like picking the flys*** out of pepper! I am really glad to see this information. And thanks for saving me the search, Don. I have a half pound of mine run emerald that I got last fall with the thought of putting it in my coarse tumbler as rumble stone. The stones are pretty small, like 1/4-1/2 inch, so they should rumble well. They can stay in there as long as it takes to grind them out. I plan to move them as they clean up. Probably leave them three or four weeks in 220 as other stones pass through on the weekly cycle. Time in pre and polish will depend on progress, I guess. I remember trying some minerun ruby years ago, and giving up after tumbling them for about three months with no visible effect. |
|
|
|
Post by puppie96 on Feb 17, 2007 17:20:17 GMT -5
I posted some new emerald photos today. Also, I succumbed to the temptation that always happens when this topic returns -- I went shopping on Ebay. More emeralds are on the way.
|
|
Nov 15, 2024 17:44:51 GMT -5
Nov 15, 2024 17:44:51 GMT -5
