jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,561
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Post by jamesp on Oct 28, 2017 18:33:42 GMT -5
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,561
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Post by jamesp on Oct 29, 2017 9:21:31 GMT -5
Pulled a few more out of the rotary rolling 3 days with some larger agates. No pre-grinding. Hostile environment. No frosting. Mildly polished one saw 12 hours in AO polish last night. Serpentine not famous for high polishes. Even on a wheel. Lot-O may do the high polish thing. Serpentine occurs in some fine greens. Healerite is a form of serpentine that has higher silicon content. Mohs 3 to Mohs 6 for serpentine. Hardness probably dependent on silica content. Guessing this material to be Mohs 5. Serpentine article geology.com/minerals/serpentine.shtml
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Post by captbob on Oct 29, 2017 9:34:01 GMT -5
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,561
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Post by jamesp on Oct 29, 2017 9:53:02 GMT -5
Healerite may be the best serpentine to tumble. This may be a higher silica content serpentine that is called healerite. Gem grade colors like deep green is costly. Fine serpentine occurs over here in the east. Henry in Texas was talking about Mexican calcite. Rough tumble it and then dip it in Muriatic acid to polish it. Note shine on this Mexican calcite I recently purchased, similar in color to honeycomb. These broken pieces are acid dipped. I will say this calcite is may softer than the serpentine. Guessing the calcite will shape super fast in coarse grind. Henry suggested coarse grinding the calcite with 220 to slow the grind down. Not sure where the green calcite came from:
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Post by johnjsgems on Oct 30, 2017 12:51:54 GMT -5
Onyx and jade are both very misused terms. The serpentine is shiny like opalite or photographed wet?
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,561
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Post by jamesp on Oct 30, 2017 18:02:54 GMT -5
Onyx and jade are both very misused terms. The serpentine is shiny like opalite or photographed wet? The orange calcite is photographed dry. It was labeled Mexican calcite. A member said they made it shine by treating it with muriatic acid. If broken, the fresh break does not have that high gloss. The photo of rough green serpentine (?) is an Ebay photo and it is wet. Seller sold it under the name of lemon jade. I bought it assuming it was lemon serpentine. It's not jade. so there is no telling what it is other than it sure looks like lemon serpentine and scratches with a knife using a lot of force. Guessing Mohs 4.5 to 5. Typical of some serpentines. Heck, I was curious that it was dyed. Looks like healerite serpentine. Opinion ? ETA The lemon serpentine I received has a grainy surface, not waxy or shiny.
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Post by Garage Rocker on Oct 31, 2017 11:16:53 GMT -5
Looks like fruit to me. A plate of oranges and kiwi.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,561
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Post by jamesp on Oct 31, 2017 11:21:29 GMT -5
Looks like fruit to me. A plate of oranges and kiwi. Edible Tumbles
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melf77
having dreams about rocks
Member since July 2017
Posts: 70
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Post by melf77 on Nov 8, 2017 7:03:11 GMT -5
Onyx and jade are both very misused terms. Agree
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