donwrob
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2003
Posts: 509
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Post by donwrob on Jun 11, 2004 9:33:35 GMT -5
Hey all, check these pics puppies sent for posting. WOW what a mess of beautiful emeralds. I know you have some real time invested in those, great job, super! These are the emeralds I've been working on. They were polished in a 3-lb Lortone with cerium oxide. These have mostly been worked and reworked several times. I've taken finished emeralds back one, two, or all three steps at one time or another. Along the way they have gotten all mixed up so I can't tell you exactly what happened to them before the final polish. I did this because I found that they were holding on to a lot of matrix through to the end. The thing is, the black matrix polishes just beautifully, as bright as the emeralds! It was sometimes deceiving me into thinking I had a shiny black stone, but I found out that the shiny black grinds off and frequently the best colored stone was underneath. Same thing with the dull gray parts -- often the good stuff is underneath. So although the emeralds were polishing great, I kept wondering how much of the black I could get rid of without messing up the emeralds. I didn't have great light conditions for the photos, unfortunately, but the shine is just great. The amazing thing is how slick these stones are. They are the slipperiest I've ever had, so much so that it's really hard to hold on to them. Note also that there are a few pieces of corundum in the mix, too, that I've just left in there through run after run. They are more or less grouped where you see the funny colored ones. There's a lot of really nice green in there and a lot of transparent stuff. Also there are two tone and banded stones, for instance one is really golden yellow on one end shading into green, or there are mixed greens. The best of these, of course, are pretty small. I forgot to put in a size ref. but I can tell you that the largest ones in the photos would be the size of a quarter or less. I do have larger pieces but had already pulled them for a rerun earlier stages. These were more or less arranged by size and "quality" as I saw it, because I am nuts enough that I have sent many of these back to the showers. The ones in the first view and in the close ups were the ones I thought were the best. Once more, thanks to Donwrob for posting these!
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Post by rockyraccoon on Jun 11, 2004 9:54:44 GMT -5
puppie those are really nice! how long have you been working on those?
kim
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rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
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Post by rollingstone on Jun 11, 2004 10:46:47 GMT -5
Very nicely done. Having to back them up through some extra grinding must have been frustrating, but looks like it really paid off in the end -- very nicely rounded and polished. I think the bigger ones are my favourites, but it looks like some of the smaller ones might have the best clarity....I wish I could reach in and scoop up a handful for a closer look!
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Banjocreek
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since March 2003
Posts: 1,115
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Post by Banjocreek on Jun 11, 2004 10:47:48 GMT -5
Very nice job 'Puppie' those are some of the finest I've seen yet on this sight. I sure beats the snot out of what I turned out about 2 months ago, but I've learned alot since then. Your patience a devotion really show on this grouping. Excellent job!!
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Post by Jeff 2 on Jun 11, 2004 11:09:16 GMT -5
I am running a pound or so of the same (emeralds saphires & rubies), I ran them through rough for almost 2 months, until I felt that I was losing too much of the green saphires that were sticking out of the matrix, while trying to get rid of the black matrix.
Eventually I had enough, and sent them through to 220 grit for 14 days, but they still feel rough to the touch, and dont look smooth yet (some actually have visible stratographic ridges that feels like shark skin).
Should I send them on to 600 grit, and then polish and see what I end up with, or send them back.
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Post by creativeminded on Jun 11, 2004 11:32:53 GMT -5
Those are really nice. Tami
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Post by krazydiamond on Jun 11, 2004 15:19:09 GMT -5
breath taking! absolutely gorgeous! patience has really paid off in this labor of love.
great stuff! i am going to have to start "gritting" my teeth (yuck!) and throw some of my bad boys back in the mix.
KD
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Post by cookie3rocks on Jun 11, 2004 16:25:22 GMT -5
Jeff, I believe the emeralds are softer than the rubies and saphires, so you might hold them out as the others continue so they don't grind to nothing or get too banged up.
cookie
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Post by docone31 on Jun 12, 2004 0:11:39 GMT -5
Ya did gu! You have some facet grade stones in the big batch. Save them for down the road. The black is carbon. A very common contaminate of beryl. Patience pays off. Now what?
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Post by puppie96 on Jun 12, 2004 1:28:41 GMT -5
Thank you everybody for the nice feedback. I hate to admit it, but I am still looking for perfection, and even as we speak I've got a barrel going 100/120 which has some of those in the photo included in it. You guys talk about rock sickness, but I think I've got one of the higher level resistant strains of it ... there's some kind of search for perfection going one here...........l
To Jeff2, some of these were started in mixes of emerald with the saph/rubies, but for the most part I separated them at the second stage or so, because I was worried about the rubies/saphs eating up the emeralds, which is quite possible based on hardness. Later on, though, I have been doing an experiment with leaving some of the saphs/rubies in the mix all the way to the end (a couple are in the photo) and it doesn't seem to be hurting anything. I've kept doing this because the saphs/rubies that I'd been working forever and weren't doing anything suddenly improved dramatically when in with the emeralds. I have no explanation. Jeff, I have no idea why, in two months, your emeralds don't look any better. That seems like too long. The rubies and sapphires, I would understand, but emeralds go much faster. They do retain the crevices filled with the black stuff, and that's why I keep redoing them. If you don't care about the black matrix in spots, they will polish up just fine with it still attached. So I guess the decision about sending them on rests on that. If you have emeralds that look good to you in spite of the flaws you mention, then send them on. In my experience they are about foolproof at the polish stage. I have no idea what to do with them other than, like I said, I sent a bunch of them back for further improvement. All I do is keep playing with them, but since they are too slippery to hold on to them this is a bit hard........
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Post by puppie96 on Jun 12, 2004 1:41:31 GMT -5
Rockyraccoon, about how long I've worked them, I'm trying to figure that out...I got tumbler #1 in late Sept/early Oct 2003 -- pretty sure that around Thanksgiving I had emeralds on the way and some that I showed to people at Christmas. Then I remember getting into an obsessive sort through batches during Superbowl or playoffs. Throughout all this I was sporadically buying more emerald rough for the obvious reason that I had to keep full loads going and I was losing volume along the way. How's that for a lengthy and completely uninformative answer. Sorry, I jumped into all this with both feet and only later thought about record keeping!
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Post by sandsman1 on Jun 12, 2004 1:48:57 GMT -5
hey Puppie you realy did turn out a nice batch of emeralds,, after seeing them makes me wanna start mine again --great job --seeya---john
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Post by puppie96 on Jun 12, 2004 1:56:56 GMT -5
Hi John, Thanks, emeralds are the greatest. I love working on them and overall I believe they are much easier to get good results with than most other stuff I've tried, which isn't really all that much, I bought some agate and jasper and other than that I've been doing stuff from the back yard and that I picked up on trips, and then the **** ruby/saph, which is not nice and cooperative like emeralds, but is an exercise in patience and stress tolerance. I've got 2 barrels of ruby/saph going on at the moment, and these are long term (like 3 month) projects that haven't looked too promising so far. I just have to figure out how to get those things to polish!
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Post by stoner on Jun 12, 2004 2:40:37 GMT -5
WOW WOW WOW!!! You're making me green with envy(or emeralds). I remember you talking about those emeralds in Jan-Feb. Well, if at first you don't suceed, go back to 60/90! I am going to start my em's tomorrow. Seeing those has been a real inspiration. Awesomely Great job!
later, Ed
ps. forget the sapps/rubies-keep them in the rough stage as grit. hehe
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RiverOtter
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2004
Posts: 339
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Post by RiverOtter on Jun 12, 2004 12:22:47 GMT -5
Puppie, those look really nice. Very nice shine too. Where did you get your rough? I've been wanting to get more to do. The emeralds are fun to work with. I was quite surprised at how well ours did.
As far as the matrix goes, if you have a dremel tool you can remove the matrix with it. It takes awhile, but if you have some that doesn't want to come off and you don't want to keep tumbling them over and over, it is one way to do it.
Otter
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Post by puppie96 on Jun 12, 2004 23:47:28 GMT -5
Where I got them is the other easy question that I can't answer well, since I kept buying more from different places. I started out on Ebay and I know 2 that I've dealt with were Frank's Mine Tours, who are very nice to deal with, and Mine Run Gems. Some of the lots were advertised as "emerald gravel" and the rest just as emerald rough, for the most part. I do understand that these can be worked with a Dremel, and we have one, but I don't know enough about using it to feel comfortable and I don't have anything to hold the stone with. I haven't decided yet how far I want to go beyond tumbling so I sort of have tunnel vision right now, if you know what I mean.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2007 5:11:53 GMT -5
I know this is a old post but these emeralds are awesome!!!!! I would love to try working this stuff someday. I wonder if they have large 5lb pieces of this material.
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Post by puppie96 on Feb 10, 2007 5:24:58 GMT -5
Good Grief! LOL! Have you ever drug me out of oblivion here! It's funny, when I got on the board just now I saw "emerald city" and "nephrite" and figured I'd see some jade. LOL!
That's just so flattering. I don't know about the larger pieces of material. I kept ordering mine run emerald. Also rubies and sapphires -- much less successful. Since I was just tumbling -- and a newbie too -- I didn't even consider larger material. However, my guess is that any decent material in larger pieces would be a lot more costly. The mine run stuff isn't too bad. I even did another batch not long ago, for old times sake!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2007 5:29:56 GMT -5
Puppie, Please, please post your latest batch of these. I and others would love to see them!!!!
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Post by puppie96 on Feb 10, 2007 5:40:53 GMT -5
Puppie, Please, please post your latest batch of these. I and others would love to see them!!!! Thanks for asking! It was a very small package that I picked up off of Ebay for old times sake -- every time this topic comes up I get the itch -- seriously -- it is happening right now. I pulled them out of the group I polished them with and kind of tossed them in a dish and I don't know that I've even really examined them much. Isn't that awful? I'm gonna go check this out right now.
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