jamesp
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Member since October 2012
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Post by jamesp on Jan 23, 2019 9:35:02 GMT -5
Thanks for posting any tips or experiences with tumbling jade. Guessing jade has varying hardness due to silica content. I see what looks like old imported jade carvings being sold cheaply at flea markets and antique shops regularly. Many are broken but perfect high grade jade for breaking into tumbles. And probably not fake or serpentine. This is an expensive British Columbian jade slab of a high quality to be reduced to tumbles for a test tumble to be run with an obsidian recipe. But it is too costly for me to fill a tumbler.
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Post by MsAli on Jan 23, 2019 10:56:04 GMT -5
That is so pretty!
Did anyone else have a mini panic attack thinking of this being tumbled?
How are you going to break it up? Is it thick?
Ive seen it tumbled and it is beautiful. If anyone can do it, its you
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Post by HankRocks on Jan 23, 2019 11:50:28 GMT -5
That is so pretty! Did anyone else have a mini panic attack thinking of this being tumbled? How are you going to break it up? Is it thick? Ive seen it tumbled and it is beautiful. If anyone can do it, its you Ali, you read my mind......."it's only some kind of old Chinese carving"
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Post by MsAli on Jan 23, 2019 11:51:31 GMT -5
That is so pretty! Did anyone else have a mini panic attack thinking of this being tumbled? How are you going to break it up? Is it thick? Ive seen it tumbled and it is beautiful. If anyone can do it, its you Ali, you read my mind......."it's only some kind of old Chinese carving"
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NRG
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Post by NRG on Jan 23, 2019 13:53:26 GMT -5
**prediction, it polishes best dry in corncob media
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gatorflash1
spending too much on rocks
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Post by gatorflash1 on Jan 23, 2019 14:30:32 GMT -5
**prediction, it polishes best dry in corncob media Why is this best for this type of jade and in rotary or vib?
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jan 23, 2019 14:39:54 GMT -5
It’s nice to see you tumbling a rock again, Jim. I don’t have any jade experience so I can’t help you, but I’m interested in how it goes.
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NRG
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2018
Posts: 1,630
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Post by NRG on Jan 23, 2019 15:22:28 GMT -5
**prediction, it polishes best dry in corncob media Why is this best for this type of jade and in rotary or vib? I know jamesp uses vibe for polish. I left that out. Sorry. As for your question "why....?" I made a prediction. This implies it may not be. I don't know. I made the prediction in the event it was a novel idea to Jim. He likes to experiment. Like nobody you have ever met, probably. The reason for the concept of dry with corn cob media comes from my own experience with Jade and having spoke to a few salty old Jade specialists. The best Jade polish I ever saw was on "low grade" Jade by this one old fella. He polished dry, by hand, using leather and tin oxide. I mentioned corn cob because it will act as a carrier similar to leather and he (in all likelihood) won't be using leather media in his vibe.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jan 23, 2019 17:07:58 GMT -5
That is so pretty! Did anyone else have a mini panic attack thinking of this being tumbled? How are you going to break it up? Is it thick? Ive seen it tumbled and it is beautiful. If anyone can do it, its you This is the "tumbling sample" I purchased Alison. Yes it is nice but also costly. Well, the glass I tumble will not scratch it so I figure it has a chance of getting a polish for this one reason. And I do see a lot of jade carvings being sold here in Atlanta at flea markets and bargain houses. Asian decor is really at an all time low in trending interior decorations so jade art is selling cheap here. I suppose I would saw this slab into tumble size pieces and tumble it start to finish with a load of glass. As NRG mentions it can be a tricky one to polish. Jugglerguy I too am curious about this BC jade taking a tumble polish. I tried scratching it with several different kinds of glass and none would scratch it. It needs to take a real nice shine, not just a matte finish.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jan 23, 2019 17:19:08 GMT -5
That is so pretty! Did anyone else have a mini panic attack thinking of this being tumbled? How are you going to break it up? Is it thick? Ive seen it tumbled and it is beautiful. If anyone can do it, its you Ali, you read my mind......."it's only some kind of old Chinese carving" I have seen these discs and most are costly. I have also seen them with chips selling quite cheap at flea markets though...could use them for frisbees
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Post by MsAli on Jan 23, 2019 18:04:09 GMT -5
Ali, you read my mind......."it's only some kind of old Chinese carving" I have seen these discs and most are costly. I have also seen them with chips selling quite cheap at flea markets though...could use them for frisbees Im wondering what percentage that you are seeing are imitation jade ?
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Post by HankRocks on Jan 23, 2019 18:40:10 GMT -5
I have seen these discs and most are costly. I have also seen them with chips selling quite cheap at flea markets though...could use them for frisbees Im wondering what percentage that you are seeing are imitation jade ? I view Jade in the same manner I view Turquoise, knowing what's real and what's not is mostly a puzzle to me. Maybe some of that is the wide range of shades and colors of the two materials. Purchased some thick slabs and pieces that were said to be Jade. Some of it does have a translucence to it that seems to be right. They were bought at a bargain price along with some other very nice and clearly identifiable material at the same bargain price. Have a couple of slabs of it that I am going to cut-out a couple of shapes and tumble polish them! Don't panic, I will use a modified process, no coarse and maybe only a few days at 220 to see how it does before moving to AO. I will be curious to see how you tumbling goes.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Jan 23, 2019 19:28:46 GMT -5
That is so pretty! Did anyone else have a mini panic attack thinking of this being tumbled? How are you going to break it up? Is it thick? Ive seen it tumbled and it is beautiful. If anyone can do it, its you I did, but then I reminded myself it was the jamesp posting.
I have a love/hate relationship with jade - can't polish it for my life. Hope your experiment works!
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Post by orrum on Jan 23, 2019 20:20:31 GMT -5
Jade hates me, orange peel...
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jan 24, 2019 5:35:10 GMT -5
I have seen these discs and most are costly. I have also seen them with chips selling quite cheap at flea markets though...could use them for frisbees Im wondering what percentage that you are seeing are imitation jade ? Tell it Alison, imitation is a big problem with jade. Serpentine can be a perfect substitute. Serpentine is also effected by silica content, some easier to polish than others. Chinese began dying jade in the 13th century and are good at it. The slab I bought is most likely jade judging from the seller's rep and the high cost. Plus it is BC jade and NOT from China where the master counterfeiters are. It will be the benchmark for the tumbling test.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jan 24, 2019 5:45:24 GMT -5
Im wondering what percentage that you are seeing are imitation jade ? I view Jade in the same manner I view Turquoise, knowing what's real and what's not is mostly a puzzle to me. Maybe some of that is the wide range of shades and colors of the two materials. Purchased some thick slabs and pieces that were said to be Jade. Some of it does have a translucence to it that seems to be right. They were bought at a bargain price along with some other very nice and clearly identifiable material at the same bargain price. Have a couple of slabs of it that I am going to cut-out a couple of shapes and tumble polish them! Don't panic, I will use a modified process, no coarse and maybe only a few days at 220 to see how it does before moving to AO. I will be curious to see how you tumbling goes. Well Henry I can not seem to scratch this BC jade with many types of glass if that means anything. Then again felspars are hard rocks that are difficult to tumble polish too. There is some knowledgeable Asian art distributors in Atlanta that seem willing to appraise jade flea market finds. This may help with authenticity. British Columbia jade may be the safest source but it too is expensive. No matter, this one slab should serve well for a test.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jan 24, 2019 6:04:42 GMT -5
That is so pretty! Did anyone else have a mini panic attack thinking of this being tumbled? How are you going to break it up? Is it thick? Ive seen it tumbled and it is beautiful. If anyone can do it, its you I did, but then I reminded myself it was the jamesp posting. I have a love/hate relationship with jade - can't polish it for my life. Hope your experiment works!
You are not the first person complaining about polishing jade even when using a cab machine with buffing wheels. Tumblers are strange animals when it comes to polishing. Mohs hardness is not always the benchmark to getting a polish. One time I did a terrible batch of about 50 pieces of fluorite and 3 of the 50 polished fine. No explanation... Poor jade from an ancient dynasty may find itself repurposed. Guess where I had seen a lot of jade - when buying blown glass at the flea markets loaded with the grandparent's estate sold heirlooms. Lots of estate sold merchandise doesn't get a fair appraisal. And they have the exact same problem with proving authenticity of jade. I believe Alison will remember this fine $12 Murano confetti that made fine tumbles(he he):
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jan 24, 2019 6:09:07 GMT -5
Jade hates me, orange peel... You too Bill ? I see it jade carvings in expensive Asian art dealers shops and rarely a wet polish, about always w/a matte finish. Maybe by intent ?
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gatorflash1
spending too much on rocks
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Post by gatorflash1 on Jan 24, 2019 9:57:02 GMT -5
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jan 24, 2019 13:38:42 GMT -5
Thanks gatorflash1. The specific gravity test stands out as best in most cases. Some stones that mimic jade have a very similar specific gravity so the test does have to be conducted accurately. Other stones are soft and require only a scratch test. I read about jade being 'cold', interesting property. After listening to the 2nd video it makes one understand why they make counterfeit material. Extracting the high grade from boulders would be costly and labor intensive.
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