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Post by Alice on Apr 17, 2005 9:54:44 GMT -5
Here's a small batch of emeralds that that have been taking a ride with my garnets (they just got out of 120/220). Some have run in coarse for 6 weeks and others in 4.  Most of these will be thrown back in the barrel at the end. Gotta get that matrix off!!!! |
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Post by creativeminded on Apr 17, 2005 10:00:16 GMT -5
Those are looking great.
Tami
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Post by Cher on Apr 17, 2005 10:43:53 GMT -5
Hard to believe those are emeralds but they are looking good.
Cher
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Post by connrock on Apr 17, 2005 11:14:42 GMT -5
They are coming along great Alice and you have a nice mixed size load there as well,,,,
Tom
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Post by Alice on Apr 17, 2005 21:42:10 GMT -5
Puppie, they're starting to look a bit like the emeralds you tumbled last year (I'm comparing pictures  ) |
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Post by Alice on Apr 17, 2005 21:44:10 GMT -5
Thanks Tom
Lots of patience for these, that's for sure
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Post by rockyraccoon on Apr 17, 2005 21:44:12 GMT -5
they are looking good alice!
kim
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Post by Alice on Apr 17, 2005 21:50:52 GMT -5
Thanks Kim
It's too bad the colors didn't come out right (Gotta work on camera settings). They're actually a lot greener then what you see.
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Post by puppie96 on Apr 17, 2005 23:40:08 GMT -5
They look really nice, I think they are better shaped/rounded than mine, and on many it doesn't look like you have too much matrix left.
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Post by Alice on Apr 18, 2005 0:06:22 GMT -5
Yours look pretty round to me Pup. isn't all that black stuff matrix? There's tons of it left in my batch. Veining in and out in a lot of them. Lots of grey rock left too unfortunately. What is that stuff anyway? Think "RARE White Tumbled Emeralds", would fly on e-bay? I Certainly have a lot tiny ones.  |
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Post by puppie96 on Apr 18, 2005 1:04:20 GMT -5
Probly the photos make the matrix less visible, and yes, I agree, if there's still a lot of black there, you should probably keep going.
I've been able to see some photos of tumbled emeralds and also seen/handled some in rock stores, and I have the impression that mine were better overall, I got more of the matrix off, thus better surface and color. But you might want to look around at some pictures, because even with some of the black on, they can still be very beautiful.
Dang if I know about the gray stuff. However, I do know that if you tumble the gray ones long enough, they will almost always turn green sooner or later. So I guess it would be considered a matrix too, but its texture is consistent with the emerald, not the way I usually think of matrix. IIRC the gray doesn't polish too well, which is one reason I threw them back over and over.
I found some ruby crystal stuck in cracks in the vuggy rock I'm using it for dunnage in.
What a haul of rock I picked up today. Wow.
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Post by nepherite on Apr 18, 2005 1:17:02 GMT -5
Those emeralds are beautiful ! Where on earth do you find emeralds ? Good job on the tumbling.
Tony
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Post by Alice on Apr 18, 2005 6:37:59 GMT -5
Well, if the grey rock is matrix too, then I guess about 1% of this small load is finished with coarse grit  Is the white stuff matrix too? although some have a hint of green, so that makes me thingk it's not. nepherite, you can find Mine run gem stones just about anywhere. Emeralds, rubies, sapphires, etc... Try ebay, or some on-line stores if you want to try some. |
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stefan
Cave Dweller 
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,113
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Post by stefan on Apr 18, 2005 8:37:45 GMT -5
Alice those are shaping up real nice- I think the matrix on this batch is pretty much gonna be there forever- Seems like some of them are real heavily veined and may not leave you with much in the end? JMHO Any way they are looking really awesome! How are the garnets coming?
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Post by Alice on Apr 18, 2005 8:57:21 GMT -5
Yup, that's what you get for getting the bottom of the low grade mine run emeralds (Veiny matrix all over), but there are still quite a few with matrix on the surface. That's what I want to get rid of. There's even a couple of rocks which are still covered entirely with the black stuff. Makes me wonder if I'm not just tumbling a chunck of matrix. But I do see some green, which is a good sign.
Garents seem to be doing well. I did take a picture of them when they got out of 120/220, but they were so hard to keep wet that I had to take a picture of them under water. They're nothing special to look at at this stage. The picture I PM'd you last week is far more impressive.
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Voodoo Rage
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since February 2005
Posts: 127
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Post by Voodoo Rage on Apr 18, 2005 9:55:14 GMT -5
I really didn't stress the matrix too much. With the emeralds I got, there was no way that I was going to be able to just tumble the matrix away. I went ahead and proceeded to 220 as soon as the rocks had a nice, uniform shape.
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Post by puppie96 on Apr 18, 2005 11:13:16 GMT -5
Alice, the ones with the really tough black matrix on them often turn out to be the best ones -- deepest green and with some clarity -- once you get the black off. One weird thing is that the black will take a high polish, which confoozes the issue. With the gray and white, I finally decided that if the color was stupid, what did I have to lose by running them some more? You will get some surprises, I'm sure.
I used to throw almandine garnets in with stuff for dunnage rock and it worked fine, except that the garnets would be quickly consumed if I didn't get them out quickly. They were not a problem to polish or anything. I've got a bunch of them.
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Post by Alice on Apr 18, 2005 13:06:22 GMT -5
There's one rock which I'm wondering if it's an emerald at all. in the matrix it sparkles like that green glitter kids use for crafts. I'm experiencing the garnet shrinkage that you're talking about.  I read somewhere on this board that Garnets were 7 -7.5 on the Moh scale and thought they'd be OK with the emeralds. Turns out they're more on the 6 - 6.5 scale. The ones I have anyway. Lesson learned. If I ever do them again, I know not to throw them with emeralds. The garnets still might come out nice though. Smaller then expected, but nice (I'm hoping) |
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