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Post by perkins17 on Aug 3, 2021 17:30:04 GMT -5
I picked up three chunks of low grade emerald and was wondering how to tumble it. Also, what hardness it it on the mohs scale. Thanks!
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Post by perkins17 on Aug 3, 2021 17:58:03 GMT -5
Can it be tumbled with agates and jasper? I did a little digging and found some old threads saying it was a 7.5-8 on the mohs hardness scale.
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 938
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Post by lordsorril on Aug 5, 2021 14:48:07 GMT -5
Can it be tumbled with agates and jasper? I did a little digging and found some old threads saying it was a 7.5-8 on the mohs hardness scale. I never dealt with pure emerald, too rich for my blood.  If you are talking about emeralds that are in a matrix that look like this:  I would toss in pretty much any stones in a 3lb. barrel with it as long as they had no sharp edges or were likely to fracture and produce them. Impacts in a 3lb. barrel are often minor... Do keep in mind that emeralds themselves are often harder than the matrix they are embedded in so undercutting and fracturing of the stone is not unexpected (even if you are gentle). When I use a 12lb. barrel then I don't use any other rough stones other than emerald, but, I have used semi-rounded stones with no sharp edges of any mohs value as filler (without issue)--as long as they were not larger than the emerald pieces I am tumbling. |
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Post by perkins17 on Aug 5, 2021 20:56:55 GMT -5
Can it be tumbled with agates and jasper? I did a little digging and found some old threads saying it was a 7.5-8 on the mohs hardness scale. I never dealt with pure emerald, too rich for my blood. If you are talking about emeralds that are in a matrix that look like this: I would toss in pretty much any stones in a 3lb. barrel with it as long as they had no sharp edges or were likely to fracture and produce them. Impacts in a 3lb. barrel are often minor... Do keep in mind that emeralds themselves are often harder than the matrix they are embedded in so undercutting and fracturing of the stone is not unexpected (even if you are gentle). When I use a 12lb. barrel then I don't use any other rough stones other than emerald, but, I have used semi-rounded stones with no sharp edges of any mohs value as filler (without issue)--as long as they were not larger than the emerald pieces I am tumbling. Thank you, and yes. I do have emeralds in the matrix. Thanks so much for the information. I will hopefully be tumbling them soon. |
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Post by Mel on Aug 11, 2021 21:35:08 GMT -5
Emerald is around an 8 on mohs, and because the matrix is softer it can be hard to get a nice tumble out of them. Patience is key. I do not have patience and started with poor quality material just to see what would happen. Did a mixed load, and turns out my emerald in matrix was more "matrix" than "emeralds". If I were to do it again I would stick to solely emeralds in the barrel, and a fair amount of filler. |
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Post by perkins17 on Aug 11, 2021 22:00:26 GMT -5
Emerald is around an 8 on mohs, and because the matrix is softer it can be hard to get a nice tumble out of them. Patience is key. I do not have patience and started with poor quality material just to see what would happen. Did a mixed load, and turns out my emerald in matrix was more "matrix" than "emeralds". If I were to do it again I would stick to solely emeralds in the barrel, and a fair amount of filler. Thanks! I will put it in with one of the next loads. I always use filler after the coarse step. |
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Nov 15, 2024 17:44:51 GMT -5
Nov 15, 2024 17:44:51 GMT -5
