Rock Hounds? Any?

[Brindlebtch]

sorry, dangit, having trouble with close shots. Everything in the 2nd pic is tourmaline, except I don't the the round bright pinky/red one is.

First pic garnets, kunzite, poor royal topaz, poor star ruby, obvious unfaceted tourmalines, and ?

 

[Moabite]

Some stones are nearly impossible to ID without being able to hold, and/or test them. Faceted stones are not my fortay, sorry

 

[Brindlebtch]

Oh, I know. Especially with poor pics!

I just don't have the stuff to test them with.

 

[dragonlaurel]

Quote:
4 kinds of opals . . . are we related? I'm nuts about them.

 

[verthandi]

Quote:
I do not find it difficult, but it is tedious. Multiple facets are cut at the same angle and depth. The angle changes for each round around the stone. If you look on a round stone that you own, there will be flat surfaces that are kite shaped. Each one of those is a facet. Each shape of finished gemstone and type of stone requires a unique set of angles to bring out the best color and brilliance in the stone.

I work on a old,old Graves faceting machine. There are now computerized ones, that they say are much faster and better to work on. But, this one works fine for me. I think if someone can quilt or is good at carpentry they would find faceting easy to learn. All the angles meet in what it called "meet points" where each flat surface touches the next one in actually the same place.

The first photo below is of a piece of amethyst rough (it is sawn with a rock saw out of a larger piece of mineral) I look for a piece that is free of imperfection or sometimes called inclusions. It is attached to a brass dop (metal rod with a flat surface with 2 part glue). The bottom is cut first, then it is transferred to a dop that is an inverted cone shape, to allow the top to be cut. The photo also shows a blue top to my faceting surface, that is actually a polishing surface, I was finishing a much smaller piece and I knew it wouldn't show up well in photos, so a put the amethyst is a visual. There are 4 levels of cutting that I use, the first two grind away the surface, the last two polish the stone.

The second photo shows the mast head and you might be able to see the numbers on the bottom wheel. The cog wheel just below the dop stick also has angle numbers. Each of those is set for the facets. I was lucky that I found a local lapidariest to teach me, I think it was 20.00 and hour to learn the basic round cut. It took two days to complete my first stone. Now I can have one done is 6 to 8 hours. I would guess that it would be around 40 to 50.00 an hour to learn now, as most charge by the amount that they can make per hour faceting. The rest of the shapes can be learned from graphs that tell the angles for each type of mineral and shape that is desired.

 

[verthandi]

Quote:
Nice collection! If the stone in the first box, bottom middle row is half gold and half purple, it is ametrine. Half amethyst and half citrine. The reds in you bottom tray may be tourmaline, as it comes in over 16 colors. Some deep red and grape color has been found in Maine. Any that you wish to identify can be taken to a jeweler or if your state has a department for mineralogy and placed on a refractometer. Each mineral reflects light in a different manner and that will help identify the stone.


Kunzite has got to be the hardest stone to facet...nice job! It spliters and shatters so easily. That is a true test of someone that can facet.

 

[Brindlebtch]

I have a bicolor tourmaline cut vertically through the C axis that is truly spectacular. Radiates gold, pink and green from the center. And really nice Tanzanite. They are both mounted and I will see if I can get any sort of reasonable pic.

Your faceting setup looks very similar to the one my Dad had.

 

[verthandi]

Quote:
I would love to see it. The older machines are tough buggers and were pretty standard equipment. I have had a chance to buy a newer one but I am so comfortable with this one that I haven't. I know what you mean about getting photos...I have had a heck of a time, but I only do this as a hobby, so I have never invested in a good camera. I did just find the close up function on my cheap camera and it works a little better. All the blue and blue/green in this box are Maine tourmaline, but the peach one on the right was from sunset tourmaline rough from California.

 

[alabama49]

Quote:
Hi-I am from that part of Colorado and can vouch for the rocks found there. Rock hounding is a big, big, deal there. And while you were looking for rocks/stones, you could also find some pretty neat pottery!!! Of course that was a long time ago before laws got put in place for protecting stuff!!!

My dad worked road construction on some of the passes in southern Colorado and found quite a few nice pieces of petrified wood, geods and fossels.

 

[debilorrah]

I love seeing all these photos!!!