Lapidary Tips – Cabochon Polishing Tip

Lapidary Tips – Cabochon Polishing Tip by Dick Peterson, TG&MS  

About 15 or 20 years ago, when I was cutting a lot of Bertrandite, I ran into a problem I hadn’t seen before. I had been shaping and sanding and polishing a lot of cabs when I had one that wouldn’t polish. The stone was a deep dark purple, one that I though would be outstanding. I went back to my Genie and re-sanded it and tried polishing it again. No luck. I set the cab aside and forgot about it.

Snowflake Obsidian 25mm Cabochon

            One day I was using some acetone and I spotted the cab so I cleaned it in the acetone. I then washed it in Dawn® Soap and warm water. Then I tried it again on the polishing wheel…it took a beautiful polish! What had happened during the cutting stage? It had been cut with oil and it had absorbed some oil. Oil is not a friend in cutting and polishing cabochons.

            If you suspect that the rock you are about to cut will absorb oil (some softer rocks do this) try the following before you cut it. Soak the rock in water for 24 hours or longer (longer is better). In the summertime put the container of the soft rock in the sun where it can warm up (the warmer the better). Keeping it warm helps the rock absorb more water. Next put the rock in the slab saw and cut it as soon as possible. The oil will slowly replace the water in the rock. Now is a good time to wash the slab with acetone. Anytime you cut slabs in your slab saw you should always place your slab in kitty litter (which is a great way to suck out the unwanted oil), wash your slab in warm soapy water. Dawn dish soap is one of the best to use.

By Dick Peterson; Timpanogos Gem & Mineral Society, Provo, UT

Rock Chips, December 2011

Mama's Weekly Rock Facts

SULFUR  

Hardness 1.5-2.5

Chemical formula: S₈

Stinky Sulfur!

Sulfur is a chemical element with symbol S and atomic number 16.  Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow volcanic mineral used in a variety of industrial applications.  Sulfur is no longer mined but rather collected as a byproduct in natural gas and petroleum production and then purified to its elemental form.

The name sulfur comes from the Old English work “sulphur” meaning brimstone implying that Hell smells like sulfur.   Speaking of bad smell, hair and skin contain keratin, a sulfur-bearing protein, which contributes to the bad smell when hair or skin is burned.

by Amanda Rice, Resident Geologist, Mama's Minerals

Mama's Weekly Rock Facts

JADE

Hardness 6-6.5

Carved Jade Tortoise

Two types of metamorphic rock are classified as Jade; Nephrite and Jadeite.  Nephrite is a tremolite and actinolite composite usually green but can be white, brown, or mixes of the three colors.  Jadeite is mostly pyroxene and usually green, black, or lavender but in some rare cases can be blue or red.  Color variation in both types is from trace minerals such as iron oxides which create browns.

Jade is commonly carved into jewelry and sculptures but ancient peoples also used jade to make weaponry due to its hardness.

See carvings and beads made from Jade!

 

by Amanda Rice, Resident Geologist, Mama's Minerals 

Mama's Weekly Rock Facts

AMMONITE

Ammonites are extinct cephalopods (class Cephalopoda) as are the modern-day squid, octopus, and nautilus.  Various types of Ammonites lived over a long time range, 400 to 65 million years ago, and therefore have a relatively large amount of orders and suborders, which means there are a lot different types of Ammonite fossils available.

Ammonite septa & chambers

It is believed that the age of an Ammonite at death is estimated from the number of septa it has.  Septa are the dividing walls between the chambers of the shell.   The septa along with the suture (where the septa joins the outer wall) and the siphuncles (tubular outer rim connecting the chambers) determine the orders and species.  

Ammonites are named for their spiral shaped shells, which resemble the ram’s horns of the Egyptian god Amun.





by Amanda Rice, Resident Geologist, Mama's Minerals 

Mama's Weekly Rock Facts - KNIGHTIA FISH

KNIGHTIA FISH

Knightia Fish Plaques starting at $13.99

Knightia fish (Knightia eocaena) belong to the family Clupeidae, which includes herring and sardines.  Found in large quantities in the lacustrine sediments of what is now known as the Green River Formation, Knightia fish are well-preserved due to a slowed decomposition with the lack of oxygen at the cold lake bottoms. 

The green river formation is a group of sedimentation records from multiple intermountain lakes in three basins around what is now the Green River in Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado, USA.   One of the best know fossil locations is Fossil Butte National Monument, which is part of the Fossil Lake Formation and highly prized for the abundance of well-preserved fossils.

These small schooling fish rarely reach 10 inches in length and ate mainly plankton and diatoms, but were a good food source for larger predators of the Eocene epoch, lasting approximately 56 to 34 million years ago.
By Amanda Rice

Mama's Weekly Rock Facts - Ammolite

Ammolite is gemstone quality fossilized ammonite shells usually placenticeras meeki or placenticeras intercalare species.   Ammolite is a thin and fragile sheet of fossilized material most commonly in Reds and greens because of fragility of other colors such as purples, blues, and yellows.  These later colors are considered rarer and are more desirable as a gemstone.

The stacking layers of aragonite, which causes light interference, create the iridescent play of colors.  The crackling effect is cause by exposure to the elements and sediment compression where the thin Ammolite cracks and flakes.  This crackling appearance leads to the nickname ‘dragon skin’ for its scale like patterns.

Gem quality Ammolite is primarily found along the eastern front of North Americas Rocky Mountains, from Alberta Canada and south to Idaho / Montana in the United States.  Native American tribes in this region have long prized Ammolite.  The Blackfeet tribe call Ammolite “buffalo stone” and believe the amuletic stone aids in hunting buffalo and possesses healing powers.

Mineralogy: 

Ammolite: CaCo₃, aragonite polymorph with small impurities of calcite, pyrite, silica, and others

Mohs scale hardness: 4.5 - 5.5

Luster: greasy to dull

Color: gray to brown matrix with primarily red to green iridescence

Transparency: Opaque

Fracture: Uneven to granular

Specific gravity: 2.60 – 2.85

Index of refraction: 1.52 – 1.68

Cleavage: no true cleavage

Metaphysical Properties:

Stone of luck, general healing; detoxify the body, and improve energy flow

Image from Wikipedia

by Amanda Rice