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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jun 25, 2012 12:49:49 GMT -5
So I got two smaller pieces (2" cubes or so) of satin spar selenite at an estate sale on Saturday. Put them in the bucket because I thought they were pretty.
Now I'm wondering what to do with them.
Can you cab them? I suppose you would wnat to go with the grain, rather than across it, to preserve the silky look, and make it a flat top cab? Or maybe just a flat slabette with a bezel around it, something like that?
Any tricks I should know?
Didn't see any posts in the "making cabs" forum to the tune of "Cabs I made from selenite today"; seems like most posts related to them as specimens. I'd rather cut them up and make something out of them though.
Thanks.
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Post by jakesrocks on Jun 25, 2012 13:33:43 GMT -5
Satin spar is basically gypsum. It only has a hardness of1-1/2 to 2 on the Mohs scale. It has perfect cleavage in the direction of the silky grain, so would be easy to break on a grinding wheel. With a lot of care and patience it could probably be cabbed, but why ? It's much too soft to use in jewelry. Better to use it as an interesting specimen.
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jun 25, 2012 13:40:31 GMT -5
Thanks Don. I will make it a "desk rock" at work then.
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Don
Cave Dweller
He wants you too, Malachi.
Member since December 2009
Posts: 2,616
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Post by Don on Jun 25, 2012 14:05:27 GMT -5
I tried cabbing it once... you'd get it looking pretty good and then whooops! a section of it would cleave off and I'd have to start again. not to mention that every time I dragged my fingernail across it, it would scratch. not worth the time and effort.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2012 21:35:04 GMT -5
It would be easy to carve or make a cab by hand shaping and sanding. Then coat it with Hxtal or spray with lacquer. Sounds like it is not much different than soap stone. You would probably want to put it into some kind of setting or do a full wrap in case it ever got dropped. Jim
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