gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Mar 29, 2024 15:35:13 GMT -5
Now I have and i don't blame you.
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Mar 28, 2024 15:06:30 GMT -5
rockjunquie Forgot I had this image: they're difficult to shoot becuse 2 light temperatures are needed to show the change. This is just a little guy, under 1 carat s I recall.
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Mar 28, 2024 14:52:22 GMT -5
I have a KN cabber, so my end flat disc is inside my unit, but still, having my cabber in my studio (spare bedroom) I greatly try to limit how much mess it all makes.
I found that these "crayons" of Battstik work really well and don't really make a mess (well, the green chrome oxide one can't help itself). Basically like I said it's a crayon, I mist my wheel with a spray bottle, then turn on the machine, and rub the crayon on the wheel & you're good to go, no slurry to mix. Then I use the spray bottle as needed. As others have pointed out, polishing is supposed to happen as it starts to dry (and starts catching on the wheel in my experience). The other thing I do to avoid the mess is using pieces of plexiglass to contain the water.
With your wheel outside your cabinet, you need to make some kind of extension to do that.
Shouldn't be too bad to come up with something that works.
Patty
Using Battsticks is a great idea Patty! I'd forgotten Gearloose makes them in oxides as well as diamond. I'd give it a try except I have enough bulk polishing powders to leave them in my will to the local rock club, as Gearloose jokes on his site. Less is more when polishing, I've learned.
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Mar 28, 2024 14:44:52 GMT -5
Do you happen to know if the blue garnet is the one that is most often called the "color change garnet"? I can't remember. Yes, it's one of the CC types but not the only one. There's a wide range of them with different hues of several colors under different lighting: daylight vs. incandescent. I have some from Tanzania that can show as many as 3 colors depending on the color temperature of the light. As far as I can learn the blue only occurs as a CC garnet - no single hues. I spent some fun time looking at lots of parcels of them in L.A. after the discovery was first announced some 10 years back.
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Mar 28, 2024 11:05:26 GMT -5
pauls Thanks for posting this. I'd already seen and bookmarked her garnet illustration. Garnets, along with the feldspars, are two of the most complex minerals used for gems and the feldspar group illustration is a welcome addition to my collection. Garnets have been a special interest of mine for years. Differentiating garnet species in cut gems is difficult since there's so much intermixing (miscibility) between species and duplication of colors. If it's of interest to you, Dr. William A. Hanneman published a book some years back called "Naming Gem Garnets." It came with a fold-up "pyramid" called the "Rosetta Stone of Garnets" that lists garnet species by color and RI. I've found it immensely helpful. Unfortunately the book is out of print, I think, but a used bookseller may have a copy. You can still get that book, $40 Australian plus $100 postage, Nahh, will give it a miss I think. Don't blame you --it's gotten a LOT more expensive since bought mine.
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Mar 27, 2024 19:48:29 GMT -5
iamchris I never claimed to know what I'm doing either. There's a new cerium technology I'm becoming vaguely aware of that calls for dry polishing on special disks. Maybe that's what your club is using. Somehow I got it into my head you were using cerium on a muslin buff, the stitched kind used for metal polishing. What material is the buff on your personal machine made of? I bought a super cerium resin wheel for my Genie. I've used it both wet and dry and so far all it does is ruin the polish I already have from previous steps. I know I'm probably using it wrong but as a friend says, everything's easy once you know how. I'm not there yet. I'm impatient. For instance, a a strip of cardboard and some duct tape would temporarily solve your redecorating issue if it was my shop.
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Mar 27, 2024 18:16:08 GMT -5
@iamcrhis Tell me if I'm misunderstanding your post. There's always something new under the sun but I've never heard of using cerium or any other oxide powder dry on a buff. I use them in a wet slurry on felt and leather polishing wheels. Polishing gets done when the wheel is almost dry but not quite. When you feel a tugging sensation you're polishing. But don't continue very long or the stone will heat up and crack. The key for me is to repeat the procedure several times, spritzing a bit of water on the wheel in-between, until I'm satisfied with the polish.
You need to build some sort of shield if possible to prevent redecorating your shop area and yourself. But I think most people use far too much slurry anyhow. Cutting down on the amount might help.
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Mar 27, 2024 13:36:40 GMT -5
pauls Thanks for posting this. I'd already seen and bookmarked her garnet illustration. Garnets, along with the feldspars, are two of the most complex minerals used for gems and the feldspar group illustration is a welcome addition to my collection. Garnets have been a special interest of mine for years. Differentiating garnet species in cut gems is difficult since there's so much intermixing (miscibility) between species and duplication of colors. If it's of interest to you, Dr. William A. Hanneman published a book some years back called "Naming Gem Garnets." It came with a fold-up "pyramid" called the "Rosetta Stone of Garnets" that lists garnet species by color and RI. I've found it immensely helpful. Unfortunately the book is out of print, I think, but a used bookseller may have a copy.
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gemfeller
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Posts: 3,774
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Post by gemfeller on Mar 25, 2024 1:30:19 GMT -5
titaniumkid, I'd hate to have any Aussies hear how Americans butcher pronunciation of Australian place names! I recall an Australian guest visiting us who said she'd had a flight layover in Oakland. I assumed Oakland, CA and couldn't figure out why her flight was routed there until I realized she meant Auckland N.Z. Maybe she said it wrong? We're pretty good at butchering our own place names so visiting Americans are in good company. My Tas colleague and I (from NSW) accidentally offended Victorian colleagues by mispronouncing town names like Wunghnu and Waaia and deliberately annoyed my former boss by saying Castlemaine in the non-Vic way. New Zealand is special. In a shark doco, the experts from CA, Aus, South Africa were fine but the NZ expert was given subtitles. It was the best No, she didn't say it wrong. In the Aussie accent "au' is pronounced like the American "oa', or phonetically like "oh." As for NZ, my late son-in-law (who tragically passed long before his time) was a NZer who emigrated to OZ. Maybe my understanding of your country's accent has been skewed by his blended pronunciation.
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Mar 24, 2024 21:56:10 GMT -5
I'll stay away from my views on CA. That's Cave stuff. As to San Mateo's pronunciation, locals say "San-mat-ay-oh." Fair call. And thanks for clarifying. How embarrassing... I've been saying it wrong for years (along with 40,000+ other idiots ). I wonder what any visiting Americans thought of us. titaniumkid, I'd hate to have any Aussies hear how Americans butcher pronunciation of Australian place names! I recall an Australian guest visiting us who said she'd had a flight layover in Oakland. I assumed Oakland, CA and couldn't figure out why her flight was routed there until I realized she meant Auckland N.Z.
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Mar 22, 2024 22:25:57 GMT -5
parfive The little town where I lived in central CA tried valiantly to build a plant to purify wastewater but was stymied every inch of the way by bureaucratic hurdles. And CA is adamant that no new storage reservoirs can be built, yet millions of acre-feet of fresh rainwater flow back into the Pacific each year, carrying with it untold tons of nasty debris and toxic trash. Is there intelligent life in CA? I was always under the impression that CA was cutting edge for pesticide regulation and environmental protection, given they were among the first to ban problematic pesticides like atrazine and chlorpyrifos. I held the state in high regard. Have things changed over the years or was I only hearing good things? And this is unrelated, but how is "Mateo" pronounced (as in San Mateo)? The town I grew up near was settled by two Californian brothers, so American street naming conventions and names were used (lots of avenues and numbered streets). There is a San Mateo Avenue everyone pronounced "mat-ee-oh", but I would not be surprised if that is wrong. I'll stay away from my views on CA. That's Cave stuff. As to San Mateo's pronunciation, locals say "San-mat-ay-oh."
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Mar 22, 2024 17:28:31 GMT -5
Here’s the real question. Do you get the quality of material as what he posts? Only speaking for myself, absolutely not! Not even close. Been taken Big Time by him twice. Never ever again on one of his mail deals! In-person buys only!
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Mar 22, 2024 16:47:54 GMT -5
parfive The little town where I lived in central CA tried valiantly to build a plant to purify wastewater but was stymied every inch of the way by bureaucratic hurdles. And CA is adamant that no new storage reservoirs can be built, yet millions of acre-feet of fresh rainwater flow back into the Pacific each year, carrying with it untold tons of nasty debris and toxic trash. Is there intelligent life in CA?
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Mar 22, 2024 16:34:44 GMT -5
gemfeller Marina district, or just similar? Hit bad in the ’89 Loma Prieta ballgame quake, liquefaction of landfill, reclaimed land. Similar but on the more southern part of the east bay near Union City and Newark. Foster City, on the west bay in San Mateo County and near the heart of Silicon Valley, was built in similar fashion but I haven't heard of settling or earthquake problems there. I recall there were several such projects but foggy memory tells me they were finally outlawed.
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Mar 21, 2024 23:08:54 GMT -5
Creating new coastal land is an interesting (bad) idea. We saw new houses on reclaimed land in Penang with huge cracks in the walls, possibly because the land was developed before it "settled". Most likely the houses were going to have issues anyway. Despite this, they are still going crazy with reclaimed land, despite criticisms. Coastal living comes with risks, and the risks get higher the more we modify things so someone out there makes a few dollars. thesun.my/local_news/reclaimed-island-can-be-destroyed-in-40-years-expert-HF1135485I recall a racket involving reclaiming land around San Francisco Bay. In certain beach areas where it was allowed, promoters would open up a dump or tip in Oz-Talk, and allow people to get rid of all sorts of stuff, for a fee of course. And the fee wasn't small. Eventually the dump encroached far into the Bay itself. Employees were ready to salvage any metals and other stuff that could be sold at a profit. After several years of operation they'd advertise for clean fill dirt and wouldn't allow any more trash dumping. When they decided they had enough fill they'd let it settle for far too short a time and then a new housing development would appear on the fill. An acquaintance bought one of the houses and we were invited for a dinner after he'd live there a year or so. We were appalled to see huge cracks in the foundation and interior walls due to settling. It was awful. But the promoters had their money and hey were off to find another corrupt batch of politicians who'd sign off on a similar new development. It's the way of the world I guess.
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Mar 21, 2024 17:57:26 GMT -5
Not only does 'the grass grow greener over the septic tank," but that particularly nasty wastewater eventually ends up coming out of someone's tap, pure and clear. All fresh water is recycled when one takes into consideration the water cycle: sea evaporation to clouds, clouds to rain, rain to rivers, rivers to the sea and over and over again. Our astronauts at the Space Station seem to do OK on recycled water too. We'll never get to Mars without it.
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Mar 20, 2024 15:01:28 GMT -5
I’ve used a piece of basic white/clear agate before to beef material up. You could also quartz cap it Thanks - I'll take a good look at that. I have some optical quartz that might work. I've also used first surface mirrors a time or two and the results were pretty good. I'd forgotten that.
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Mar 20, 2024 14:31:00 GMT -5
I have some very nice Carey Plume cabs. But here's a piece of rough I want very much to cab; However there's a little problem: I'll need to (very carefully!) cut a doublet. At first I thought of using black basanite. But on consideration I wonder how well the black will show off this basically red stone. I've tried using white howlite for other doublets but haven't been happy with the results -- they look odd and cheap to me. Any suggestions folks?
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Mar 19, 2024 18:59:28 GMT -5
I'm going to go tell my wife that I really am a diamond in the rough. If you guys don't hear from me in a while you can assume the worst. LOL!
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Mar 18, 2024 17:34:47 GMT -5
I was skeptical about the process after reading Robert James's report years ago. I still am to some degree, especially in regard to the promotional aspect of the business. But here's a report that claims to be wholly 'scientific.' I leave that judgment to you readers. afteryourtime.com/cremation-diamonds-real-or-hoax/That does verify what I mentioned earlier about extracting the carbon from the rest of the cremation ashes. One thing I would question in this article though is where the author writes: "Furthermore, just like with other types of lab-made diamonds, the Federal Trade Commission has confirmed that cremation diamonds can be marketed as real and genuine diamonds because, just like “natural” diamonds, they are “pure carbon crystalized in the isometric system.”" The reason is that these are not natural diamonds, they are synthetic diamonds. And the FTC does not allow other synthetic gemstones to be referred to as "real", which implies natural. Synthetic stones such as sapphires including ruby, alexandrite, etc. have to be listed as synthetic stones or lab grown, not as real stones. Same with simulants such as diamond substitutes such as YAG or aluminum oxide "diamonds", which must be marketed as simulants.
vegasjames The whole issue of man-made, synthetic, natural etc. has created a semantic maze for the FTC. Here's a couple of articles that go into the new rulings by the FTC regarding man-made diamonds. Apparently the term "synthetic" is no longer required for lab-made gems that are chemically identical to mined stones, if I read correctly. www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2018/08/02/what-the-ftc-diamond-ruling-means-for-consumers-and-diamond-marketers/?sh=4ac6fdb020fanationaljeweler.com/articles/956-a-quick-review-of-the-ftc-s-rules-on-lab-grown-diamonds
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