Recipe for Red Tiger Eye

[Tellfamily]

This is from BearCreekLapidary on this post andy321.proboards16.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1112661887

I thought coping it here would allow members to find it a lot quicker.


Be certain that your rough is not saturated (wet) ... it is a good idea to let it set in a window sill in bright sunshine for a couple of days before following through with the next step.

To begin:

Place your tiger eye in a cookie sheet and place the tiger eye in the center of the oven.

Turn the oven on and put the temperature at 200 degrees. Every half hour ramp the temperature up another 50 degrees (200, 250, 300, 350, 400, 450 AND 500) until you have reached the maximum heat that your oven can reach ... generally it is 500 degrees ... let the oven stay at 500 degrees for one full hour before shutting the oven off.

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT - DO NOT ... I REPEAT DO NOT ... OPEN THE OVEN DOOR FOR ANY REASON ONCE YOU START THIS PROCESS ... IN DOING SO CAN CAUSE THE COOL AIR TO CONTACT THE STONE AND CAUSE IT TO EXPLODE ... WHICH CAN CAUSE PERSONAL INJURY AND DAMAGE TO YOUR OVEN.

This will turn your golden tiger eye to a nice red color.

This post has pics of Tiger Eye I baked following these directions.

andy321.proboards16.com/index.cgi?board=Pictures&action=display&thread=1113673796


Enjoy!

[jrtrio]

I've seen this "baking" idea in a couple of places here on our boards and I've got a question: I've seen how the California Poppy Jasper cracks like an antiq stone, and I've got some of the Georgia Queen Picture Jasper and I've tumbled just a couple of pieces with some other rocks just to see how the stones look during the different stages and it wants to develope the "cracked" look. I was wondering since the Queen Jasper has some sandy textured stones with harder portions of the same rock, would it be a candidate for "baking"? Anyone?

[stoner]

Don't know about the queen jasper question, but I can tell you that some stones will react to heat by changing colors. As for the fractures in the poppy jasper, well, that's from the fact that they are formed on and earhtquake faultline, where the ground is almost in constant motion. You know, like someday people will be living on the coast of Nevada!

[earthdog]

Someone needs to start a thread on what all rocks are bakeable...

[thehawke]

What about a kiln? I assume I would want to step up the temps as directed here but I think I can go much higher than 500 degrees.

[earthdog]

I put my tigereye in the wifes kiln at 2300 degrees for an hour and it turned out a beautiful dark red all the way through.

[thehawke]

thanks e-dog

[finselmom]

Okay, here's a newbie question for you... The answer might be in the links in the first message here, but they aren't working for me--maybe posts that old aren't archived. Anyway, my boys and I would like to try baking some tiger eye this weekend. Directions sound simple enough, but it doesn't say how long you need to let the oven cool down before you take the rocks out. Given the dire warning about the potential for rock explosion if the door is opened during the process, I figured that might be a good piece of information to have--or does it simply depend on how quickly your oven cools? How cool is "cool enough"?

[Jack ( Yorkshire)]

Hi Thehawk,
I put mine in a wood fire overnight it came out brown and crumbly. it would be better to fire up for a short time to get the desired effect rather than over cook like I did

Jack
Yorkshire Uk

[jrtrio]

Well, I baked a pound of the Georgia Queen Picture Jasper. After about the first hour or so you could start to smell the "baking earth". It was time to open the windows to make it easier to breath. Finally we reached 550º. Held it for at least a half hour then turned the oven off to let it slowly cool down. The next morning I pulled out the stone. I was disappointed with the color change seeing as all they did was turn really dark. Every stone from the light brown stones to the white stones with the hint of purple turned this dark, almost black, brown. But, I was really happy that all the stones had turned...shall I say it?....Rock hard! The "crumbly" outer layer was now as hard as the inner layer which was now as hard as any agate/quartz/ MOH of 7 or higher. I'm thinking that some of it may even be as high as an MOH of 8. I added it together with a pound of the "regular" Georgia Queen Picture Jasper to tumble in my 3# tumbler. 2 1/2 # of any stone is real close to it's limit of stone by weight and by volume, depending on the size of the pieces. Any more and you just aren't going to get that good tumbling action needed for a good shine. After the first 4 days I checked the load to make sure I wasn't creating a "pit" of mud in the bottom of the barrel and sure enough there was a layer of "mud" about a quarter inch deep. After taking care of that I added just a little more water to help create a little thinner slurry till the rocks break down a little more to thicken the slurry. Which is what happened! I checked it after a week to make sure and it was as I thought. The slurry was perfect and there was little to no mud in the bottom. After 2 weeks I checked the stones to see if they were rounded to what I wanted and they were real close so I let them tumble another 4 days then removed them from the barrel. I cleaned them off as well as I could with brush and water. Then I tossed them back into a newly cleaned barrel and ran my "cleaning" batch of water and borax with the rock. After no less than 24 hours and no more than 36 I pulled them out again and rinsed and brushed them again till I was satisfied that they were indeed clean. I then picked through them taking out the really little bits of rock chips and the small rocks that almost tumbled away. I put these in a small bowl just for these little pieces which I tumble in a small 8oz tumbler with plastic pellets. They make for good accents to necklaces and bracelets. Then I picked through the batch for the really pitted stones that I'll toss into another first stage batch and keep doing so until either the pits are gone or they just won't go and I'll use the beeswax method of shining the stone leaving the vugs in the rock.
Now that the load has been picked through and nothing but the best remain I weigh the stones to see they weigh 1# 12oz. So, I toss in 3 1/2 TBsp of 120/220. Then get that load going and it's tumbling as we speak. I'll check it tomorrow to make sure the grit is either not too much or in need of a boost. Then the load will tumble without disturbing it until the the load has tumbled at least 10 days to two weeks. I like to tumble most loads at least two weeks in the 120/220. It gives me a good indication of how the stones are going to do in the final polishes. If they start to take on a quick shine like the harder stones of the regular Georgia Queen will do, I'll try to separate the softer stones out. That way they won't prolong the load and they won't keep scratching the harder rock making them show a "matte" finish instead of showing the slight shine that they do at this level. The baked stones are all showing a slight shine so I know that baking them really did the trick of hardening all the different levels of the rock and that the pre-polish and the polish stages won't take as long and I should get the most of of these stones. The great thing about the Baked Georgia Queen Picture Jasper is that the "pictured" stones retain their "pictures" and when tumbled the "softer" parts of the stones still tumble away leaving some wonderful "swirling" pieces that will be eye catching stones when put to work in a necklace or bracelet.

[junerev]

Does this baking thing work for stones (or beads) that are polished already? My daughter wants to redden some of her tigereye beads but I don't want things exploding in my oven. Also, would a toaster oven work as well? I have one that I used for candle stuff and thought maybe I could use it, instead of the house oven.

Thanks,
Junerev

[HarryB41]

Here are some temperatures that I found while searching.
I can not remember the website but I do have it in Word format if anyone wants it.
PM me with an email addy and I will be happy to send it to you or someone and they can past it along.
All temps are Fahrenheit.

Agate Brazilian - 450-500
Agate India - 500
Agate Mexican - 500
Agate Montana - 550
Agate Moss - 450
Alibates - 425-500
Bloodstone - 500
Burlington - 600-650
Coral - 450-600
Dacite - NONE
Flint Ridge - 500-600 (set the roaster at 200 degrees for two hrs then increase until the max temp. is reached and leave it for 12 to 24 hours)
Flint River - 375 -450
Ft. Hood - 400-550
Georgetown - 450
Jasper Red - 500
Jasper Sunset 450-475
Jasper Fancy 450-500
Jasper Picture 525
Kay County - 500-600
Knife River Flint - 350 (Do NOT overheat or it will pot lid)
Limestone - 550- plus (still experimenting)
Novaculate - 700-900
Obsidian - NONE
Pedernales - 450
Petrified Wood - 300-450

Eureka.... I found the website!!!!!!!!!
So much for a brain fart huh?
Here it is:
orerockon.com/Heat_treating.htm
Knappers are a big item here!

[gemkoi]

That is great info SJ. But please make sure you understand this is for cooking stones to napp, or make arrowheads only. IN some acses this info may work on certain stones as a coloring agent. But in most cases is about cooking the stone so it will fall into line easier for a napper to flake the edges. IN essence making the stone more brittle under controled heating. As certain stones react differently to heat and to muc or to little heat make it a nappers nightnare. They are not concnered on coloring the stone, only making it brittle.

[HarryB41]

I have found another page that tells a lot more about heating and much more.
Here is the link:
www.emporia.edu/earthsci/amber/go340/treat.htm