mirkaba
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2006
Posts: 321
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Post by mirkaba on Feb 26, 2007 13:53:33 GMT -5
I was recently given a couple of rocks and told they were amber. No idea of where they came from. I started to cut one on the 220 belt (very carefully) and it ground ok. When I started on the 400 the cuttings started to roll up and streak. I assume it was melting. I put the rocks away and never thought about it until I saw another thread on amber. How do you tell the difference between amber and resin? Does this even look like raw amber? Pics below and thanks a bunch......Bob
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,466
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Post by Sabre52 on Feb 26, 2007 14:43:39 GMT -5
Amber is fossil resin and though it's hardened is still soft, mohs 2 or so. It does burn and melt and one way to test for it is to heat up a needle and pierce the piece checking for the resinous odor. I think it melts at under 300 degree F. Your material looks just like the amber I have from Columbia, SA. and lots of the amber you see sold had actually made of small pieces that have been melted and molded together again to form larger nicer pieces suitable for jewelry ...mel
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Post by freeform on Feb 26, 2007 15:51:01 GMT -5
Also, note that "copal" is more often sold as "amber" When in fact it would be amber, like Opalized wood would be Petrified wood. The difference is age. And ive worked lots of copal which acted like it was putty and you could almost shape it with plain friction of the hand. Good amber though can be soft, will actaully be closer to 4mohs from my experince working Chiapas Green amber and True Indian Amber from the India Ocean. There are also gums out there from trees that are similar to copal in its workabilty. I heard of a float test using salt water. but not sure on who well that works to really tell.
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Post by larrywyland3 on Feb 26, 2007 19:31:11 GMT -5
I agree with Sabre. I work with the Columbian amber and it looks like what I have, execpt for the rectangular shape; mine are very irregular. Columbian amber is not as old as Baltic amber and the baltic is darker. Some Columbian can be dark like balitic. I have been told that a lot of the dark columbian is shipping back to Europe and sold as baltic.
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
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Post by stefan on Feb 27, 2007 13:19:00 GMT -5
Amber is a difficult one to figure- as it is so easily conterfieted- Heck I was reading about the cutting trade and how they take the scraps from real amber and remelt it and cast it (just like resin) and as it is made from true amber- it can be sold as such-
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free4rms
freely admits to licking rocks
My little pet walrus
Member since January 2007
Posts: 839
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Post by free4rms on Mar 10, 2007 15:44:57 GMT -5
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