⭐ Gemstone & Mineral Show n Tell

Is that labradorite from Hogarth range Moneybox? Or Springsure?

It is very colourless for labradorite ,
Or is the colourless how it is in Aus?

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Aussie stuff is colourless to straw/champagne to pale yellow Varts. I picked up this bit plus more a few weeks ago. This bit is colourless but a couple of smaller bits I picked up were pale yellow.

Though it is a tad soft for jewellery - pendants and earrings should be ok, wouldn't use it for rings, be too likely to get knocked.

Labradorite with a hardness of 6 - 6.5 when compared to opal which has a hardness of 5.5 - 6.5 is OK for rings but it will require the same amount of care that you will use if wearing opal rings.

Dughug said:

Moneybox
Nice lot of labradorite looks like you may have a few cutters that should show a nice golden hue.

Look forward to seeing your haul when they are cut. The richness & brightness of labradorite makes it one of my favourite stones to cut. You always get a good finished stone.

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Dughug we've never had any stones cut but we've collected quite a few. What type of cut do you suggest for the labradorite?

We got a few tiny sapphires at Willows today.

I posted this before , this is a Springsure stone , they look good cut . Lefty sent me a couple more . More of a put in collection stone . Perform well though .

Moneybox,

you will be able to do almost any type of cut for this stone that has an refractive index ranges from 1.559 to 1.573. Choose a design that suits the rough.

Very nice Barney - I can't wait to pick up that machine of my own and make a start

Lefty,

what type of machine did you decide on?

Dughug said:

Labradorite with a hardness of 6 - 6.5 when compared to opal which has a hardness of 5.5 - 6.5 is OK for rings but it will require the same amount of care that you will use if wearing opal rings.

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Only thing is that opal is typically cabochoned so the surface of the stone is a single smooth curve. A faceted stone has numerous tiny corners and sharp edges. I might be wrong but I would think there would be a greater likelyhood of chipping if it were bumped. I cabbed a piece of the stuff and I had a big flake chip out while shaping which forced me to make the stone flatter.

I will say though that it was a bit tougher than I was expecting.

You will do well with the VJ , havnt used one . Looks the goods though , they claim claim can do the table without an adaptor . Don't know about that . My machine can go to 0" though havnt had much success that way. Still use adapter . Will see from your expieriance . You must be counting down some very long hours . Have you decided on your lap selection ? Can give you some tips dont forget that alongside your Machine is an endless amount of other stuff you need . I'd start getting that now to avoid frustrated faceting
This is where it starts to get expensive plus a whole heap of other crap'

Was starting to write a list , then decided your better off calling me with a pen in hand . Also for a good price I recomend Tom herbst books , quite cheap for what you get . For sapphire cut I recomend John Broadfoot s book , that's probably all you wil need for some time , a lot of reading a d reference there .

Dughug said:

Lefty,

what type of machine did you decide on?

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AS Barney has mentioned, it's a VJ Dug. Good to have the engineering workshop that makes them only 2 hours down the road rather than at the other end of the country or on the other side of the world.

Have you decided on your lap selection ?

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Got a bunch of laps here from grandfathers old machine (a Hall). They are of standard sizing and fit the VJ. I'll start with them. There's #100 (I've been advised not to use that one, too coarse and heavy and causes sub-surface trauma on many stones)#360, #600, #3000 and various other copper laps marked #15 000, #50 000 and #100 000 and a couple of thick, extremely heavy unmarked laps of some other metal (tin maybe?)

I want to get a set of really good laps but that will have to wait a few more months yet.

I have a number of thick, hardcover books on faceting and one that is just faceting patterns.

Kingsolomon said:

Was starting to write a list , then decided your better off calling me with a pen in hand . Also for a good price I recomend Tom herbst books , quite cheap for what you get . For sapphire cut I recomend John Broadfoot s book , that's probably all you wil need for some time , a lot of reading a d reference there .

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Lefty,

I agree that Tom Herbst two books are worth a look and represent good value for the price, especially if you order direct from Amazon on-line.

Possibly a better choice written by fairdinkummybloodyoathaussies is the late Peter Collins and John Broadfoots book "Cutting Gemstones: an introduction to faceting" is a very comprehensive manual to teach yourself to facet. It is available from John Broadfoot 'email removed as per forum rules' for about $55.00 plus postage. I regularly use parts of this book when teaching new facetors through some of the clubs I'm involved in.

here is a link that may be useful for facet designs

http://facetdiagrams.org/database/

Thanks for that Dug I'me sure I'll find all that information very handy, starting very soon - I'm practically foaming at the mouth to get started

I was telling another member that I had not yet made a mistake on my first stone - I shouldn't have said that, for some bizzare reason I moved on from the break facets on the crown to the next step even though I knew they were not all perfectly even. Really don't know why did that. I didn't actually start the next stage, just changed the angle setting and mast height. I should be able to go back and finish what I should have finished.

what do you all think quartz?

Be nice if it isn't

Lefty said:

Be nice if it isn't

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"Ditto"

Lefty said:

Have you decided on your lap selection ?

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I have a number of thick, hardcover books on faceting and one that is just faceting patterns.

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Just a word of caution Lefty, if these books are by Glen Vargus (which I thought were the facetor bible when I first started) they teach and show you the old school of faceting, as opposed to Lightfoot and Steele "meet point" faceting techniques, which by all accounts is the accepted amateur style of faceting