Faceting Spinel (Blackjack)

Just wondering if anyone here has personally faceted black spinel and is it worth it? My fiancee loves it and has found quite a few larger pieces that she wants to get something done too them but not sure what yet.
Cheers

this guys work inspired me to start cutting :inlove: the photos

only had failures with the stock I have tried. 8.( cracks and bubbles and possibly cutting black tourmaline thinking it was spinel

http://www.osirisgems.com/gems2

This has some too

http://bespoke-gems.com/black-spinel.php

Wally69 said:

this guys work inspired me to start cutting :inlove: the photos

only had failures with the stock I have tried. 8.( cracks and bubbles and possibly cutting black tourmaline thinking it was spinel

http://www.osirisgems.com/gems2

This has some too

http://bespoke-gems.com/black-spinel.php

Click to expand...

Wow. Those pics are awesome Wally. I may have to get someone to do a few for me

Woke up this morning with black spinel on my mind, there is something about the sheen of the facets in those photos that is mesmerising.

I might need to go out to the back yard and dig up my treasure chest and see if I have a cutter hiding in it. ickshovel:

How would determine if a spinel is a cutter wally?

I suspect that the laws of Trial and Error may apply to me, but consistency under a magnify would be the first step.

My problem is I have mixed my black stones. And my tourmaline source doesn't facet well. I will need to pick out some spinel with a fractured face to be sure I have one.

I'll post some photos, if I can find a suitable one.

Awesome. I have a few ranging from 5ct to 12ct.

Pull out a few from my black box



The two on the top right hand side of the coin are black tourmaline , I have found that they contain voids throughout the stones I have touched up to date, although the bigger crystal, found last week in the New England, looks to be a bit denser and might be worth having a crack at.

I have selected the three highlighted stones to work on, one is a clean pyramidal crystal while the others have surface character. First step is to hit them with a 1000 diamond disc to see what happens.



Looks like some very slight variation in the surface texture. Some defects extend into the stones and there is an odd bubble or two but generally speaking, I think all three show promise, just need to cut away the defects.

Yours look like they will behave the same, and I also see the odd pyramid shape in amongst your hoard

Stay tuned........ :fire: :beer: :beer:

Decided to see what would happen if I went straight to a large surface polish on stone No.2, I would not normally do this in fear of tearing an edge.

The stone behaved similar to some sapphire surfaces and developed orange peel like pits under the 1000 disc, but they are very even and small unlike some sections of a sapphire facet that will just run away on you. The edges seem to be rock-solid.



The polish stage was interesting and is very slow due to the hardness of spinel and my choice to do a large table. Running several grit size graduations might be a smarter choice to get the pitting out of the stone quicker. Smaller facets would also help.



This photo shows the inclusions and fine pitting that looks like it will come out. The reflection is the globe of my work lamp.

Awesome Wally. Cant wait to see more of your progress.

We used to be told "no, it's rubbish, not sapphire, throw it away".



In the second pic you can see the colour of my cardy reflected in the table. Not so much rubbish now is it, seeing as sapphires are getting harder and harder to find.

Excuse the dust freckles.

I'm glad I've kept mine. They come up really nice.

I've worn a lot of black and silver/platinum jewelry over the years - jet, onyx - never heard of Spinel before I joined the forum.
Wish I had - I love the almost mirror gloss and density of the black in it. Love that! erfect:

Nice rubbish P.H. :gemstone:

Have decided to keep going with the one on the dop, am starting to chase out the defects



.....and will be giving it a flat bum with the view of setting it in a low-profile setting. It also means I can chase a bigger size stone as the base has more defects.



The contrast of frosted and gloss is another quality black spinel brings to the table.

Wally, Wally, Wally... I think you might be one of those people who are easily distracted.
The sapphire silver ring, Wal - Mk2 - what happened??

MegsyB007 said:

Wally, Wally, Wally... I think you might be one of those people who are easily distracted.
The sapphire silver ring, Wal - Mk2 - what happened??

Click to expand...

:8 .........hhhhmmmm....... :idea: .......set within the striking angular walls of a high-polish jet black spinel
layful: layful: layful:

Actually, that sounds kinda cool!

Keep up the good work wally. Im really enjoying seeing the spinel been worked with. I think i may be hunting some bigger ones in the future

Got a big day of charitable projects on today, so will leave you with this update photo.



Got the main crack out but will need to cut the table down to suit and will put a row of step cuts in......or maybe......

Nice work there Wally. Its looking good