Such a shame

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Have to consider the cut carefully. Dark garnets can still flash awesome red. Trillions have a much higher brilliance than most cuts as do other shapes like pentagons and octagons. Try a solid trillion cut and I bet it will still come up beautiful.
 
Thanks for that info! I send my stones off to Lamberts but on their list of cuts i dont see a trillion cut
I dont know anyone around here (Perth) or Australia who can do a trillion cut unless you cant point me in the right direction :)
 
Thanks LoneWolf. Couldn't do it without rough2cut's ridiculously exceptional sintered laps though. His 600# brass lap is the level of precision I could only dream of with the old electroplated laps I used to use.
 
Thank you muchly LW :D

Yes, I too have one of rough2cut's sintered laps and it is excellent. I still found I could cut accurately with certain plated laps, only problem is that they wear out pretty quickly whereas sintered laps keep on going and going like the Energizer bunny. Saving up for another one.

Hi tailormarc - they look like pyrope garnets to me. Pyropes are quite often very clean but also very dark as you note. As SC says, they will often still deliver attractive red flashes when faceted.
 
How many garnets from that area have you found? Very interesting and you could be on to something there!

I would cut those garnets in a trillion as stated by Sneaky or a very shallow cut to bring out the colour as it might look black if cut in a normal brilliant for example.
 
Thanks all!
Yeah i have about 8 in total and only 3 of the 8 are gemmy but the rich red is so nice! This was only searching for about an hour max. Really need to get back there to look for more but its in the remote southwest WA
 
tailormarc said:
Here is a really nice one i found same spot but its so dark i cant see through it. Almost black sadly....
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4556/24949162988_2519193ea4_c.jpgimage by Marc Russo, on Flickr

Interesting.

Both the above photo and the other three as well. The rock looks kind of pegmatitic. The first photos you posted are unmistakably garnets but I'm not sure about this one. It somewhat resembles a few of the tin crystals I've found at old tin mines in far north QLD. There is an extremely dark red, translucent tin crystal variety called ruby tin which is fairly rare.
 
An SG test will tell you... Looks like 'Ruby' Tin... Black with a slight tinge of Red on the edges... Heaps around Inverell and Glen Innes area...

That is certainly a Pegmatite.... Keep Digging, they should get better.. And Bigger... ;) :Y:

LW....
 
There could be something really special in that rock. Looks like the edge of a vug to me. If it opens up in there you could have some serious crystals to win. Go steady though. Wouldn't want to chip the tip of a museum piece!

Big creamy feldspar crystals, big quartz crystals and whatever the black crystals are screams vug/pegmatite!
 
I must admit this is in a national park, pieces i picked up were run off from this spot. I was looking in all the nooks and crannies to find small bits. Cant get the pick out :( Damm shame
 
Rusty_G said:
SneakyCuttlefish said:
Heard nothing, saw nothing, no nothing .......... ;)
Lol :lol:
Nice find of Garnets there...did you know guys, lightning can cause rock to explode! Fancy if it hit that Peg...BOOOM!! Garnets raining down everywhere hahaa :D :Y:

haha might put a lightning rod right on that point
 
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