Mineral and gem identification books

G'day guys
I'm getting quite interested in finding some of these gems and was wondering if anyone has any books that they would recommend for gem and mineral identification. I've been trying to find a copy of gems and minerals of Victoria but so far have been unsuccessful. Anyone got any ideas.

I'm also interested in a rock tumbler. I have a vibrating tumbler for rifle cases. Would this be suitable for tumbling some rounded stones to just polish up. What sort of media would I need to use?

diggerdave said:

G'day guys
I'm getting quite interested in finding some of these gems and was wondering if anyone has any books that they would recommend for gem and mineral identification. I've been trying to find a copy of gems and minerals of Victoria but so far have been unsuccessful. Anyone got any ideas.

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G'day Dave,

Below is a link to the publication; but unfortunately they've sold out. Just ring them up as to when they'd be available again. They might also have an idea of alternate places to buy it. Cheers, Wal

http://www.minsocvic.websyte.com.au/site.cfm?/minsocvic/7/

I contacted them and apparently the book will not be reprinted but they recommended another book "Gemstones in Victoria". They didn't have a copy but I ended up getting one from the CSIRO.

G'day diggerdave,

your vibrator that you use for shells will work well with rocks.

Use a silicon carbide grit start at no finer than 220 grade (coarser grits will eat your barrel) after about a week your stones should be ready to progress to the next finer grade grit a couple days to a week then on to polish. You can get the grit and polish powder from any gemshop or supplier e.g. Shelleys, Aussie Sapphire, Gemcuts, Rubyvale Cut & Slice to name a few - google them & have a look at their site. You can also get the grit on Ebay.