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Gemstones, Minerals & Fossils
Gemstones and Minerals
❓Your Mineral Identification Questions answered here
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<blockquote data-quote="Lefty" data-source="post: 443277" data-attributes="member: 2976"><p>A question for Goldirocks in relation to the variable hardness of some minerals - when they say that something varies between say 6 and 6.5 on Moh's, are they saying that different <em>individual</em> specimens of the same type can vary in overall hardness, or do they mean that the <em>same</em> specimen will be harder in some directions than in others?</p><p></p><p>The two stones I most commonly cut are sapphire and quartz. Sapphire is as hard as the hobbs of hell in general but there is a quite noticable difference in certain directions, some facets cutting much more quickly and easily than others. My assumption has been that the "easy" facets are being cut parallel to or at least close to the lamellar parting planes of the sapphire crystal, while the really hard ones are going across or close to the C axis where there is no parting. Quartz has no cleavage or parting of any kind and I have never noticed any particular difference when working around a stone the way I do with sapphire.</p><p></p><p>Cheers</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lefty, post: 443277, member: 2976"] A question for Goldirocks in relation to the variable hardness of some minerals - when they say that something varies between say 6 and 6.5 on Moh's, are they saying that different [i]individual[/i] specimens of the same type can vary in overall hardness, or do they mean that the [i]same[/i] specimen will be harder in some directions than in others? The two stones I most commonly cut are sapphire and quartz. Sapphire is as hard as the hobbs of hell in general but there is a quite noticable difference in certain directions, some facets cutting much more quickly and easily than others. My assumption has been that the "easy" facets are being cut parallel to or at least close to the lamellar parting planes of the sapphire crystal, while the really hard ones are going across or close to the C axis where there is no parting. Quartz has no cleavage or parting of any kind and I have never noticed any particular difference when working around a stone the way I do with sapphire. Cheers [/QUOTE]
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Gemstones, Minerals & Fossils
Gemstones and Minerals
❓Your Mineral Identification Questions answered here
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