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Gemstones, Minerals & Fossils
Lapidary
Experiment - cabbed a garnet
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<blockquote data-quote="Lefty" data-source="post: 111775" data-attributes="member: 2976"><p>Cheers guys.</p><p></p><p>I araldited it to a screw as a dop stick - something so small and fiddly compared to anything else I've cabbed, it seemed epoxy or superglue would be easier than wax.</p><p></p><p>Skipped the first grinding wheels and started shaping on the #360 diamond. That was the right thing, the stuff seems reasonably hard but with the small size of the stone, the heavier wheels would have destroyed it with one slip. Moved to wet/dry and it seemed to do a reasonable job. But they only had them up to #600 at the club.</p><p></p><p>Brought it home, went #800 then #1200 wet/dry and then a well-worn #2000 diamond paper disc. Pre-polished it ok. Wasn't sure how to approach polishing but remembered that almandine garnet is iron aluminium silicate and tin oxide is supposed to be particularly effective on silica-based things. It certainly puts a brilliant polish on agate. The tin oxide buffed it up not too badly.</p><p></p><p>Did the same with a piece of black spinel. It was noticably harder then the garnet. It failed to respond to the tin oxide, taking on only a dull shine. I guess diamond is probably the polish for such a stone.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lefty, post: 111775, member: 2976"] Cheers guys. I araldited it to a screw as a dop stick - something so small and fiddly compared to anything else I've cabbed, it seemed epoxy or superglue would be easier than wax. Skipped the first grinding wheels and started shaping on the #360 diamond. That was the right thing, the stuff seems reasonably hard but with the small size of the stone, the heavier wheels would have destroyed it with one slip. Moved to wet/dry and it seemed to do a reasonable job. But they only had them up to #600 at the club. Brought it home, went #800 then #1200 wet/dry and then a well-worn #2000 diamond paper disc. Pre-polished it ok. Wasn't sure how to approach polishing but remembered that almandine garnet is iron aluminium silicate and tin oxide is supposed to be particularly effective on silica-based things. It certainly puts a brilliant polish on agate. The tin oxide buffed it up not too badly. Did the same with a piece of black spinel. It was noticably harder then the garnet. It failed to respond to the tin oxide, taking on only a dull shine. I guess diamond is probably the polish for such a stone. [/QUOTE]
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Gemstones, Minerals & Fossils
Lapidary
Experiment - cabbed a garnet
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