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passifloracaerulea



Registered: 11/13/10
Posts: 10,485
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Blue and Reverse Watermelon
#22450350 - 10/29/15 06:08 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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Just got done cutting and polishing these blue watermelon tourmaline slices from the Pala Chief Mine old material and a reverse watermelon tourmaline from the Himalaya Mine. 

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TheScientificMethod
Psychonautic Explorer & Writer



Registered: 02/20/14
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Absolutely beautiful man.
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passifloracaerulea



Registered: 11/13/10
Posts: 10,485
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I cut some Russian tourmalines today and found a rasta color liddicoatite!
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theonlysun81
Long Time Lurker, Recent Member



Registered: 05/11/12
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What do you use to cut and polish them. I just got a bunch of raw obsidean. I was going to make some pendants
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passifloracaerulea



Registered: 11/13/10
Posts: 10,485
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Re: Blue and Reverse Watermelon [Re: theonlysun81] 1
#22535497 - 11/16/15 11:38 PM (8 years, 2 months ago) |
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What kind of obsidian did you get? Obsidian can be tricky to get a good polish and also to get every tiny scratch out before the pre polish. It's also soft so while you're getting the pre polish correct, you also have to watch the surface for any faceting or flat spots due to holding the piece in one place for too long. As far as equipment, I use nova diamond resin wheels and nova flat laps, cerium oxide for polish. Tumbling is totally different. There are too many details to try to explain but new wheels alone will give you a shitty product. It took me about 5 years to finally get a system worked out that reliably produces a perfect polish every time. Most lapidaries won't touch obsidian because of it touchy polish. Anyway I run a professional lapidary that I sunk at least 100k into a few years ago. It's only worth it for me because I mined the electric blue obsidian and fire obsidian. I mined the rainbow obsidian too but after cutting it for a few years I got bored with it. The electric blue just glows so intensely and it never loses it's desire to be stared at, same with the good fire. I quit mining obsidian this last season and mined aquamarine on mt white instead. In 6 weeks I start prospecting my tourmaline claims near pala ca.
Edited by passifloracaerulea (11/16/15 11:45 PM)
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theonlysun81
Long Time Lurker, Recent Member



Registered: 05/11/12
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Quote:
passifloracaerulea said: What kind of obsidian did you get? Obsidian can be tricky to get a good polish and also to get every tiny scratch out before the pre polish. It's also soft so while you're getting the pre polish correct, you also have to watch the surface for any faceting or flat spots due to holding the piece in one place for too long. As far as equipment, I use nova diamond resin wheels and nova flat laps, cerium oxide for polish. Tumbling is totally different. There are too many details to try to explain but new wheels alone will give you a shitty product. It took me about 5 years to finally get a system worked out that reliably produces a perfect polish every time. Most lapidaries won't touch obsidian because of it touchy polish. Anyway I run a professional lapidary that I sunk at least 100k into a few years ago. It's only worth it for me because I mined the electric blue obsidian and fire obsidian. I mined the rainbow obsidian too but after cutting it for a few years I got bored with it. The electric blue just glows so intensely and it never loses it's desire to be stared at, same with the good fire. I quit mining obsidian this last season and mined aquamarine on mt white instead. In 6 weeks I start prospecting my tourmaline claims near pala ca.

I got a ton of chips from around southwestern nevada, no idea what kind it is. But I have like a 20 pound block I got from obsidean half dome, which is like 1 hour from yosemite. So it's all that kind I would assume.
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passifloracaerulea



Registered: 11/13/10
Posts: 10,485
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Ok I thought you bought some from somebody. The stuff down there isn't gem quality but you could still wire wrap it, knapp, or make cabs if that doesn't bother you. Some of the mahogany can look really pretty polished if you can find pieces that aren't pitted or full of pumice specks.
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theonlysun81
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Quote:
passifloracaerulea said: Ok I thought you bought some from somebody. The stuff down there isn't gem quality but you could still wire wrap it, knapp, or make cabs if that doesn't bother you. Some of the mahogany can look really pretty polished if you can find pieces that aren't pitted or full of pumice specks.
yea thats what I was planning on doing. I have a ton of really nice pieces. Some with some banding, but most pure dark obsidean. Most likely the majority of them are indian arrowheads although
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Nakedmushroomguru
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That stuff is cool looks
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Shroom Detective
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Quote:
passifloracaerulea said: ...reverse watermelon tourmaline from the Himalaya Mine.

-------------------- "I, Falcon91Wolvrn03, am a BIG FAT LIAR; so much so, that my pants are on fire."
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Shroom Detective
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-------------------- "I, Falcon91Wolvrn03, am a BIG FAT LIAR; so much so, that my pants are on fire."
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passifloracaerulea



Registered: 11/13/10
Posts: 10,485
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I polished all of my Russian liddicoatites and some of them have the prettiest light refraction possible within the veils. They should refract the basic light spectrum I though but instead one will give off only pink and turquoise flashes and another strictly purple etc, a lot like fire. These are by far the prettiest tourmalines I've ever seen.
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