About Inlay

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breezezhang

Joined
Feb 3, 2004
Messages
28
:confused: My new unique sebenza was produced in Jan. 4th 2005, and it has an Almandine inlay. When I put the inlay towards light and observe from the back side. I can see many very tiny air bladder in the almandine. So I have a question. Are the Inlay gems inartificial or others?
 
breezezhang said:
:confused: My new unique sebenza was produced in Jan. 4th 2005, and it has an Almandine inlay. When I put the inlay towards light and observe from the back side. I can see many very tiny air bladder in the almandine. So I have a question. Are the Inlay gems inartificial or others?
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Someone on BFC (other than LaBella and myself :o :D) may know the answer but I suggest you email the CRK folks directly. They probably are best suited to answer the question. ;)
 
Almandine is a gemstone in the Silicate class and is the most common of the garnets. It is usually the garnet found in garnet schists (a type of metamorphic rock composed mostly of mica). They're often associated with materials like are micas, staurolite, quartz and feldspars.

Their hardness is rated as 6.5 - 7.5. To give you an idea on hardness. . . . talc is rated at 1, a penny is a 3.5, and typical knife blade at or slightly under 5.5 and a diamond at 10.



Is the stone in your knife artificial. . . .I highly doubt it.

All gems/stones have different ratings based on imperfections, clarity, etc. Tiny flaws, bubbles and cracks are common in Almandine.
 
Thank you Gigone! Your detailed answer is so professional. Now, I understand the stone should be inartificial.
Thanks to everyone! :)
 
In my experience, CRK doesn't cut corners in any way on anything. I would be amazed if they advertised a fake gemstone as real.
 
whew, I was worried about the air bubble....and Collucci!
 
Sorry Chaos, I didn't say it is a fake gemstone. I don't think CRK would do these either. I just want to know why there are many bubbles. :D :D :D
 
breezezhang said:
Sorry Chaos, I didn't say it is a fake gemstone. I don't think CRK would do these either. I just want to know why there are many bubbles. :D :D :D
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Perfectly understandable! :)
 
breezezhang said:
I just want to know why there are many bubbles. :D :D :D
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Sorry. . . .kinda forgot about this thread. :(


As I mentioned before, bubbles occur naturally in Almandine, but the process of refining the stone can exasperate the bubbles during the dopping process.

The process of cutting gemstones requires the stone to be affixed to a metal stick/rod, which is later chucked into the cutting/grinding machine.

The process is called "dopping."

An adheasive is used to affix the stone to the stick/rod. The adhesive can be super glue, shellac or wax. The most common method used is wax.

To apply the wax it must be heated, which is accomplished in what is called a dopping pot. In a nutshell, a dopping pot is something like a hot plate with an inverted cup to hold the melted wax and a platform to heat the stones.

The process can take a several minutes for the stones to heat up and wax to melt, so to get an appropriate bond.
 
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