Gems?

M

Matt Janiga

Joined
Mar 20, 1999
Messages
8
I am currently in the process of constructing a sword that will have a few garnets in the hilt. Does anyone know of a company that sells high quality garnets, preferably pyrope or rhodolite, in large sizes? I have ordered gems from Rio Grande before, but they aren't able to provide large enough stones to suit my purpose. Any help would be appreciated.

Matt Janiga
 
While we're on the subject, I got a good deal on 2 pieces of amber, and am in need of cutting and polishing do's and don'ts so I don't screw it up. These are slabs approximately 1"X 1 1/2-2"X 1/4" thick......wish she'd had more....
Harry Jensen
 
Matt;
What size Garnets are you looking for? Garnets of gem quality are very hard to come by in anything much larger than 2 to 3 karats. Unless you go with a star garnet which can be obtained in sizes up to 12 to 15 carats. If you can find a copy of the Lapidary Journal on a newstand you will find a listing in the back of everything from rough stones to finished jewelry. Prices and stone size are listed right in the adverts. Unfortunately I don't have any garnets larger than 2 carats on hand or I would be glad to help out.

Harry;
On your amber, are you wanting to make cabochons out of you slabs? If so, take a length of dowel rod about 4 inches long and melt some wax and gather a good glop of wax on the end of the dowel allow the wax to cool a little but while it is still soft to the touch press your dowel with wax to what will be the back side of your piece. This is referred to as "Dopping" the stone. This will afford you a "handle" to hold the stone while you work it. Amber can be worked with wet/dry papers be careful not to get it hot and it is best to work it wet.
 
Matt, how big are you looking for?? Pyrope and Rhodolite garnets have a rather small crystaline structure, thus most of them are cut small to avoid inclusions of crystaline boundries... maybe the good old red/brown american garnet, but not the specialty garnets..

Harry, are these real slabs?? because I ran into some reconstituted slabs of amber about 3 years ago in almost the exact same size... If it is the reconstituted stuff, you can work it basically like a plastic, just work it slow so it doesnt burn, sand it to a high grit finish with silicon carbide paper then lightly buff with a white rouge...
 
I am looking for two 14x10mm ovals, or possibly two 12x10mm ovals. However, I would really like the larger stone. Rio Grande sells big octagonal stones, so it would seem that a bigger oval could be cut. If you have anymore leads, please let me know.

Matt Janiga
 
Pick up a copy of Lapidary Journal and look at the ads in the back. It's the trade magazine ... you can get just about anything in rough, cut stones, or findings.

-Cougar Allen :{)
 
The amber (according to a friend who's an amateur lap)appears to be the real deal, but has some occulsions, bark, and a few insects....don't think it's good enough for cabochons, so was goung to use it for spacer material (unless that's sacreligious
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Harry
 
Harry;
Amber works great for spacer material. D'Holder uses it all the time, particularly with Oosic. I've used it a time or two. There is a picture of a sub-hilt Bowie on my web site where I used amber for the spacer in the sub-hilt.
www.upstate-sc.quik.com/rmtyser/index.htm
Ross
 
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