Diamonds

What is the best way to mount tiny (about 1 mm) diamonds to maximize the amount of the crystal showing, to minimize the amount of mounting medium and to show off the colour, clarity and details of the crystal ? I appreciate any help you can give me.

Bill

optical fiber (125 um in diameter) ?

Thank you Dominik

Bill

Hi,

I had a bunch of tiny gold flakes to mount and cut the end off a gel capsul, put the gold inside and glued a paper punch out on the open end of the gel capsule. When it dried I mounted that on a cork and now I can see the gold and shake it around. Only potential problem is that gel capsuls tend to yellow over the years but it was so easy I do not mind the posibility of replacement.

Roy

I know you have kitties Bill. Snip a whisker or two. They work well!

The bristles from my two girls hair brushes, are a discrete source of pedestals.

For tiny loose crystals of tough minerals, like diamond, I prefer not to mount them at all but rather to stick them into a 1cm long piece of glass capillary tube, loose, seal the ends of the tube with wax, and drop the whole thing into a micromount box. Much easier later to rotate the tube and view all sides of the diamond crystal under the scope, without any ugly attachments.

cheap boar bristle brush...clip bristle to length, touch to crazy glue, touch point of crystal...

same procedure, cactus needle tip...

Prefer bristle though since it has more flex and is less likely to lose it's precious cargo if bumped.

Thanks to everyone on your suggestions. Jason is right - I do have cats. In fact, I once mounted a couple of MSH Elpidite sprays on a cat whisker - worked well.

Bill

Was some interesting discussions on this on another forum but porcupine quills were mentioned along with cactus needles as good mounting mediums because of the tendency for the cut tip to dry with a concave form allowing the xstal to nestle into the mount.

Black cats whiskers are another good source but if you survive the cat you then have to face the spouse! so not really recommended. Having said that, we now have a cat with black whiskers but I source my material from the black whiskers of introduced Australian possums which are easily available as roadkill here.

A less natural source is to visit your local model shop that has packets of assorted plastic rodding for railway modellers.

Rod