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GeneralPolishing Beryl Crystals
8th Mar 2013 16:48 UTCDavid Walsh
David
8th Mar 2013 17:08 UTCSteve Hardinger 🌟 Expert
8th Mar 2013 23:04 UTCSteve Federico
9th Mar 2013 01:57 UTCTim Jokela Jr
Beryl polishes nicely, but you have to have relatively solid, crack-free material to start with. Experience will tell you what's good and what's leaverite.
Life is too short to polish rocks with a dremel.
Look for a local club and see if any folks in your area are doing lapidary. Make friends, and see if you can get some lessons on how it's done.
You can build your own machine, but about $1,000 will get you a cabochon grinder that will last for a very long time, and provide countless hours of fun.
Or cut a flat face with a diamond blade, and then polish with a flat lap.
Either way, it's a series of steps, from coarse grit to fine polish; the only easy, instant polish is to coat it with lacquer or something similar, if you like the look.
10th Mar 2013 01:06 UTCJames Christopher
11th Mar 2013 18:31 UTCDavid Walsh
Thanks for the info, I'll try the diamond blade for the smaller pieces. I really want to find larger pieces, 5+ inches in diameter. maybe the larger pieces won't be prone to having as many cracks and be easier to work with.
David
11th Mar 2013 22:08 UTCSteve Cantiello
11th Mar 2013 22:38 UTCDavid Walsh
I'm glad you mentioned that, I haven't done any real polishing yet and noticed when I was cracking a few pegnatite rocks to extract the Beryl, there was a little dust. I used a small brush to brush away the sediments that was created when I cracked a few rocks. I did pick up some masks from Lowes, I figured any dust that was floating around as a result of brushing it away wasn't good, I was holding my breath most of the time.
16th Mar 2013 06:39 UTCKeith Compton 🌟 Manager
I think that we would all like to find 5" diameter Beryl xls and I know that if I did I certainly wouldn't be polishing them
Cheers
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Copyright © mindat.org and the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy 1993-2024, except where stated. Most political location boundaries are © OpenStreetMap contributors. Mindat.org relies on the contributions of thousands of members and supporters. Founded in 2000 by Jolyon Ralph.
Privacy Policy - Terms & Conditions - Contact Us / DMCA issues - Report a bug/vulnerability Current server date and time: April 19, 2024 14:15:12