Tumbled Emeralds – The Final Chapter!! I finally finished tumbling the emeralds that I started over a month ago. Sometimes the tumbling process takes a while and the harder the stone, the longer it can take. In retrospect, I probably should have tumbled them longer with the coarse grit before moving on, but, live and learn. I will do it next time I start a bunch from scratch! So, here is the final chapter of tumbled emeralds!
Anyway, to refresh (unless, of course, you want to go back and read all the previous tumbling posts), I placed a number of rough emeralds in my tumbler and began the process with coarse grit silicon carbide. See the Tumbled Emeralds post for details!
After a week or so, I took the stones from the tumbler, cleaned them, and this is what they looked like.
Back in the tumbler they went, but this time with a medium/fine grit silicon carbide. Another week of grinding and polishing before we see the next results!
Once again, the emeralds go back into the tumbler. I add the pre-polishing compound for this step. This compound is aluminum oxide. After a week of constant tumbling, this is what I have. Note how the shine is really beginning to show now.
Finally, we arrive at the polishing step! It has been a long grind (yes, bad pun intended). The results are worth waiting for, though, as you can see from the pictures below. One of the cool things that tumbling does is create different shapes like those below. One of the emeralds ended up in a wedge shape and another in a sort of oval shape. I just love the way they turned out! What will I do with them? I don’t know. Maybe figure out a way to put them in a bracelet or a pendant, but I may just put them away and enjoy them just as they are!
Emeralds are one of my favorite gemstones and the Emerald is one of the gemstones stolen from the Elven Bow in The Gemstone Chronicles Book Three: The Emerald. What is your favorite gemstone? Do you prefer cabochons or faceted gems? Leave me a comment and let me know!
I will continue to look for stones to tumble (and I asked for another tumbler for Christmas) and I hope to buy a cabochon machine soon. Maybe if I can sell enough books, I will buy myself a faceting machine! That could lead to a whole bunch of interesting posts!!!
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