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Daily Wire Tip Oct. 24: Do Raw Garnets Need to Be Tumbled?

By on October 24, 2009
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Daily Wire Jewelry Making Tip
October 24, 2009

Question:

Do raw garnets need to be tumbled or can they just be polished?

Answer:

`Raw` or natural garnets can be worked in many different ways. In my opinion, it depends on the quality and individual size of the garnets. If you have a large quantity of decent sized garnets, they can be tumbled. (We have taken very large, well formed pyrope garnet crystals and just polished every face, using a cab machine.) Good sized translucent or transparent rhodolite garnets can be faceted, while large chips can be cabbed.

Answer contributed by Dale `Cougar` Armstrong

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5 Comments

  1. avatar

    mike bethel

    October 24, 2009 at 10:33 am

    What is a Cab machine and what does it look like. Thanks Mike Bethel

  2. avatar

    Gloria Squires

    October 24, 2009 at 11:25 am

    I have some large (walnut sized)faceted “star garnets” that my husband and I dug up in Idaho. These are naturally faceted. Can these be polished by just duplicating the faceted sides? There are also a cup full of the smaller ones that we could tumble…would tumbling them bring out the star or would you recommend another polishing method?

  3. avatar

    Juan M Colon

    October 24, 2009 at 7:15 pm

    Can I use a dremell to twist? Yes or no ?

  4. avatar

    Juan M Colon

    October 24, 2009 at 7:18 pm

    What do you really mean with moderation ?

  5. avatar

    Dale/Cougar

    November 4, 2009 at 11:04 pm

    For Gloria, if you really do have \’star\’ garnets I would take them to a lapidary to have them properly worked as a tumbler will only shape and clean them up. The \’Star\’ is formed by the rutile configuration in the crystal, which needs to be oriented at certain angles to \’bring it out\’.
    Dale/Cgr