Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Itsandbits]

I recently found a source for this nephrite and dragged a 15lb. boulder; slick, up the canyon from where I found it and this is the latest test polish from^one of the greener pieces; as you can see it is a real dark green and the other end of the stone can barely be said to be anything but black..

[Minkos61]

WOW nice polish Lloyd very nice piece.

[hummingbirdstones]

You ROCKED the polish on that cab!  Awesome work!   

[Itsandbits]

thanks guys
I`m slowly starting to get the hang of it. I still have to go back a lot and clean up messes I don`t polish out right. This stone is one of the easier nephrites to polish, the lighter coloured translucent ones are softer and the fibers seem to cause a lot of issues too.

[Itsandbits]

I sent a couple of pieces of this down to Redrummd; Michael who makes the custom knives, to test and he put it through the paces and classes it as grade "A" nephrite. He has a comparison of the black nephrites from around the world on his site and I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of how it compares if he gets a chance to do them.
this is the "slick" I cut to get the cab from
 
cutting

unfortunately there was a fracture right in the middle of the rock that was weak enough to affect the sound of the stone so I dropped it till it broke; now it sounds right for nephrite. I pushed the pieces together for this picture. One end is really black, and the other a mottled dark green which is the one I made the cab from.

[Itsandbits]

I cut this pendant this week from the 'black' nephrite; I forgot to take a picture of it before I put the cord and copper on so it's no good for the cab contest so here it is, The nephrite is about 3" long and 1/2" diameter and has a ball shaped at the top with a through hole drilled where the ball meets the long cylindrical portion. I meant to use a hei toki knot on the lace and over the ball but the string kept slipping off so I went to plan "B"  Wish I had some 12G. gold wire to wrap on it instead of the copper:( The picture is taken on a paper towel I am drying next years supply of bell shaped yellow tomatoes on in natural light; overcast, from the window .
 

[Helene Fielder]

Very unusual shape and cording mount.  Creative!
How difficult was your black jade to polish?

[Itsandbits]

Thanks Helene
The creative process was just finding something that worked with the cylindrical shape LOL Even though I made it for myself, I think it would look a lot better hanging in a better looking cleavage than mine :)
I find this a harder nephrite, cuts slower/about the same as agate because of it's toughness but it is also mohs7 and because of that is very easy to polish using the standard nephrite techniques.  A very nice material to work with. I sent a couple of pieces to Michael Hoover and he agrees that it is a grade "A" nephrite

[Helene Fielder]

Seven is a great hardness for nephrite.  Thanks for the info.   I know for a fact you don't have to have cleavage for a necklace to rock.   

[Enchantra]

You could use gold filled wire instead of solid gold.  I know gold is expensive but gold-filled is at least semi-affordable still.
I love the unique shape of the pendant.  You don't see pendants shaped like bully sticks to often.   

[Itsandbits]

quote; I know for a fact you don't have to have cleavage for a necklace to rock; enquote
Thanks Helene, I like how the copper wrap on the cord elongates the look even more.
quote;You could use gold filled wire instead of solid gold.  I know gold is expensive but gold-filled is at least semi-affordable still.
I love the unique shape of the pendant.  You don't see pendants shaped like bully sticks to often enquote
Once I get tired of going out and finding the stuff and cutting it, I'm going to make a serious effort to do some wrapping/mounting of stones because right now I have cabs and slabs all over the place and it is time to get rid of some; thinking Bdays-Xmas and such LOL and will have to order some wires from one of the sources I've seen posted. Copper is such an easy wire to experiment with and I have rolls of all different gauges so I practice with it.
After I cut the stone I thought it looked too male LOL and I've tried the copper on other stones but they won't support it but the black nephrite seems to.


I'm still using the counter polishing pads for the finish polishing; I use my home made diamond flat lap for grinding/shaping, because they are less aggressive in the higher numbers; These were all done on 400-3000G as a final but I have diamond paste up to .25 micron also for the harder to polish stones. The ball on top was formed using the edge of the counter polishing pad 50g and taken up to 3000 also.

[Minkos61]

Wow thats awesome looking pendent Lloyd

[Itsandbits]

Thanks Ernie, the cord is fresh off the slitter and will look better with time too; I might put some saddle soap on it to age it.   

[MrsWTownsend]

Oh wow that is beautiful material!  You really gave it a gorgeous finish.

[Itsandbits]

Thanks Mrs.T
Here's a pair of drop earrings I've started for the gardening lady next door; I see I'm going to have to go back to the shaping grits and get them a little more symmetrical. They are about 1 1/4in. long and close to 1/2in. at the end and quite heavy but she likes them. These are at 800 grit on the resin wheels wet; if I dry polished them they would shine more and they get blacker as the polish gets better.