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[James D. Farrow]

Got some black jasper and some of the pieces are a really nice black.

But some pieces have tiny brown specks throughout.  I don't mean the brown crud stuff
on the outside. The specks are inside.

As I wanted pure black, would hematite be a good substitute?

Thanks,

James

[jakesrocks]

Hematite will be softer than jasper, much more messy to grind & polish, and when polished will have a silvery metallic sheen.

[hummingbirdstones]

The Australian black jade may be a good substitute for you.

[Asianfire]

Yep hematite will work up silver.
I agree with Robin, Australian black jade is wonderful. Easy to work, solid and uniform.

[James D. Farrow]

From what I could find the MOHS is about the same as Sodalite? Have worked that and have
to go easy. When grinding a couple of pieces I had little chunks fly off. I say little but big
enough to mess the piece up as they were not on the edges but in the body of it.

The place I get my rocks from has hematite rough and looks black and I found a lot of
pictures on Google that show it black and looks like it would polish up good.
Don't mind a metallic sheen if that's what you get. No black jade there though.

In Canada the places to get rocks are very limited. And the shipping from the US is expensive
for us north of the border.

I don't get a lot of choice but I make do.

James

[hummingbirdstones]

If you don't mind the silver metallic look of the stone, then hematite will work.  Just know it's a mess to cut.   

[Asianfire]

If you like the look of it and you got access, you could try Crown of silver.
Dirty to work, but looks fab.

[James D. Farrow]

Thanks!

Think I will try the hematite. It's cheap (at least here) so not a lot to lose if
it's not exactly what I am looking for.

James

[55fossil]

      Time verses money / quality??? You should try and find a seller with high quality (guaranteed). Maybe someone here knows one??  I use black jasper I collect in the Owyhee's of eastern Oregon. This stuff goes by ten names depending who sells it, basanite, onyz, jasper etc. I think mine would be considered a basalt or jasper as it is volcanic in origin. The quality range is from grey, black with gray specks or worse. Since I have very little time to spare I only want the  best quality with a lustrous black finish. The good stuff will give you a conchoidial fracture just like agate when you hit it. The best stuff looks like black jade and I have even cut cabochons from it. I only cut this stuff in my trim saw with water because it turns your oil and saw black in minutes. My usual work calls for 1-2 mm slabs for backing plume agates. So the material needs to polish up very black without chipping or cracking.
   
     Why I do not sell it: I have to go to more work to find top grade black basalt than it is worth to sell. People usually do not want to pay more than two bucks a pound for it. Supply and demand dictate cost. Many people here that black jasper is everywhere and cheap. If you want quality material it is a different story. good luck

[lithicbeads]

Some of the hematite that I have seen collected on the Canadian side of the border is similar to the hematitic black south of the border where the chatoyant silver is primarily on one plane  as it is a metamorphosed layered sediment. Much of our hematite is very black and as it is a quartzite it is hard  as quartz crystal , softer than jasper, and carves more easily than jasper..Some of the
fraser jade is quite black also except in very thin slabs, Just south of the border there is extremely black slate that is not laminated so you can get thick solid pieces. It unfortunately is no longer marketed but it may be north of the border as well.

[James D. Farrow]

The place here says it's from Brazil. Most of their stock is from Brazil.

James

[lithicbeads]

Brazil has huge hematite deposits with all types of variation. About 30 years ago very black agate chunks came out of Brazil for a few years. I later heard that the supply stopped because German carvers bought all of it at premium prices.

[bobby1]

I would like to recommend Basanite (Black Basalt). It is a solid deep black and it takes a great polish. I use it on all of my doublets and triplets. It is inexpensive and fairly available. I was fortunate to get some from a rock collection that was donated to our club a few years ago. The collection had lots of the material which I thought was rather unusual.
Bob

[Debbie K]

You might consider schorl, black tourmaline. It isn't always expensive for the big crystals, especially if they are bruised.

Re: the black Australian jade; I heard they closed the mine. Not sure if it's true...

Debbie K

[finegemdesigns]

I have jet black actinolite jade from the Boots estate. To see other alternative black amphiboles check out my black jades project page here:

http://www.finegemdesigns.com/blackjadesnavigation.htm

I probably can't advertise here though so message me for more details on exactly what you need.