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[gjones]

I know there are some tricks to polish Jade/Jadeite. I just acquired a bunch from a collection I received. I  only have one polishing machine a Pixie. Can someone give me info on how to use this polisher to get a good shine and stay away from the dreaded orange peel.

[Redrummd]

I have a tutorial on polishing Jade in my Ebay store.  I just have not gotten around to re-doing it here on this website.  My "scuff polishing" tutorial on this site can also be used.

http://www.ebay.com/gds/Jade-How-to-cut-and-polish-Jade-/10000000178583902/g.html

[gjones]

So what I get from your instructions is that I will have no luck with my Diamond Pacific Pixie.

[finegemdesigns]

The "dreaded orange peel?"  lol

It's my understanding (and people can correct me here if I'm wrong) that orange peel happens when you polish a gem that has different hardness minerals in it. The softer mineral undercuts slightly and causes the surface to resemble the skin of an orange. For example:





This is a cabochon of chrysocolla in quartz from Peru. It contains hard agate at 7 MOHs and particles of chrysocolla which are much softer at 4-5 MOHs. So when you polish it you get the surface seen in the photos. It's not even noticeable IMO so not a real problem in most cases.

As for jades I've never really seen this issue but maybe there are some jades that do orange peel if they contain minerals of different hardnesses.

Jade is no real problem as far as cutting and polishing. Use the same grits from coarser to finer until you get an even prepolish. Then I polish on soft leather with Tin Oxide, Linde A or Pro-polish.

[55fossil]

    My two cents worth after cutting several hundred pounds of jade and making a lot of cabochons from Nephrite Jade. I am not a professional jade cutter and took lessons from Michael to learn more. I still know I am a novice jade cutting. It sure ain't like agate.

1.  orange peel in jade;   it happens a lot to good grade and lower grade jade. Possibly the really good stuff too but I would not know. A lot of nephrite jade I have worked has areas that obviously are different hardness. But I think orange peel may also be caused by how the jade is woven together. I have had beautiful translucent green jade that looked excellent orange peel. That is not to say you cannot get a good final finish with trying different polishing methods until one works.

2. Diamond Genie:  Michael is correct that many jades, even good stuff will come apart on the diamond wheels that have a hard steel core. Some of the cheapest jade I have purchased polished okay on the same wheels that destroyed some awesome Polar Jade.

3. Blanket statements on jade polishing are not to be taken seriously. You can take ten pieces of rough jade from BC and every one may have different needs to get a good polish. There is also all the people who have been solid rock that they were told was jade but it was not. There is some awesome pieces of beautiful serpentine out there being sold as jade and it polishes beautifully.

[Redrummd]

gjones - A Pixie uses NOVA wheels and can polish Jade with the tutorial instructions.  Be more specific as I specifically recommend use of NOVA wheels.....

[Grinder69]

What I love about this hobby is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I personally strive for a mirror bright finish on all my stones.  There is no doubt that jade is a vexing stone even with diamond equipment.  Every jade rock I have ever cut seems to perform differently with regards to polish.  Since I am way too cheap to buy the very top grades of jade epecially after the price inflation of the past 10 years I settle for working with a type I have heard referred to as seaweed jade.  Those mossy inclusions compound  the normal problems with cutting jade which I believe to be due to variations in the internal structure of the jade.  As an example some jade is very schistose and will fall apart on the wheel.  You usually spot that pretty easily on the rough edges of the stone and don't buy it.  Keep in mind that the character of the stone can really change from spot to spot.  Since I am so cheap I have taken several fliers on rough which looked like it had a usable vein of good material in the larger schistose piece.  Some times it works and some times it still falls apart.  In my relatively limited experience the jade that seems to be the most consistent and easiest to polish is Wyoming black jade. 

For me a great sanding job with a light touch followed by 50,000 grit or even 100,000 diamond grit works most of the time.  I have had luck with problematic jades by trying Linde A on leather and polishing it quite dry so the stone gets  very hot.  In my old club the guru's all had their own secret recipes for getting the elusive mirror polish on problem stones.  Naturally the whole problem can be mostly resolved by buying the very top grade of material which will be internally more consistent. 

Good luck!
Mike

[montanajohn]

  Good information Mike.  For what its worth, I usually quit at 1200 grit with Wyoming Nephrite and go to a 14" elkskin turning slow with alumina (yes, Linde A) and vinegar for a wetting agent seems to help hold the stone to the leather while it gets hot and polished. 

[gjones]

These are all great responses. I guess I need to just go for it. Thank you all!!!