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[brentnewton]

I bought about a kilo of the Mt Airy stuff from someone who ... just had a bit.  I have not even cut it yet.  I am trying hard to make the transition from hoarding to cutting. I just can't ... pass up nice rough if I can find it.  But my delimma is .... I do need to get busy cutting.  I had the foolish idea I'd retire and cut stones and make jewelry ... but I'm just too lazy or disinterested or something to do that it appears.  There is no way my kids would have any earthly idea what some of this stuff is ... or what to do with it.  So I cut it .. then what?   I can make jewelry .... so I make jewelry and give it away.  You can only give so much away.  And it makes little sense to give away a piece of silver jewelry with a high-end cab in it.

[brentnewton]

But ... I'll keep ya'll posted on the Turkish nodules.  I'll slab it as soon as my new saw arrives.  I gave all my saws away ... lol ... to a kid I taught to cut cabs.  Well ...not really a kid ... geology student .. geologist now.  The big covington was old but good ... and I had this Barranca products smaller saw ... think it was 12 inches.  I need my head examined for buying that piece of shit.  So ... I bought a 14" highland park ... seemed like a decent saw.  I tend to cut high-end, smaller stuff .. and was going to buy the 10" saw ... just my gut told me I was going to be sorry if I did.

[ileney]

Was the Namibian stuff the same thing as blue lace agate, but cut with the bands instead of against them? That blue lace agate from Namibia used to be super blue, but lately the stuff I see sold is much softer color. I still have some of the old stuff, fortunately, but mostly already slabbed across the bands for the lace effect.
As for the Turkish vs. Malawi, I’ve been sold banded stuff that looks like Malawi, that the sellers claim is Turkish, however the Malawi agate is much bubblier and thicker and tends to just come in two bands, the lighter of which can have pockets and inclusions and be problematic to cut. The Turkish tends to be flatter and have more layers. Both sometimes can have a slight grayish or purple tone. The Turkish, when it is flat like that, also tends to be insanely hard, I notice.

[brentnewton]

Oh hell no :).  Damn I hate blue lace agate.  Don't know why.  The real (now old stock) Namibian stuff is nothing like blue lace.  Its clean, blocky ... and different.  I need to post pics.

[brentnewton]

And I need to post this "Turkish" stuff I just ordered from India .... Its really blue .. and its flat (seam) ... so the color is real.  I frankly don't have much hope for the nodules ... well see.

[brentnewton]

Really I think the nomenclature just gets in the way.  There is no clean agreement on what is Turkish .... and I think the folks who sell such stuff .. just label it as what they might think sells.  The nodules I posted are what one normally sees as "Turkish" these days ... and I'm suspecting they suck.  I'll slab them, cut them and share ...we'll see. I'm really interested in seeing the "Turkish" chalcedony I just ordered .... color was deep.  It was obviously a seam agate ... some was botroyidal .... well see.  I'll post pics when I get it .. cut some stones and we'll look at those.

[VegasJames]

Turkish blue nodules ... nothing like the seam stuff.  So .... question was ... how to slab it :). Does the color intensify on the rind??  Its is no where near as blue as peering into the window would suggest. [ Invalid Attachment ]

This looks a lot like the stuff found in Northeastern Nevada.

[brentnewton]

OK, here is a pic of the Nambian material.   It seems to be next to impossible to find these days ... frankly, I think some of the Malawi rough looks as good or better, and is a heck of a lot less expensive.   

[qtz2010]

 The rind is left on the nodules to make it look darker than it will when the cab is made.

[ileney]

That Namibian does look awesome!

[brentnewton]

QTZ2010 .... yeah ... if figured as much.  Peering into the window its really dark, but I have a spot that is broken on one of the nodules and its actually fairly light colored.   When my saw finally gets here I'll post pics of what it looks like cut .. but the pics I've seen show a fairly light color.   

[brentnewton]

Ileney .... its nice, wish I had bought more of it when I could .. but really some of the other blues from other locations like Nevada and CA are just as nice if not nicer.  I think its like Ellensburg ... nice, but the name is what sells it.

[brentnewton]

Well .... tracking says this stuff is in the US.  I don't expect it to be as blue as pictured ya know ... I do expect it to be blue.

[Shifter55]

Just saw this topic Brent, in my experience this stuff has a deep, more transparent rind similar to some Brazilian agate available. Occasionally you'll find ones that are completely transparent, but they often have diffuse banding or a cloudy center due to porosity/grain size weirdness.

I'ld recommend cutting to leave the largest flat areas on each piece so you can check the rind and core for bands and fissures, the cores will still make nice cabs if they are cloudy, even if it's not a strong blue.

Here's the ones I picked up last year, 2 banded cloudy bits and a fully transparent nodule with fissures creating "ghosts". You can read through the transparent stuff when polished.

[finegemdesigns]

My experience is that both the Namibian Blue and Mt. Airy Blue have more coveted color than the Turkish Blue. The Turkish Blue is actually closer to ACTUAL blue also while for some strange reason the Namibian and Mt. Airy are actually lavender in color.

But calling them blue seems to make them sell better.