Lapidaryforum.net
Rock Art => Cabochons, Intarsias, Cameos => Topic started by: adovbs on February 16, 2015, 07:48:30 PM
-
Currently on the lapidary wheel - my first fully domed cab! It's from a wonderful slab of pinkish red tiger eye that shades to rich gold on one end, with nicely defined blue-grey hematite banding. Cuts and shapes like a dream, a really nice slab.
This isn't polished, nor is is quite ready for the polishing wheel, but it's pretty close. Maybe one more trip to the fine grinding wheel in the morning and then I can begin.
-
thats actually tiger iron rather than tiger eye.
Cool cab!
-
thats actually tiger iron rather than tiger eye.
Cool cab!
Oh, it is? Well, that's cool, thanks! The seller had it listed as Tiger Eye, so I just assumed that's what it was. Now I guess I need to go look it up and see how to tell them apart for next time. :-)
-
tiger eye is symetrical in apperance where tiger iron is swirled with thicker hematite inclusions.
I like tiger iron better since i like lines and all.
-
I'm a huge fan of Tiger Iron myself.
I have a cab of it that I've been sitting on for a few years now, planning out something to make for myself with it and a tigereye bead I got from Sara that has a Chinese Dragon in gold leaf carved into it! :headbang:
-
Me too I like tiger iron but I like the eyes too:)
I got one of those beads hanging on my ceiling fan chain Amanda:) LOL I didn't know what else to do with it. I need your inspiration Lady:)
-
Me too I like tiger iron but I like the eyes too:)
I got one of those beads hanging on my ceiling fan chain Amanda:) LOL I didn't know what else to do with it. I need your inspiration Lady:)
Right now my Inspiration is on a temporary vacation. It will be back soon. Lack of sleep and to many things going on kind of dulls the creative neural synapses...
But don't worry, it will surface again. :headbang:
-
This is a delicious cab! Yum!!!!!
Rockin' Tapatalk
-
The Aussies always like to show off their tiger iron at Quartzsite.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v521/ToTheSummit/Quartzsite%202014/HugeTigerIronSlab_zps2d3f152b.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/ToTheSummit/media/Quartzsite%202014/HugeTigerIronSlab_zps2d3f152b.jpg.html)
-
I wonder if you got that pic before or after I drooled all over it...
-
LOL@ GINA!!! :LOLOL: :LOLOL:
-
Soooooooooo... I have a question, and tagging it onto this thread seemed the best place for it. I have a large hunk of Marra Mamba, but I'm curious. From all I've read real Marra Mamba is pretty much mined out, so if you get any you are getting old stock. Ok, I can understand that. And when I see Marra Mamba cabs I recognize them because they are far beyond anything you see in tiger eye. But how do you KNOW that what you have is Marra Mamba rather than an odd or interesting piece of tiger eye or tiger iron? What is it, specifically, that makes it different? And thanks, btw, it is so nice to know that y'all really do know this mess!!! :glasses9:
-
Both Brazil and Australia have provided great hematite and jasper rough and as they have the biggest iron mines in the world we should eventually see new rough . China has vastly overproduced steel so there is an expectation that they will be importing much less iron ore which will greatly slow mining of all iron ore.
-
So I go to Google, the fountain of all things internet, and at first I was like, there is Marra Momba stuff everywhere- clearly this has not been mined out...
Then I found this page. It might answer your question, it might not:
http://www.ebay.com/gds/Tiger-eye-Pietersite-Marra-Mamba-Binghamite-information-/10000000001865642/g.html (http://www.ebay.com/gds/Tiger-eye-Pietersite-Marra-Mamba-Binghamite-information-/10000000001865642/g.html)
Oh and check this out- if this is the real deal, you can see the comparison from one material to the other. I have purchased from this place before but not this material.
http://www.greatrough.com/rough_tigereye.shtml (http://www.greatrough.com/rough_tigereye.shtml)
-
I don't mean to start anything but I have seen other cabs being sold as a combo of tiger eye and hematite and looking at this one I really think it is very probably just that, it really doesn't look like the tiger iron shown to me anyway, but I may be all wet.
-
Too funny! I had just read the "topgems" article too! And it is actually from him that I got the material, many years ago. I think he must have bought up a selection of material way back when. I will have to take a picture. It does have many more of the colors than the pieces for sale on the other site. When I see the pieces on the other site is an example of what makes me confused. If those particular pieces came into my hands I would evaluate that to be tiger-eye, not Marra Mamba. So in the case of those two pounds, what is different?
-
Bearing in mind that I have zero idea what I am talking about, it seems to be the color combinations and local. Look at this guys page (hopefully you can). He says it generally contains hematite and all the cabs he has posted have ALL the colors in one cab, not a little red and a little gold, or like a Hawk's Eye combination of blue and gold. I for one, in my limited exposure to Tiger's Eye and Hawk's eye, have not seen all of these color combinations in one piece of rough, and the red that I have seen has been treated material, for the most part.
https://www.pinterest.com/gemstonecabs/marra-mamba-tigereye/
-
So to summarize it, I for one, clearly have no clue but it's fun googling all of these material and seeing what comes up.
-
Hey Gina! Someday we have to get together for coffee!! (I don't drink coffee, so I'll bring a soda. :LOLOL:) I'm soooo glad you posted that second link, yeppers, Marra Mamba. So I still don't really know why those pound pieces of Marra Mamba don't look right to me, but oh well, maybe those are not the best of the best?? I've had my piece for many years and never cut from it. Topgems sent me what I would call an end cut off with the face polished, and I have never wanted to mess it up!! But I could cut from one end........ :glasses9: