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Author Topic: How can I get a good polish/lustre on some dull looking turquoise..HELP  (Read 30160 times)

Tracey Sequoyah

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Hi can somebody please advise me how to get a good polish on some natural Turquoise. It is a beautiful blue colour from Arizona. I bought a lot of drop shapes but they are very dull and lacking that beautiful lustre. Does it need to be stabilised?
Thanks

mehoose

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Re: How can I get a good polish/lustre on some dull looking turquoise..HELP
« Reply #1 on: February 23, 2011, 12:22:17 AM »
Tracy, don't stabilise it you'll lower it's value. There's a good product called ZAM which is a match made in heaven for turq.
Do you know lapidary polishing procedures?
Keep em comin!!!

Tracey Sequoyah

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Re: How can I get a good polish/lustre on some dull looking turquoise..HELP
« Reply #2 on: February 25, 2011, 01:57:56 PM »
Thanks Mehoose,
 I have heard about Zam. Can u please advise where to get it?
I have dabbled in a bit of stone polishing, very basic skills. I am grateful for any help/advice. :)

Blocker

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Re: How can I get a good polish/lustre on some dull looking turquoise..HELP
« Reply #3 on: February 25, 2011, 02:32:40 PM »
Turquoise is slightly harder than Malachite from which I've had a reasonable result. Apart from from any preliminary shaping on a fine diamond wheel I use a silicon carbide on an expander drum to finish shaping etc and a very worn silicon carbide belt as a pre-polish and then a bit of time on a  leather lap with tin oxide and a final buff with green rouge. (A local lapidary club should have such equipment)

mehoose

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Re: How can I get a good polish/lustre on some dull looking turquoise..HELP
« Reply #4 on: February 25, 2011, 05:57:23 PM »
Tracey,
if you're not looking at removing scratches and you just want more shine a cheap alternative to do at home is get a scrap of leather, put some Zam on it get something with a thick firm but spongey surface, think these are also through aus sapph, will go look. Anyway, place your leather on top, brace the leather with fingers and vigorously rub following the contours and it should shine up fine.

Here, something like this, at the price you could get a hard and soft to see which you prefer.
http://www.aussiesapphire.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=108_70&products_id=1480

I could be using the wrong side of my scrap but I put the polish medium on the smooth side of the leather.  :-\  Hey, it works for me.  ;)
« Last Edit: February 25, 2011, 06:01:59 PM by mehoose »
Keep em comin!!!

Lord_Thunda

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Re: How can I get a good polish/lustre on some dull looking turquoise..HELP
« Reply #5 on: February 25, 2011, 07:26:43 PM »

I was confused as to what side to use so I called my ol' cab teacher in Sydney today. You can use both sides but using the rough side allows more polish to impregnate the leather.

As with all types of stones, there are many diff ways to polish & it may take a bit of trial & error to find what works best.

Some turquoise has a tendency to glaze over during sanding. To prevent this, place your turquoise cabs in a shallow dish of water for a while before sanding, then use more water when sanding. Keep it very cool.

Turquoise gets it’s color from the heavy metals in the ground where it forms. Blue turquoise forms when there is copper present, which is the case with most Arizona turquoise. Green turquoise forms where iron is present, as with most Nevada turquoise. White turquoise forms where there are no heavy metals present, which turns out to be a very rare occurrence.

Tin Oxide - a long time favorite. Use on leather for polishing turquoise and all soft stones.
Zam is the best compound to use on felt buffing wheels when polishing turquoise.
Polish the front and back surfaces of the turquoise nugget using a slurry of Holy Cow™ and water on a soft leather disc.
A polishing compound called "Zam" is the right stuff for polishing turquoise on a muslin buff wheel, either on a Dremel or a larger buffer.
Use a piece of organdy on the polishing wheel if you are having trouble getting a good polish on turquoise.

As you can see, ppl use many diff things & best to see what works best for you.
Bob

Gearloose

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Re: How can I get a good polish/lustre on some dull looking turquoise..HELP
« Reply #6 on: February 28, 2011, 06:48:54 AM »
One of my wife's rings.  Kind of beat up now, like we are.

Pre-1979 Persian turquoise.

Linde A on felt.


mehoose

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Nice looking Persian Loose  :D
Keep em comin!!!

Lord_Thunda

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Is it possible to tell where a piece of turquoise was mined ? Here, in Emmaville, different tin deposits can be traced back to a definite area. I just wondered if turquoise was the same.
I am meaning in the same country or different countries & traced to a possible mine as well.
Pietersite is another with different types found from China & Namibia. The Chinese pietersite's fibrous mineral is a magnesium-rich alkalic amphibole. The African (Namibian) variety is mainly crocidolite.

Gearloose

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Quote
Is it possible to tell where a piece of turquoise was mined ? Here, in Emmaville, different tin deposits can be traced back to a definite area. I just wondered if turquoise was the same.
I am meaning in the same country or different countries & traced to a possible mine as well.


"Skystone" is a big deal in our Southwest, and is especially so culturally  for the tribes.

Sometimes it is possible because some locations are known for certain colours, densities and inclusion webbing.  Turquoise from Bisbee, Arizona is not often confused with anything else.

Analysis by AA or NAA has been discussed to reveal different proportions of tramp elements:

Turquoise Analysis Studies

   Type of Study                        References

   Arc emission spectrometry     Sigleo (1970)

   Electron microprobe              Ruppert (1982, 1983)

   Instrumental neutron            Bishop (1979)
    activation analysis (INAA)    Harbottle and Weigand (1987, 1992)
                                            Sigleo (1975)
                                            Weigand (1992)
                                            Weigand et al. (1977)

   Spectrometry                       Judd (1954)

   X-ray diffraction                   Welch and Triadan (1991)

   X-ray fluorescence                Mathien and Olinger (1992)
                                            Ronzio and Salmon (1967)
                                            Salmon and Ronzio (1962)

Chemically identifying the sources of turquoise would scientifically confirm pre-Columbian trade patterns and support or reject many broader theories. Harbottle and Weigand in their 1992 article claimed that their chemical analysis by neutron-activation allowed definitive source identification of turquoise. There is not enough data published to date to evaluate this technique. Their chapter in The American Southwest and Mesoamerica (1993), published later but perhaps written earlier than their 1992 article, recognizes that Cerrillos turquoise is extremely variable in composition. Their data published in 1993 indicates that the neutron-activation technique will probably not be able to "fingerprint" the source of turquoise and contradicts some of their 1992 statements.

Here's the whole article:
http://www.cerrilloshills.org/mines/mining_history.html
« Last Edit: March 02, 2011, 01:52:35 AM by Gearloose »

steveo

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Re: How can I get a good polish/lustre on some dull looking turquoise..HELP
« Reply #10 on: January 06, 2018, 03:29:30 PM »
 This is a very old post but about what I'm wanting to know a little more about. I'm polishing a few pieces of  turquoise with Zam on felt buffing wheels. My Zam is vary hard and not loading the felt very well so was wondering if you do anything to your Zam to soften it?
Steve

 

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