Sapphire bombs

[Heatho]

The Thais really are the experts on heat treating so I'm told, it's amazing some of their before and after pics, grey bombs becoming clear Royal Blue A grade stones. Different properties in those stones than Aussie ones. I think the Iron in Aussie Sapphire makes heat treating more difficult from memory.

Very keen to see the outcome Karl, always worth a try. I was told you need a stainless steel tube with a cap and small vents in it. I don't see why a crucible would not work either.

 

[blayke]

hey congrats 170ct even in a bomb is still decent...dont throw it or smash it up. even bombs are worth a few dolars a CT especially the big ones. they can be skin polished and sometimes turn out nice but personally i prefer the sparkle in the stone AS IS. cooking it wont do anything really more for silky stones that arent see through bombs are mostly cracks and schist though i am definately still learning myself see if you can find a local gemmologist or cutter there may be a small stone in there somewhere especially with one that size who knows if a small corner couldnt be cut to a small stone or something.

Retirement Stone, Pat is still there....they have just started leasing out the kitchen for evening meals though they want to step back....i did hear that they are possibly looking to sell though but not sure. i also got some decent size bombs from their pile, around the 60ct mark....

 

[Lefty]

The Thais really are the experts on heat treating so I'm told, it's amazing some of their before and after pics, grey bombs becoming clear Royal Blue A grade stones. Different properties in those stones than Aussie ones. I think the Iron in Aussie Sapphire makes heat treating more difficult from memory.

Very keen to see the outcome Karl, always worth a try. I was told you need a stainless steel tube with a cap and small vents in it. I don't see why a crucible would not work either.

I've been told that the Thais will cook pretty much anything and everything. Jim Elliot of Coolamon Mining was having a rant some time ago about them apparently having circulated large numbers of chemically-altered stones without telling anyone. IMO heat treatment is probably fair enough, you're really just finishing what nature began. But I'm not a big fan of the idea of chemically-altered gemstones - even dyed agate doesn't really do it for me. Fiddle with a natural stone too much and it may as well be synthetic to my way of thinking. But that's just my opinion

 

[KarlS]

hey congrats 170ct even in a bomb is still decent...dont throw it or smash it up. even bombs are worth a few dolars a CT especially the big ones. they can be skin polished and sometimes turn out nice but personally i prefer the sparkle in the stone AS IS. cooking it wont do anything really more for silky stones that arent see through bombs are mostly cracks and schist though i am definately still learning myself see if you can find a local gemmologist or cutter there may be a small stone in there somewhere especially with one that size who knows if a small corner couldnt be cut to a small stone or something.

Retirement Stone, Pat is still there....they have just started leasing out the kitchen for evening meals though they want to step back....i did hear that they are possibly looking to sell though but not sure. i also got some decent size bombs from their pile, around the 60ct mark....

You are right, it did no do much. Charcoal kiln reaches about 1100 degree C as I can melt copper in it, just. I have put two stores in in. One 27 carats similar to the big one and small one 7 carat bit clearer without visible inclusions. And I left it there until charcoal burned out. Result the bigger stone cracked to three pieces and changed color from greenish to milky gray, smaller one remain about same greenish color and did not get any clearer. What I have learn is that stones with inclusion will most likely crack during the heat treatment. Also that inclusion most likely affect color change. Anyhow it was interesting experiment.
Karl

 

[blayke]

Hey Karl everybody ive spoken to that knows about cutting and heat treatment including a few gemmologists have reccomend first cutting the stone to almost the stone you want ensure there's no cracks and then heat treat otherwise the stones can shatter from even the smallest inclusion....I believe the treatments are also over 2000 + degrees also so much much hotter as well. I've seen many people wearing bombs as necklace pieces as originals how they come out of the ground.... Noone in the world has one the same

 

[K Johnson]

I have a collection of similar stones. Some are a transparent greeny blue but I also have yellow. Is there any where in Sydney I can get my stones looked at.

 

[grubstake]

I have a collection of similar stones. Some are a transparent greeny blue but I also have yellow. Is there any where in Sydney I can get my stones looked at.

How about next weekend?:
https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...old-and-prospecting-related.41061/post-680410

Also, there's a whole lot of NSW clubs out there:
https://gemlapidarycouncilnsw.org.au/clubs/