So much great info in the past few days… WOW! Thanks to John Burgess
for solidifying my belief that we only get better as we age… and
our sense of humour becomes more arcane :>)
Some of you were commenting about tools for flush cutting wire…
and rightly said that side cutting pliers are less than satisfactory
in this regard.
Here is the “po’, but observant boy” solution… Go to the Sears &
Roebuck… for those of you not old enough to remember now commonly
referred to as “Sears” :>)
In their hand tool section… look for what is called a wire
stripper. NOT their top of the line jobbie but their simple one that
has 4-5 holes for stripping off insulation from wires… These tools
also have a built in cutter… and guess what… it is double
beveled… that is there are 2 opposing cutting edges which meet in
the middle as straight edges… Try cutting your wires with this and
you will have very clean STRAIGHT cuts that need the barest touch up
with a file or wheel to be perfect…
Cost about $6 usd… and handy when ya need to strip a wire as
well… Mine are more than 10 years old and still make a fine cut.
There are other sources for similar tools… just make sure that the
cutting edges both bevel away from the inside…
Oh my gawd I just stoned my gravers… time for some pave’ I
guess…
Orchid ROCKS…
monk
Source for: psilomelane, opal, fire agate
fine Ceylon sapphire & Burmese ruby
Pietersite, Tanzanite, agates, ruby in zoisite
One visit will NOT be enough
Metaphysical, New Age, Contemporary
Water Included Quartz Does anybody know about quartz with water
inclusions? The piece I have is about 20 mm (3/4 inch) long and
includes several pockets of water with black sediment and bubbles
that move when the stone is tilted. What is its proper name? Where
does it come from? Where is it available? What is its value? How old
is the water? How does it taste? Thanks.
Alan
Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts
760 Market Street - Suite 900
San Francisco, CA 94102
tel: 415-391-4179 fax: 415-391-7570
Alan, Last year at Trona I would see a bunch of men picking up each
sizable piece of clear quartz crystals to find an overlooked
"Enhydro". The price goes up by a sizable factor. They hope to find it
before the dealer knows it is there. Was fun watching them trying to be
casual about it.
Some dealers buy this material in 55 gal drums and do not have the
time to find the bubble in the crystal. It is a new game.
Hi Alan. The quartz you’re inquiring about, I believe, are called
"enhydros". The water is as old as the rock, however, I never wanted
to break one open to taste it. But, since it’s been locked away from
all the contaminates of the past few thousand years, it is probably
not bad - a little stale, maybe. We had crystal enhydros, and geode
enhydros, their prices were not high, retail for less than $40 CDN.
They were purchased in Tucson and I believe they were from Brazil, but
I’m not sure of the exact locale.
It’s quite usual to find quartz with two phase inclusion in it either
gas/liquid, liquid/solid or solid/gas. Three phase takes some
searching out. Now what can be really weird, and it happens with
several stones including emerald is that when you place it under a
microscope to look at the cute little inclusions the three phases
disappear. The liquid heats up, dissolves the solid and the gas/liquid
line becomes undefined. As the stone cools down again the solid
recrystalises out of the supersaturated water and the meniscus of the
gas/air interface becomes visible again.
I don’t think that there’s any real value in the piece but it’s fun
to bring out at parties!
Alan, I have an old amethyst crystal that I bought specifically
because it did have a floating water bubble inclusion. The dealer I
got it from is dead now so I can’t find out where it came from. I
never heard of any name other than quartz (with inclusions). Even if
I could get the bubble out I don’t know that there would be enough to
taste. If yours has enough it might be interesting to try but I would
get it checked out by a chemist first. The water could be as old as
the crystal. It also might have seeped in over time if there is a
crack leading to the inclusion. Emeralds are also known for their
three phase inclusions. I can’t believe the formation process for the
inclusions are much different. Daniel R. Spirer, GG Spirer Somes
Jewelers 1794 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA 02140 @spirersomeshttp://www.spirersomes.com