Polishing Kyanite

Jewelry Discussion
1

I purchased a nice strand of kyanite daggers from a friend. They are
kind of waxy to the touch. How would I polish them up to bring out
the color. I hand buffed one of them and it seems like they need to
be buffed or polished. Can I tumble them and if so what kind of
compound would I use?

Thanks.
Monica Sargeant

2

depending on how hard the material one desires to polish i use
several things to bring up a polish on stone you could try cerium
oxide, tin oxide or linde A from crystalite. i am sure that the
lapidary supply could give you give you a more direct answer, but
one of these powders on a felt or leather buff and water will most
tlikely get you where you want to be. but also remember some times
materials dont polish well for one reason or another and you may have
to come up with your own creative soloution to get results you
desire.

best regards goo

3

Alumina. But I don’t think I’d tumble them. Much of the kyanite I’ve
seen seems rather brittle. The cleavage is listed as “very perfect,
two directions.” also, it won’t cut evenly - the hardness varies
from 4 to 7.5 on different faces.

Al Balmer
Sun City, AZ

4

Last week at a show I came across the same question from a customer
buying kyanite stones that I had cut - I used fabulustre (in a
tube/compound stick) in with the burnishing media. It seems to work
best - all you need do is scrape a portion of the bar into the
tumbling container I added a bit of warm water as the stuff is very
dry and I like to add that extra lubrication to my tumbling shot (to
make the process as fast as possible)… I had tried to dissolve the
fabulustre in a number of solvents but nothing seemed to give me the
results I wanted (from acetone to M.E.K. to glacial acetic acid).
After about twenty minutes in the tumbler it was quite shiny and the
colour seemed more evened out - though kyanite can fade in direct sun
after a period of time…you may try that if nothing else works- I
suppose you could also apply it with a mounted felt bob and a little
extender to wet the point and then polish to the finish you desire.
It is brittle material to begin with so be careful- always remember
when using a flex shaft its the rotation not the pressure that makes
the equipment work. rer

5

Linde A is far superior for polishing metal _ John Sinkankas

6

What type of burnishing media did you use for this RER?

7

Why are you polishing kyanite in a tumbler? Why not use diamond,
sapphire, or cerium oxide powder with your flexshaft with a cotton,
etc, buffer?

Alex

8 
Why are you polishing kyanite in a tumbler? Why not use diamond,
sapphire, or cerium oxide powder with your flexshaft with a
cotton, etc, buffer?

Hi Alex, I have roughly about 130 kyanite daggers that are anywhere
from 3mm to 6mm thick and 8mm- 16mm long. I really don’t want to
spend that much time polishing :slight_smile:

Monica
www.deliasdelightjewelry.com