[Source] Bead test

I do many tests on rocks which I bring in from prospecting trips.
Does anyone know of a lapidary business which can do a bead test for
me? I would send in blocks of rough cut stone of let us say 30 square
inches and they could make the beads from there.

PS - Don’t everyone laugh at once over this question - has anyone
ever made a bead out of diamond or bort or even Bucky C which I
understand to be more valuable than diamond?

Don't everyone laugh at once over this question - has anyone ever
made a bead out of diamond or bort or even Bucky C which I
understand to be more valuable than diamond? 

Making individual beads from natural minerals is quite a labour
intensive process. google stone bead making. theres lots there inc a
step by step guide. If your planning on doing lots its always best to
get your own kit. then theres no delay in getting the results.

You can buy diamond beads- they arent that much to look at. Drilled
by pulsed laser. Buckminster Fullerine is a spherical molcule, it
doesnt form anything larger than its unit cell and that is why it is
so interesting. It makes an almost perfect dry lubricant. It is by
its form a hollow bead so if you get some C nanofibres you can thread
it. Not sure who will do the job for you but theoretically you could
make the lightest necklace in the world from them.

Making a bead forming machine is not too difficult, there are 2
styles, one that is for making and polishing single spheres and ones
for production of masses of beads of a predetermined size. It would
be cheaper to import the equipment than to outsource the bead making
if you are after the latter.

Nick Royall

there is a facility in Thailand run by Swiss people that may take it
on but I’m fairly certain you would have to supply a higher amount of
material as the one time set up fee is pricey, even at Thai prices.
You could always post your request on a B2B site like Alibaba for
carrying out absentee international business too. rer

If you google BeadC you will see
that various natural stones are being turned into beads and marketed
from Hong Kong worldwide at 2-3$ per bead. That is hard to beat.

As Ted Frater noted this is “labour intensive”. From researhing it
so far I would agree. You have to cut the stone into tiny cubes and
then feed it into another machine for rounding.

I liked the idea of stringing Bucky C with nanochains for
nanocustomers. Maybe the ants who mine “ant hill garnets” (another
Orchid posting) would be interested but it might also appeal to
others to coat it on beads. If it is as costly as I last read, I
would not throw it away.