What do you do with a 600 pounds gem?

Jewelry Discussion
1

Just cut the end ioff of a 600 pounds boulder of jade; it is a green
with some black, some optical effects.

So aside from cutting it into small pieces, what do you do with a
600 pound gemstone? yes, that is about 272,400 grams, or a gazillion
carats.

Just interested to hear of anyone who has had similar projects.

regards

2 
So aside from cutting it into small pieces, what do you do with a
600 pound gemstone? yes, that is about 272,400 grams, or a
gazillion carats.

Get yerself a thousand pounds of sterling and make a bola tie. It
will be considered quite tasteful in some parts of the southwest…

Lee

3

What an interesting problem! (smile)

A company here in Dallas, The Mineral Hunters, takes similar items
and turns them into oversized display pieces. He mounts them on
appropriately sized bases, cleans and polishes the
bolder/rock/specimen to his liking and gets paid handsomely for his
efforts. His clients include interior designers who are always on
the lookout for something different for people with homes or offices
with large spaces to decorate. Mind you, his finished pieces are
definitely worth their asking prices – he really is good at what he
does.

No affiliation, just amazed at what I’ve seen.

Betty

4

Mark

Yes I did once, but I used Betonimit, from these guys
http://www.crowdersupply.com/ to break down the boulder. Took a day
and broke it down to about 80 lb pieces. There are a couple of
manufacturers of similar material and they will all break a rock in
short order without fractures except in the areas between the holes.
On mine though it weighed about 4 tons and turned out to be worthless
about 3 inches in. Glad yours turned out better. Want to part with a
few pounds?

Terry

5

mark -

what do you do with a 600 pound gemstone?

well, first you might consider using a bail to mount it on a chain
rather than trying to drill a hole for a jump ring. then look for a
very large customer.

ive

6

How about selling it to an adventurous sculptor?

7

Make a sink or a really nice feet soaker!

Regards,
James McMurray

8

I’ve used large flat-polished slabs of petrified wood to make tables.
See http://users.lmi.net/drewid/tables_page.html

I’ve never tried using jade for that, but if you get some nice slabs
out of that boulder, let me know, okay?

Andrew Werby
www.unitedartworks.com

9

best ideas so far:

  1. carve large serving platter a la Faberge’, estimated completion
    time 125 hours not including engraving or bias relief

  2. carve a violin; estimated completion time 700 hours

  3. make a decorative sink, estimated time 65 hours

  4. carve a flute, est time 100 hours?

I am still looking for ideas.

regards

10 
Took a day and broke it down to about 80 lb pieces. There are a
couple of manufacturers of similar material and they will all break
a rock in short order without fractures except in the areas between
the holes. On mine though it weighed about 4 tons and turned out to
be worthless about 3 inches in. Glad yours turned out better. Want
to part with a few pounds?

This looks like an interesting material, it seems to be like
drilling a blast round, except without the dynamite.

There is another mining technique, called pre-splitting, that uses
primacord and drilled holes in a sequence. Presplitting can produce
a finished surface over a 100 foot granite wall; with care,
accuracies of +/- 2 inches can be achieved. however, it is a blasting
technique, so do not try it at home.

Need a few pounds? sure, contact me off list

regards

Mark Zirinsky, Denver
@Mark_Zirinsky1