How To Repair Cracked Turquoise

• #two

Pics of the problem might exist a large aid in getting some Help!

I may be wrong about this simply I recollect some turquoise is prone to fracture cracks.

Here is a site that might shed some insight into your bug.
http://forum.purseblog.com/balenciaga-care-and-maintenance/cracks-in-handles-turquoise-440744.html
After looking further at that site it may non be all that helpful ! However I did find out this information on another site, that it is not uncommon for surface scissure in Turquoise and that some can be polished out!

Google is a wonderful tool, only sometimes it is all in how you enquire the question! I accept a feeling the info you are looking for might be more on a jewelry site!

Concluding edited: February 20, 2011

• #five

I've cutting loads of turquoise and information technology is prone to fracture.

What grit are you starting on? Rougher grits (under 180 or so) can bring on fractures in turquoise and other stones that are fragile.

What kind of dust? Carbide, diamond? Wet or dry grinding?

I'd stabilize with superglue or epoxy 330 at around 600 grit if you lot are OK with that.

If y'all have any other questions I used to cut turquoise and other stones for a living.

Zam is a great final buffing chemical compound for turquoise.

• #6

Is the turquoise a solid slab or reconstituted scales from a knife supplier. The "composite" stuff is merely turquoise grit and resin. It cracks easily. The real TQ slabs from a lapidary source are full of natural cracks, many of which y'all tin can't come across until they open. Seal the cracks with thin CA as you see them, and proceed sanding. Larger cracks can exist filled by applying the CA and then sanding before the resin hardens. The dust from the sanding will bond in the uncured resin and make full the crack. It may accept tow or three applications to completely fill and seal a crack, but when done, the surface will be smooth. The same technique works well with ivory and on wood,too.

• #8

I have been using 150 dry on my sander, really been trying to go along them from getting hot no more than merely warm to touch, I volition give that a try

It sounds like you are doing everything right, yous probably have some rough that likes to fracture. Dropping information technology could have washed information technology as well. I have had loads of cracks pop upwardly at the polish stage, very frustrating.

What mine is the turquoise from?

How big are the slabs? Are they stabilized? Turquoise in larger sizes is hard to come by.

• #12

Blended turquoise is mostly named for the color, as there is more resin and filler than existent turquoise in information technology.

Any lapidary project needs to be done slow, cool, and preferably wet. The sharpness of the abrasive is very important, and thus diamond is the preferred cutting media.

I accept never seen the composite stuff have much of a smooth, either.

• #13

Composite turquoise would be like if you called JB weld composite steel!

I take never cutting the composite stuff so I'k probably no use here. Expert luck!

• #xv

I guess the problem is in the semantics.
To me "stabilized" turquoise is a natural slab or asset of turquoise that has been impregnated with Opticon 224, or a similar product ( even CA) to fill the cracks and forestall it from falling apart or cracking when cutting. Information technology also increases the shine when polished. "Stabilized" wood and ivory are the same .

Other stuff is called "Stabilized", that is actually "Composite" ( brusk for Composition Matrix), and is a mix of powdered material and resins that are poured or pressed into a mold to brand a slab. The mold is often the shape of the desired object, thus "Stone" cameo's and pendants are pressed into shaped molds.This tin can produce a lot of slabs or pendants from nearly worthless raw textile that was low quality or too desperately cracked. They merely grind the stone into a fine powder. The powder is mixed with the resin (commonly an epoxy) and often fillers are added to make the powder become further. The fillers can be anything from crushed limestone to corn starch. Dyes and streaks of colour to simulate the higher quality natural material are added. The more natural cloth they use, the more the composite looks similar real rock, just it rarely looks natural.

I like the example of JB weld being "Stabilized" steel.

• #17

Yes, Turquoise is some funny stuff, I used to sell stones I cutting and finished jewelry. Here in the four corners Turquoise is nonetheless #one, probably half the jewelry here has (what looks similar) turquoise in it. Hopefully this helps someone.

About half of the stores here carry jewelry fabricated of what locally is known as "block" or composite stone. It comes in just about any colour and pattern and in rough course has seams on information technology from the mold. When yous cutting it it smells just like y'all are cutting plastic. I gauge it could take some turquoise in it but in my mind it is fake. Certain the composite turquoise looks practiced only await at the "rhodonite" or "azurite/malachite" and yous will see it is just plastic. The expressionless giveaway is the "Tortoise Shell"... come on, does it really accept tortoise crush in it and come out looking similar that?

The other 40% of the stones are stabilized. This is complicated to explain but either vaporized plastics, epoxy, or a number of other stabilizers are vacuumed into a stone to make it more usable. It could exist cracked, chalky, or likewise porous among other variables. Some processes like the Zachary process saturate the rock with the fluids it was originally composed of essentially making more than stone in the pores and gaps.

Dyed and stabilized is a twist on the stabilization, a dyed rock is nonetheless "real" but not really considered as valuable. I like to stay away from dyed stones as a personal preference but I'k fine with stabilized ones. This process can be compared to what they use for handle woods.

The other ten% is natural turquoise. It is expensive material and usually on the smaller side. It generally comes in picayune bumpy nuggets or in seams or cracks in rocks that can exist slabbed. Some of it is called "saw rock" because you have lots of matrix to trim away from the turquoise. Expert natural turquoise tin can run between $100-500 per pound on average.

Last edited: Feb 22, 2011

• #18

By the way, I'm non trying to bash anyones process hither, just trying to clarify some things. I only call back the mode the stone scale materials are marketed is a bit misleading.

This stuff is in a manner similar some of the import patterned steel... to the average person it might expect the same equally what you guys make simply information technology isn't and shouldn't be sold as such.

Source: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/i-keep-cracking-my-gemstone-turquoise.823096/

Posted by: comptondistravemed.blogspot.com

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