Comments on: How To Cut, Sand and Polish Azurite / Malachite Druzy Gemstone Cabochons Tutorial

By: TaoGem

TaoGem — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:31:39 +0000

Hi Ali…

You contributed to my learning something new today.. Thank you !

Azurite’s name comes from an Arabic word meaning “blue” !

By: Ali

Ali — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:05:25 +0000

Does any one help me out…. what is azurite name in Arabic.

By: TaoGem

TaoGem — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 07:08:51 +0000

Hi Mindy ..

I do not tumble stones. The only thing I use my tumbler for is jewelry.

Azurite is a soft one, so I that has to make the whole process a bit more tricky for you.

Pourous stones are just going to be pourous no matter what we do in a tumbler. When cabbing we can do things like apply various epoxies, opticon or even super glue to fill in pits, cracks, and pourous surfaces.

I can’t imagine tumbling with water alone would make any difference for you.

I don’t want to leave you with the idea that nothing can be done to remedy your problem though.. We have a great group of very knowledgeable folks on my Lapidary / Gemstone Community Forum. I would recommend joining up and posting your question.. I know for sure that someone will be able to help out.

The tumbling question aside, if your a cabber, or jewelry designer you may well enjoy learning and sharing on there.

Thanks for stopping in to my blog here.. Maybe we will see you on forum !

By: Mindy

Mindy — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:32:15 +0000

I am tumbling some samples of Azurite nodules for a friend. Most are perfectly round with some Malichite running thru them. My first stage in 60-90 grit with water smoothed the stones well enough but they are so porous I can’t get a smooth surface. I’m on to my next staget 120-220 grit with no water. Maybe pourous stone does better with no water? These are really interesting stones, I can send pictures if you are interested. All are a beautiful blue with green accents. I just want to find advice to get these polished to show off how pretty they really are. Thanks for the very nice web site.
Mj

By: TaoGem

TaoGem — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:19:58 +0000

Hi there Tom,

It can be very difficult, but I did finally purchase a muslin buffing wheel and a polishing compound called “Zam” and that did the trick.

By: Tom Porter

Tom Porter — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:15:36 +0000

I have several large cabs of azurite in a solid form but can not get a high luster with the 14,000 grit diamond wheel or aluminum oxide polish. Is there any way to get a high luster polish on this material or do you have to coat the material with lacquer or something else? I bought a nice chunk of this material at the recent Deming, NM gem and mineral show.

By: TaoGem

TaoGem — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 00:34:13 +0000

Hi B Ritchie,

Your absolutely correct and I do keep all forms of Malachite and this Azurite overly wet.
We have talked about this before. Here is the most recent discussion about dust and particulates given of by various minerals.

Thanks for the comment, interest and concern. Greatly appreciated !

By: B. Ritchie

B. Ritchie — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:22:45 +0000

I sure hope you are taking care to work your Azurite/Malachite WET as the dust produced is toxic. Bad stuff to breathe, if you’re not sure about a mineral you can sometimes google it for more info. Thanks, you have a nice site.