Wyoming Stardust Jade Rough, 2 lb. 8 oz.

Description

Little zoisite/quartz spots scattered through an opaque dark olive jade.  The spots are lighter and stand out more than what you usually see.  To get the best polish on this material first polish with leather(I use a chrome paste with a touch of Linde-A on it) then hit it dry with 3000 grit diamond to brighten it up.
total weight: 2 lb. 8 oz. (1157 grams)
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- For those interested, check the bottom of this page on how I polish jade.
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- Polishing jade, method 1- Everybody has a different method, this is what works for me when polishing chunks of jade:1) semi polish with 1200 grit or 3000 grit diamond, I go dry using a light touch only. 2) Chromium oxide on a rough leather disk, the rougher the better, I run it very slow. 3)I use a hard rubber backing, with an old leather disk between it and the polishing disk for just a little bit of padding. 4) at the last I use a lot of pressure, while spraying with a water bottle so there is a little drag but not too much. For more difficult material the leather will probably get warm to the touch before you finally get the "flow" finish.5) After quite a bit of use this method may stop working. Your polishing paste may have crystallized in which case the old paste will need to be completely washed off of the leather. You may also need to roughen up the leather surface again; go over the whole surface with diamond cutting wheel to accomplish this.  I use a  dust mask and a vacuum cleaner to avoid inhaling the dust.
- For a final "water" finish, try 14,000 diamond mesh with a little light oil on a wood disk, also turned very slow.
- Surefire can't fail but expensive method no. 2. -  Do the best you can with any other method then finish up with a 3,000 grit diamond resin bond wheel.
Hit it with a light spray and let it go dry. As it dries you will feel it drag just a bit, that's when it is putting a flow polish on it. Only If absolutely necessary apply much pressure, you will get a nice finish with even soft material. The draw back is this goes against the manufactures recommendation to always use with water, so there is a danger you eventually gum up the wheel to where it doesn't work anymore. If you gum up the wheel I have found it is possible to restore it. Hold a piece of a silicon carbide grinding wheel against it while it is running wet. This will remove the resin that is now covering the diamonds. In my experience it won't hurt it and will make it usable once again, although it won't be quite as good as brand new.