[Jewelry making - Article 00553] - Re: [Orchid] Faceting, solutions to match RI

[The Doctor]

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    Noel, there are plenty of things you may have around to use. Here's
    a list that may help a bit: 

	Liquid			RI
	Water			1.33
	Alcohol			1.36
	Turpentine		1.47
	Olive oil		1.47
	Pure glycerin	1.47
	Clove oil		1.54
	Cinnamon oil	1.59

>         I have a jar full of pale aquamarine that is so beat up on the
>     outside that I can't tell whether any of it is usable. What do I
>     pop it into to make it "disappear"? 

    The cinnamon oil should work best for aquamarine, which is 1.577 to
    1.583, but the clove oil is a close second. The best option, if you
    want serious diversity is to get ahold of some methylene iodide and
    benzyl benzoate. Gemologists mix these fluids mostly for estimating
    specific gravity, but the liquids' RI changes at the same time. You
    can get up to 1.74 with straight MI. One more liquid is acetylene
    tetrabromide, with an RI of 1.64. 

    If you'd care for instructions on mixing methylene iodide and benzyl
    benzoate for RI, email me off-list and I'll be happy to try and
    explain. You'll eventually need certain, small sample gemstones
    (rough is fine) to set the SG of the liquids. Either that, or a
    refractometer to set the RI, but refractometers are probably more
    expensive than your purpose would justify. 

James in SoFl

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