Handling Stones

[oddoneout]

What is the best way to handle loose stones so they are not dropped/damaged/etc.?

Thanks

 

[Harriet]

Teflon-tipped tweezers over a gem tray.

 

[marcy]

I also look at them over the center of my dining room table and have a piece of paper towel under it.

 

[icekid]

Date: 7/12/2009 6:28:36 PM
Author: Harriet
Teflon-tipped tweezers over a gem tray.

Second that! It''s not worth risking them in those temporary holders.

 

[Lady_Disdain]

As the person who can''t handle gems on a tweezer, thin cotton gloves over a sturdy, non metal surface. Preferably with something over it so a dropped gem won''t bounce.

 

[chrono]

I''m with everyone else that the best is tweezers over a gem tray. If those are not available, then thin cotton gloved hands over a cloth covered table.

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Until someone gets used to using tweezers, I recommend using fingers, over a soft surface.

You can have a lot of accidents with tweezers, the most common of which is holding the stone too tightly, and it "pings" out of the tweezers, sails across the room, bounces off the wall and into thick carpet, or an aquarium, or a bowl of nuts, or somebody''s pants cuff.

 

[T L]

I would also not handle stones with a tweezer if they''re softer than a 7 on the hardness scale. Fingers are fine except for cuprite, which needs to be cleaned after coming into contact with skin oils.

 

[QueenB29]

I remember reading you''re not supposed to used metal tweezers on kyanite as well. Would you use your fingers to set it, or something else?

 

[T L]

Date: 7/12/2009 9:30:23 PM
Author: QueenB29
I remember reading you''re not supposed to used metal tweezers on kyanite as well. Would you use your fingers to set it, or something else?

If you''re setting super soft stones, a lot of care must be taken, and the benchpeople that do this kind of work are few and far between. 99% of them only deal with diamonds and other common gems like sapphires. The softest stones I''ve ever seen set in jewelry are sphene, and I would be really scared to have anyone set it (around a 5 on the scale of hardness).

 

[Gailey]

As told by me by one of our resident lapidarists (no, I''m not outing him) - "fingers and and old pair of y-fronts".

Now that being said, there is some fancy-dancy English polishing cloth that some professionals swear by, it''s got the funniest name and it escapes me for the minute, but I will see if I can dig it out.

 

[Gailey]

Selvyt Cloths

 

[oddoneout]

So cotton gloves are the best for all gems (since tweezers aren''t good for soft gems)? Thanks for the info and the tips about holding over a soft surface so the gem doesn''t bounce.

 

[chrono]

I like to use cotton cloth because it minimizes getting oils and dirt from my fingers onto the stone itself as I am handling it.

 

[Pandora II]

I like gem tweezers over a stone cloth.

I also use lense cloths to polish up stones and to hold them - stops bits of lint getting on the stones.

 

[Harriet]

If the gem goes awry, just use a torchilight. I''ve found melee in the HVAC that way.