Equipment for Collecting Gemstones

[pwsg07]

I already have:
refractometer,
tweezers,
gem jars,
metal caliper,
scale,
loupe.

What other equipment do I need? Any recommendations for penlight, flash light, lamp for observing the stones, microscope, and digital refractometer? Any other methods to store the gemstones?

Thank you.

 

[kenny]

Tons of money.

 

[Bron357]

I’m currently thinking about buying a microscope but good ones are quite expensive.

 

[pwsg07]

I’m currently thinking about buying a microscope but good ones are quite expensive.

Any recommendations? I know they are expensive but I want to do some research before getting a microscope.

 

[chrono]

Take GIA classes so that you know how to use the equipment and know what you are looking at.

 

[pwsg07]

Take GIA classes so that you know how to use the equipment and know what you are looking at.

I took the course long time ago. But I don't know which model/brand to get. The equipment has been updated since I took the course 13 years ago. I start collecting stones several years ago. I don't think they have the digital refractometer back then. I am curious how accurate is the digital refractometer. The problem I have now is to evaluate the beauty of the stone. The course focuses on the identity of the stone.

 

[chrono]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What one finds beautiful, another might not.

 

[kenny]

Any recommendations? I know they are expensive but I want to do some research before getting a microscope.

For over 20 years I worked in a laboratory with various stereo microscopes.
I know a bit more about them than the average Joe or Josephine walking down the street.

We had assigned benches with assigned tools and scopes.
There was enormous competition for the best ones, the Zeiss Stemi SV11.
The crappy scopes nobody wanted, and the noobs got, were from Bausch and Lomb and American Optical.
A good scope makes a HUGE difference.

I'm gonna make a few posts here and ramble about things that make a scope better or worse.

First, sharpness is king ... NOT amount of magnification.
Everyone thinks any 20x loupe reveals more than any 10x loupe.
I realize it's counterintuitive but that's true.
A high end 10x will show you fine details the 20x won't.
Yeah, thing appear larger in the 20x, but it'll be blurry if the optical quality isn't high.
With my $300 Harald Schneider 10x loupe I can read the numbers on a girdle laser inscription.
With the 10x loupes that came free with some diamonds I've bought I can't, too blurry.

What scope do I recommend?
If you can find one used that you can afford get a Zeiss Stemi SV11, or a SV6.
The 11 has a wider zoom range.
Here's a brochure describing them:

https://corefacilities.systemsbiolo...ads/sites/5/2015/07/ZeissStemiStereoscope.pdf

New 15 years ago, new, they cost over $7000.
I don't remember whether that included a stand and a light or not.
Zeiss has discontinued these so you might find one well under $1,000 somewhere on the Internet.

End of post 1

 

[kenny]

Next, the eyepieces (oculars) should also be from Ziess, not some cheaper brand.
Be sure to get eyepieces with glass of the widest diameter possible.

Compare the diameter of the glass lenses in the oculars below.
The ones on the left are smaller.



Smaller-diameter oculars are cheaper but they suck.
Looking into them is like holding two cardboard toilet paper rolls to your eyes.
You see a little narrow circle in the middle, instead of the nice wide view you get from wide ones.
(BTW, the width of the view has nothing to do with the power of magnification.)

End of post 2

 

[kenny]

If you can't find one of the above at your price range this is an older Zeiss design, also superb.

 

[kenny]

Condition caveats ... things to watch out for:
Obviously the lenses must not have bad scratches or have the coating worn away by improper cleaning.
The inside of the oculars or any other optical parts must not show evidence of cleaning fluids that had leaked in.

The following (alignment) is VERY important but may be hard to evaluate if buying online:
These are called stereo scopes because they have two entirely separate optical paths, one for each eye.
This gives you 3D perception, a valuable and essential thing compared to cheaper scopes with one optical path.
BTW, don't get tricked into thinking all scopes with two oculars are true stereo scopes.
Buyer beware.
There are some cheaper scopes with two oculars but if you look up at the bottom of the scope there is only one lens instead of two.
In the middle of the optical path the single image is split into two.
This is inferior because you do not get true stereo vision and the all-important depth perception.
Instead, even though both eyes see something, they see the exact SAME thing so you get the inferior 2D effect, like looking at a photograph.
In many fields, gemology included, seeing in stereo 3D tells you much more about what you are seeing than seeing in 2D.

So, these two optical paths must be parallel.
They can be knocked out of alignment if the scope was ever dropped.
If not parallel your eye muscles will strain to align the two images and you'll get terrible eyestrain and headaches.


At our lab the Zeiss Stemis that had been dropped got thrown into the pile with the crappy Bausch and Lomb and American Optical scopes.

Buyer beware, if you find one super cheap this may be why.

In my next post I'll explain how to properly use and focus one of these stereo scopes, and how to evaluate if the optical paths are parallel or knocked out of alignment.
It's not obvious to many people.

End of post 3.

 

[kenny]

...
Everyone thinks any 20x loupe reveals more than any 10x loupe.
I realize it's counterintuitive but that's true.

Mistake alert:
The last sentence should read, I realize it's counterintuitive but that's not true.



... still working on post #4