Gemstones

Hi friends,

A while back, my friend @derekrichardson and I went out rockhounding and gem hunting. We were trying to find lapis lazuli, but came up short. However, Derek did know of a corundum spot and we found plenty:

Here you can see the corundum in the host rock and they glow in black light. The most famous version of corundum is red rubies, however, the they come in many different colors and are known as sapphire gemstones.

The ones we found found were purple and pink - they look great but I have one problem…. I can’t get them out of the host rock! The rock is very hard and dense, and I keep breaking off pieces of the sapphires when trying to get them out. My most successful method of extraction has been chipping around the gemstones, but it is very tedious and imprecise.

I may need professional help as I would love to cut some of them into jewelry pieces!

Thanks for coming by,
Brian