Star Garnets! – Miley found one! And she lives in the East!
I ask my customers -- “Tell me what you’re doing with my dad’s rocks! Send pictures!” A lot of you do exactly that. I added a section of KinesavaROCKS just to show them to you:
But Miley is one of the best “success stories” so far. This young lady is becoming one of the best rockhounds that I have been privileged to send my dad’s rocks to. She is gaining fast in knowledge and understanding of “rockology”. Her most recent accomplishment has been to actually find a star garnet. On her first try!
Miley has the right stuff. Here’s what she wrote about her crusade to polish a star garnet.
One day, I felt as if I needed a challenge, so I went through my rocks and found the star garnets you sent me. I decided that I needed to try my hand at small cabochons. Plus, I was curious about whether or not I could get a star. So, I went out to the garage and got to work.
I chose six garnets to try. I started shaping them and that is when the problems started. The first one went fine. I grabbed three more and I got them done fine as well.
You’re probably thinking at this point, nothing is going wrong. Well, that’s when either a toad jumped on my foot or my family's barn cat snuck up on me. I turned too quickly and spilled the container on the concrete floor.
Usually that isn't that big of a problem, but my cabbing machine is over a water grate, and it’s not a small one. It’s about two feet deep and 10 feet long. There went three garnets.
With my disappointment, I continued. But I think that moment made me lose my groove, because it only got worse. Every time I’d start smoothing the stones that remained, I’d have to let them fall into the water so my fingers did not get smoothed as well.
My second favorite stone of the trio I had left, a small teardrop, started to fracture, and not a small one. Then my favorite one, the one that did end up having a star in it, went flying. It got into the interior of the wheel and spun until it flew. Although it hit the concrete again, it didn’t shatter. That was up to my second favorite with the developing fracture. Which exploded in my hand.
I’m down to two garnets. I decided to take a break, but a break could not be a “brake” for me! I went over to my dad’s toolbox and grabbed the longest needle nose pliers I could find, and searched until I found one of the missing garnets. Fortunately, It was one of the most circular.
After all that I finished the three garnets in the photo I sent.
Still, they are not the worst quality cabochons I produced.
After reading her account, my heart went out to Miley. She went the extra mile. Ya gotta give her a lot of credit for hanging in there. I'll be sending her more free Idaho garnets so she can try again.
My dad collected a few pounds of Idaho garnets on a trip to the “Emerald Creek” area of northern Idaho back before I left home to have a career in computer software. It’s one of those trips I really remember.
As the past occasionally drifts to mind, it’s seldom the “big events” that I remember. My graduation from university is a vague, “I guess it must have happened.” kind of memory. But I can clearly remember my dad pulling our travel trailer over a log in northern Idaho with a case of 18% beer from Canada in the back. 17 of 18 bottles stored in the trailer broke. Beer like that wasn’t available in the Utah state-controlled liquor stores. The air in the trailer was heavy for days. First, from the “blue” air of my dad’s language. (He was seldom that animated about things.) Second, from the beer that soaked into the walls and floor of the trailer.
One of the things I learned about Idaho garnets by searching the web is that star garnets can only be found in two places on Earth: northern Idaho and India. You can’t believe everything you read on the web, but multiple sources, including the Idaho Museum of Mining and Geology, make the same claim. For this reason, Idaho has elevated their star garnets to Idaho State Gemstone. And since Idaho’s official state “nickname” is “The Gem State” – that must mean something. Garnets are also the official gemstone of New York, Connecticut, and Vermont. But, of course, in those states, not star garnets.
(Geology.com claims that “Small amounts of star garnets have also been found in Russia, Brazil, and North Carolina.” Yeah, yeah. Where’s the beef?)
I browsed a few dozen pages at Ebay and discovered more interesting factoids. Polished “India” star garnets can be cheap, cheap, cheap. Sometimes less than $10. Has anybody actually ordered one? What are they like? Leave a message and tell us. Inquiring minds want to know.
Polished “Idaho” star garnets, on the other hand, are usually offered by individuals and US rock shops and they're usually over $100; often over $500. One guy is asking $25,000 for an Idaho garnet. Of course, it weighs over a pound and it’s a complete whole crystal. But still ….
You see such amazing things on Ebay!
It took me more time to come to any conclusion about the actual “star” (or, “asterism” to geologists). First, let me throw out a recommendation for videos made by “Patrick Donohue” on the subject. He’s a regular guy doing what I’m doing: Trying to understand things. But he’s careful and he explains his conclusions. His videos are worth watching.
There is also plenty of misinformation and confusion about star garnets on the web. You can find people who want to sell you one with a “100% guarantee” of a star. As Donohue delicately puts it, “I’m not sure that’s true.” It is true that you have to pick the right side to polish to get a star. According to Wikipedia, “The stars are caused by the light reflecting from needle-like inclusions of rutile aligned perpendicularly to the rays of the star.” So … if you don’t pick a side where the rutile inclusions are perpendicular, no star. I think this accounts for a lot of the confusion. Geology.com notes, “Only highly skilled cutters are able to consistently produce … a nicely centered star.” Donohue admits that he hasn’t been able to do it consistently and his videos document some real effort. Even if it’s true that all Idaho garnets are star garnets (unlikely), polishing one that looks like the catalog pictures is also unlikely.
Another factoid I discovered is that, “Yes, Virginia!” You CAN go to northern Idaho and find your own garnets. Even today. But it’s not like it was when my dad got his. Another web site (written by a self-described old time rockhound) wrote, “Digging for garnets is no longer allowed and visitors now will take garnet-bearing gravels from a stockpile provided by the USFS [US Forest Service] to one of the two sluices where they can wash and screen the gravels for garnets. Unless you were digging back in the 60's or happen to buy some from some old diggers, you can't get 281.” (His favorite variety – 100% guaranteed to contain stars.)
News Flash: My dad was there in the 60’s! I think I’ll list some garnets for sale.
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post script -- 4 Oct 2023
I just posted some pics of Idaho Garnets polished by Ken at:
How cool!
Your blog is so great to read. Always learning something new!
Awesome story, even with the unfortunate mishaps. I can't tell you how many times rocks have been pulled from my fingers by the cab wheels and thrown across the room lol...I actually have some garnets from another rockhounding friend - I'm not sure if they are star, or just garnets, but they are the same color as these and just as lovely. Also have some man-made star sapphires that I've tried to work - I ruined one, but have another that is just waiting for my wheels to wear down a little. Thanks for sharing!!