Australian Facetors' Guild Limited

I´ve heard that you could heat natural brown zirkons on the kitchen stove. Is that true? How do you heat them? In the frying pan? What´s positive about it and negative? Have a nice day!:) Regards Alexandra

Thank you so much for your answer! I´ll try it out. Have  a nice day!:)

Regards Alexandra

It would probably be safer to bring the flame to the soldering block and warm it a bit then focus the heat on the zircons. The few I have done have not been a problem(so far). If they are badly included take a bit more care. Try it on some old stones that are  included. Experiment a few different ways.

Nothing ventured nothing gained.

Gordon I haven't found that to be a problem as yet, but I haven't done a real lot of stones. Once you experiment you will find out for your self. If the stones have a fracture in them it is probably best to cut them through the fracture anyway. Because you know what is going to happen you will be almost finished faceting the stone and half of it disappears into the bowl of your faceting machine.

Regards

Bob Boddington 

Thanks Bob.  I tried heating some ceacked rough on the weekend.  

A couple popped but the rest were intact even after heating to an orange glow on the outside.  

The orange glow couple had a dark staining on a cracked face that just went a bit darker on heating.

It also made it easier to separate the cuttable pieces from the flaws.

I'm a bit more confident about having a go with better quality zircon

Regards

Gordon