I want to polish a few turquoise stones I have with zam that have dull areas but I was wondering if turquoise is too soft to use wool pads. I use them for Jadeite and nephrite but jade is a much harder stone. I also wanted to ask about using diamond paste to smooth some stones but now I’m thinking turquoise is too porous. Is my only option sand paper? Thanks in advance.
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I have occasionally used Tripoli followed by Zam to polish turquoise.
I am not a lapidary, but I have reshaped a few stones and spot polished the areas. But keep in mind that if your stones are untreated, the polishing compound can be driven into the porous stone leaving dark areas that cannot be cleaned.
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Are the dull areas you want to polish just the areas where the matrix comes through? Probably just me, but I kind of like that look. I prefer to see and feel the matrix.
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Thanks so much. Good point, I never thought about that. I think I will hold off that now. Thanks again.
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Those areas are dull and a little area on the other side but after reading Stracci’s reply, I will leave it as is. I’d hate to ruin it. Do you think this turquoise is kingman too? Thanks so much.
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I’m not sure. To me it looks possibly like Chinese turquoise that people have previously posted on here, although I don’t know much about Chinese stones.
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Thank you both so much. It does look just like the cloud mountain turquoise. Thanks so much again.
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