Ok here is my experiment.First, I c

Ok here is my experiment.
First, I cleaned the cabbed, pre-polished stones with a mixture of Dawn dishwashing detergent and a bit of ammonia. Then I wiped them down with alcohol to remove all traces of oils from handling them while I was forming the cabs. Do not use an oil and diamond paste mix while cabbing these, the limestone is very porous and will absorb the oils. After you wipe them with alcohol only touch them with clean tweezers.

I pre-warmed the cabs on a coffee mug warmer. In Alabama, the humidity is 100% all year long, or close. So, I wanted to drive off excess moisture that may have built up in the stones while I was working with them.

I used Black strap molasses and corn whiskey. Corn whiskey cuts the sugars well, and has less water in it than water :o) (In the South we have sorghum syrup which is sold as molasses, but it’s not the same thing. Avoid it.) Make sure it is pure cane, but I’m sure that brown sugar would work just as well. I poured the molasses into a crock pot and diluted it with whiskey till it rolled off of the wooden spoon about as viscous as cooking oil. Then I put the stones in just as the mixture was warming up. Wait till the temperature is about as hot as a baby’s bottle. Cook on high for 6 hours. Why six hours? I don’t know. It just seemed to be a magic number for me, lol. Cook till the whiskey is driven off and it is like a caramel consistency. I had to dig the cabs out. But, be careful. If you burn the sugar it will smell very bad.

Wipe the sugars off with a rag without touching the stones with your fingers. Then lay them onto a mug warmer. You don’t want water to get back into the stones.

While the cabs are in the sugar pot, crush up some charcoal. Get the kind without an accelerant added. Avoid Matchlight, compressed and flavored gourmet charcoals. Although a good chipotle flavor might make the studio smell good, ha! I used a non-compressed natural charcoal that is sold in hardware stores. I got a 15lb bag for $5. I think it is used in swimming pool filters. But, I’m sure any charcoal would work. Crush it up and mix equal volumes of washed construction sand to the crushed charcoal (volume, not weight). You can wash the sand in a wire mesh coffee filter. I filled a tin container with the mix, one of those containers people put cookies in to give at Christmas time.

I then put the tin in the kiln and took the temperature up to 600F to drive off the water. I held it there for an hour, but I’m sure that the times for the drying of the sand could be modified a little more scientifically.

After the sand has cooled down to just above room temperature, I buried the cabs in the sand and charcoal mix. Make sure the stones don’t touch and have at least an inch of sand all around.

I put this in the kiln and ramped the temperature up one hour per 100F to 550F, and I held it there for a couple of hours. I want to work on getting the time here correct, so I will play with holding times. But 2 hours worked. 500-600F simulates a charcoal fire. The charcoal provides a reducing atmosphere, and the sand evens out the temperature spread throughout the stones, preventing thermal shock. I am certain that there is a threshold where the carbon burns out of the stone and the water that gives the opal its flash of color is destroyed. So, I will play with times to find the point of destruction later. I will tweak this to get the greatest dept of carbon, while preventing it from burning back out.

Hasil (Bahasa Indonesia) 1:

Ok here is my experiment.First, I cleaned the cabbed, pre-polished stones with a mixture of Dawn dishwashing detergent and a bit of ammonia. Then I wiped them down with alcohol to remove all traces of oils from handling them while I was forming the cabs. Do not use an oil and diamond paste mix while cabbing these, the limestone is very porous and will absorb the oils. After you wipe them with alcohol only touch them with clean tweezers.I pre-warmed the cabs on a coffee mug warmer. In Alabama, the humidity is 100% all year long, or close. So, I wanted to drive off excess moisture that may have built up in the stones while I was working with them.I used Black strap molasses and corn whiskey. Corn whiskey cuts the sugars well, and has less water in it than water :o) (In the South we have sorghum syrup which is sold as molasses, but it’s not the same thing. Avoid it.) Make sure it is pure cane, but I’m sure that brown sugar would work just as well. I poured the molasses into a crock pot and diluted it with whiskey till it rolled off of the wooden spoon about as viscous as cooking oil. Then I put the stones in just as the mixture was warming up. Wait till the temperature is about as hot as a baby’s bottle. Cook on high for 6 hours. Why six hours? I don’t know. It just seemed to be a magic number for me, lol. Cook till the whiskey is driven off and it is like a caramel consistency. I had to dig the cabs out. But, be careful. If you burn the sugar it will smell very bad.Wipe the sugars off with a rag without touching the stones with your fingers. Then lay them onto a mug warmer. You don’t want water to get back into the stones.While the cabs are in the sugar pot, crush up some charcoal. Get the kind without an accelerant added. Avoid Matchlight, compressed and flavored gourmet charcoals. Although a good chipotle flavor might make the studio smell good, ha! I used a non-compressed natural charcoal that is sold in hardware stores. I got a 15lb bag for $5. I think it is used in swimming pool filters. But, I’m sure any charcoal would work. Crush it up and mix equal volumes of washed construction sand to the crushed charcoal (volume, not weight). You can wash the sand in a wire mesh coffee filter. I filled a tin container with the mix, one of those containers people put cookies in to give at Christmas time.I then put the tin in the kiln and took the temperature up to 600F to drive off the water. I held it there for an hour, but I’m sure that the times for the drying of the sand could be modified a little more scientifically.After the sand has cooled down to just above room temperature, I buried the cabs in the sand and charcoal mix. Make sure the stones don’t touch and have at least an inch of sand all around.Aku meletakkan ini di kiln dan menggenjot suhu sampai satu jam per: 100F untuk 550F, dan saya mengadakan sana selama beberapa jam. Saya ingin bekerja pada mendapatkan waktu di sini benar, jadi saya akan bermain dengan memegang kali. Tapi 2 jam bekerja. 500-600F mensimulasikan api arang. Arang menyediakan suasana yang mengurangi, dan pasir seimbang keluar suhu tersebar di batu, mencegah kejut termal. Saya yakin bahwa ada ambang batas mana karbon membakar batu dan air yang memberikan opal dengan kilatan warna dihancurkan. Jadi, saya akan bermain dengan times untuk menemukan titik kehancuran kemudian. Saya akan mencoba ini untuk mendapatkan dept terbesar karbon, sementara mencegah dari pembakaran kembali keluar.