Almandine (Garnet)

Color: Red with a violet tint, red with an orange tint
Moh’s Hardness: 7.5
Refractive Index: 1.78-1.81
Critical Angle: 34.18°
Specific Gravity: 3.95-4.20
Cleavage: Imperfect
Fracture: Subconchoidal, can be brittle
Heat Sensitivity: Slightly, but tiny flaws, bubbles and cracks are common and can be aggravated by heat during the dopping process
Birefringence (double refraction): 0.024
Crystal Structure: Isometric, rhombic, dodecahedron,icositetrahedron

Treatments: Generally none

What I prefer to polishing with: Alumina oxide with a tin lap (scored).

Jeff's Comments: Most Garnets cut and polish pretty easily (with the exception of a piece with bubbles/flaws) and are really not much of a problem. Pre-polish with a 1200 steel (not Nu Bond, it will leave orange peel) and polish with tin lap and AO2.

Design Notes: Most of the red types of Garnet are saturated and I prefer checker boards and bar cuts in them. On lighter Grossular Garnets and Mail types of Garnets I prefer a deeper design.

Design Links:
Tic Tac - Good for dark material
Smith Bar - Great for any material
Brilliant Pear - Nice in about anything

Rough Links:
Garnet - Index of Garnet Rough
Parcels of Garnets - Various Parcels

Almandine - Bright red, Rose Mayala, Malai Garnets
Collector Garnets - Mint
Color Change Garnets - Voi color change
Grossular - Mali Garnets, Madagascar light pink
Pyrope - Arizona Anthill, Grape Garnets, Blood Red
Rhodolite - Tanzanian, Lilac Garnets
Rhodolite 2 - Kangala purple/pink/red
Rhodolite 3 - Umbalite Garnets
Rhodolite 4 - Mombo Garnets
Spessartite - Spessartite Garnets of various types
Spessartite 2 - Malaya Garnets
Tsavorite - Tsavorite Garnets

Bargain Links:
Garnets Bargains

Return to Garnet Information Index

E-mail to inquire or order: jeff@faceters.com