Thread: jade hone

iam thinking of making a hone of jade and wonder if anyone has tryed this. to test the water i bought a 3"x3" slab and lapped it flat (whoa is this stuff hard) it shows promise as a finisher but due the the size so far i have only tested it on knife blades, working with slurry made with the dmt my bevels show a high polish the feedback is soft very little sound at all.
so before i comit to what is sure to be a week long lapping session i am hopeing for some feedback

Hi Sir Cutalot,
I have done testing with Nephrite jade. It is very hard and slow. Much too slow. I am working on getting a sample of Jadeite, much rarer and $$. A stone of any size and quality would be cost prohibitive. I would rather have a Barbers Delight Escher, or high quality J-nat he,he.

But test away let us know the results. Good luck.
MIke

True Jade is Jadeite and is harder than nephrite and is also very expensive. A piece large enough for use as a hone will be quite an expense. I don't see it as a hone medium to justify it over others that work much better.

Jade hones are are not rare, and supposedly very fine, but their performance vary a lot, be that jadeite or nephrite. And, they are not expensive compared to any other natural hone. 15x5cm hones cost less than 60$ (natural, China) including shipping. My Chinese are not good enough to ask them if its jadeite or nephrite, but I don't think there will be a big price difference.

Originally Posted by Vasilis

Jade hones are are not rare, and supposedly very fine, but their performance vary a lot, be that jadeite or nephrite. And, they are not expensive compared to any other natural hone. 15x5cm hones cost less than 60$ (natural, China) including shipping. My Chinese are not good enough to ask them if its jadeite or nephrite, but I don't think there will be a big price difference.

Actually, jadeite is much more expensive than nephrite when you get into hone sized pieces. You can get a hone sized piece of nephrite for $40-$60. Jadeite of the same size will run you at least$100, more depending on the coloring of the jadeite.

When you start getting into Jadeite you have to be careful because it grades into a semi-precious gem which rivals what a top class Japanese finisher could cost. Usually the more common stuff is opaque and mottled.

thanks to all.no its not going to be a cheap hone not in cost or effort. but maybe the best looking hone out there lol.when i got my frist slab i thought ;well if the hone idea dosnt work out ill carve it into something for my wife. thats before i found out how hard this stone realy is.when i look at the carveing others have made i figered it cant be that hard, wrong you can kill a dmt with a stone like this.but i think iam going to press on. ill let you know how it works out

Jade is about an 8 on the mohs scale but it shouldn't be hard on a DMT. When I lapped my Beryl which is about the same hardness I used a Shapton lapping plate with Silicon carbide grit. It was slow but worked.

Jade is between 5.5 to 6.5 on the mohs scale, but a hard stone doesn't necessarily means it will be more difficult to lap than a softer one. Marble (mohs hardness 2-3) is harder to lap than glass. Epoxy is harder to lap than any mineral and it is pretty soft. It's more about wear resistance than hardness.

reminds me of this article I saw the other day. Talks about the diff between jades:

Origin of Ancient Jade Tool Baffles Scientists | Jade Artifact, Mineral Composition & Rocky Mysteries | LiveScience

Green rocks

Jade is a general term for two types of tough rock — those made of jadeite jade and another group of nephrite jade. The stones are both greenish in color, but nephrite jade is slightly softer, while jadeite jade is scarcer, mostly found in cultures from Central America and Mexico before Europeans arrived.

Map of the area around eastern New Guinea showing the location of Emirau Island, where the jade artifact was found, and Torare River, the possible source of the rock.