Today I finished the first of 2 Specular Hematite with Chrysocolla and Malachite spheres.  The second should be finished tomorrow.  The individual brokering the deal gets his choice of the first 2 for allowing me to purchase the lot before it got to the market.  The rock these came out or was his choice.  

Compared to the previous Specular Hematite spheres from Australia, this material proved to be very challenging.  The Chrysocolla does not like to get hot.  It falls out  leaving very large pits.  I did try stabilizing it with optical, but the results were second rate.  I ended up going back to rough grind on both to grind beyond it.  In the end I settled for only going to 800 diamond instead of my usual 8000.  Polishing time ended up being twice the normal because of that.  

The end results are very pleasing.  It is a good thing I purchased all that came from Chile this winter.  I am looking forward to working more of it.  

Today was also a drop saw kind of day.  The corners were removed from 2 spinel in matrix, (very different from previous material I had gotten,) an Australian Lepidolite, and 2 more Maw Sit Sit.  I was able to get the corners ground so they are ready for rough grind on a machine.  It should be a busy week.

Thanks for reading.....