Using the dichroscope

[@11rowm11]

great videos, Thanks Starla, your series on instruments has been a great help with my studies.

[@vanikajain1]

Hi Starla, great videos...very helpful indeed. Many Thanks.

[@jessicaishere8416]

Thank you Soo much for this video.! I bought this tanzanite filter on amazon for 60$ however it came with no instructions. I tried watching a video on how to use it and it said use tungsten lighting. Which i had no idea what tungsten lighting even was...🤦🏼‍♀️🙄 Incandescent lighting - yeas.! Maglights ~ yes.! This helped me tremendously.! Thank you soo much.! I made sure to subscribe

[@Mr999IT999]

Hello Starla, can you make any recommendations on a light source for the spectroscope and microscope, i have a calcite dichroscope and 2 spectroscopes - a prism one with a wavelength adjuster and a diffraction grating spectroscope. However i cannot seem to use them correctly due to not being able to find a sufficient light source and i keep feeling like im going to burn my retinas out looking directly into bright white light? would be great to hear from you.

[@blantyresteelltd.6794]

Hi My name is Deepak Sood located in Nairobi, Kenya. Watched your very informative video. Wish you could elaborate how the bands help the identification process rather than just how to use it. Thank you . Good video . Have subscribed to your vlog and hope to learn a l9t more about gem equipment and how to use it identify various gems.

[@starlatrwc]

Hi Sanda You can buy them at gia.edu, or through the Gem-A, there are also small equipment houses that sell them. They can be anywhere from $ 45 to 125 is my estimate. Glad you are enjoying the videos.

[@Mr999IT999]

Thankyou for your suggestion Starla, however the URL you gave seems to be not found? I have purchased quite a few lights now but cannot seem to get a good reading, I've tried many different angles and positioning of the gemstone but really struggle using both my spectroscopes. I understand that the best light source is one that shows the full spectrum? As using a light source which gives absorption lines would surely give an incorrect reading. Thank you againfor your help, it is really appreciated!

[@starlatrwc]

Hi Isaac Start with a known. Do you have some blue glass or red glass that you can practice with? Both should give some kind of spectrum just to at least give you one to see. Next try a known stone- rubies usually give a spectrum if there's any stone that I could point to. Garnets are another that often give great spectra-though not often textbook. I hope this helps.

[@Mr999IT999]

Starla Turner Hi Starla, I've managed to get some strong absorption lines with some lovely unheated Mozambique rubies i have. These were much easier than the stones i was previously trying with. I've also managed to identify the sodium D line in both my spectroscopes which i'm really happy about! However i still really struggle to get any clear absorption lines for alot of my other stones - particularly emeralds. Al ot of my emeralds are quite light in color but i still think there should be something to see. I read something on the gemologyproject page which says that 'emerald is known to show different absorption spectra along the ordinary and the extraordinary vibrational directions'. Is this referring to the optical axis in birefringent stones? and do you have any tips for finding absorption lines in lighter colored stones like emeralds? Once again, thank you so much for your help, your videos are grade! i'd love to see more!

[@jessicajjohnsonrud8448]

Well this is teaching me a Lott about how to use the tools

[@Birdescu_edits]

Could you please give me an idea on how much is a dichroscope and how much would be a flex lens?Thank you

[@IciarGemsandJewels]

Is it worthy buying Gem-A london dichroscope vs Kruss?

[@patriciagonzalez9341]

I enjoyed your presentation, but have been trying to learn the spectroscope. I have a diffraction grating one and have been trying different kinds of lighting and only see the rainbow spectrum, even with dark stones. I have tried looking at the stone in different directions, and so far have only seen some dark bands in the red spectrum for ruby. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks.

[@starlaturner]

Start with a stone that does have an easy to see spectrum, like your ruby. Get really strong back lighting and look through the part of the stone where you see the brightest glint of light. Move your dichroscope along the stone and you may see different lines at different times. Many people like the reflected light, where you shine the light on the stone and put your spectroscope at the equal but opposite direction to catch the light that is bounced off the stone. get the spectroscope close to the stone to catch the reflected light. Remember there is never an always in gemology, many many stones do not give up a good spectrum. Typically, garnets and ruby, and the synthetic spinels give the best spectrums. You could even check the spectrum of olive oil coming out of a transparent bottle if you can get enough light, or try green class. A lot of transparent materials will give you a spectrum, once you start to see how the light angles work it gets easier to do on small pieces like gemstones. Good luck!

[@patriciagonzalez9341]

@@starlaturner thanks very much for your prompt reply. I will try the techniques you suggest.

[@alexnikoo244]

Is it possible to see which color is more and which is less ? and Is it possible to identify the rough in this way for a better orientation? for exp if the blue is more then put blue for table and cut the stone parallel to table so blue stay on the top ? hope I can say what I am looking for?I just spoke about rough.

[@starlatrwc]

Hi Alex, sometimes the two colours will be a lighter and dark version of the same colour, just make sure you aren't looking over some colour zoning in the stone. Yes, this is absolutely a way to orient rough. Generally, the direction of single refraction, where you will only see one colour in a doubly refractive stone, gives the purest colour. In tanzanite or iolite, you do want the purple or blue colours to exit through the table so you cut accordingly, bearing in mind the cleavage directions the stone. In tourmaline, looking down the crystal, the stone absorbs almost all colour, it just looks black when you look at the end, if you want your stone colour to be darker, you cut the table in this direction but if the crystal is already quite dark then you cut the table parallel to the length of the crystal.

[@alexnikoo244]

I really appreciate your help Starla, Do you have any books or any other source in your mined regarding stone orientation or similar subject so I can study all stones in rough before cutting to make sure I do not make a mistake in orientation ?

[@koorosh9342]

hi.. you are a good teacher I enjoyed very much .thanks a lot

[@starlatrwc]

Hi Isaac I often just use a mag light and use some UHUtac or some type of adhesive putty to hold the stone for the hand held tools. The GEM has a really nice, small flex lamp that others use as well that would work with your microscope or for hand helds.. You can purchase some other flex lamps that other students have had good success with to give better incident light for the microscope but I couldn't recommend one as I haven't used any. This is one a friend has that I am considering: www.amscope.com/hl250-ay.html?gclid=CjgKEAjwwPabBRCXo46OtM_RhGMSJACgCeqA_vrba7cWeM-VAAoZfhEYd46kQz6wxypxnwg36VQVY_D_BwE. Thanks for writing.

[@srilankagemstones6662]

Thank you

[@josecavernapedrapreciosa7980]

Bom

[@jamesben6196]

can you send one

[@starlatrwc]

I don't sell equipment, you can go to GIA.edu to get it or Kassoy.

[@jamesben6196]

Starla Turner I'm from Morocco it's far