Garnets in Mica - preservation advice

[brianc053]

Hi everyone. I'm posting this in the Gold Prospecting section because I found this rock over the weekend while gold prospecting at Contrary Creek, VA.

(Unless I'm way off) It's a chunk of mica with a string of garnets running right through it. I love seeing minerals in their "natural state"; I can stare at pictures of gold veins in quartz all day (sadly I haven't found a chunk of that yet, but I'm always looking). I think this rock is beautiful.

I'd like to preserve it for display. I know mica is super soft and this thing will probably disintegrate quickly if I don't do anything. It's already falling apart - I feel lucky to have gotten it home.

So: what advice do you have for a) cleaning the little garnets so they're more visible but without destroying the host mica, and b) preserving the whole thing so it won't crumble?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

- Brian

 

[et1955]

Have you thought of spaying it with a clear paint

 

[Jim in Idaho]

I wouldn't do anything to it, other than make a clear plastic case to show it. Are you sure they're garnets? Some of them look hexagonal to me....might be rubies, or sapphires. In any case...really nice specimen
Jim

 

[winners58]

its more of a schist than mica, depends on what your going to do with it, if its a display it's probably not going to be moved much
you could clean it let it dry once its dry and out of the weather it should stabilize then hi-lite the garnet with some clear nail polish

 

[OwenT]

Looks like mica schist, pretty much the most common host rock for garnets. Cool, I didn't know they formed in seams like that.

 

[nh.nugget]

We have that up here it gets real crumbly when it dries. I would put a coat or two of clear epoxy like they use on bar tops/gym floors.

 

[brianc053]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions.
I'm going to try to gently rinse the sand off of the mica schist and the garnets, and after it dries I'll try a clear epoxy. I'll post pictures after - no matter what the results.

- Brian

 

[austin]

That is a very nice sample and very unique.

 

[meMiner]

Very cool and thanks for sharing. I suspect that winner58 has the correct answer, but would worry that NH.Nugget might be right. If it were me, I would let it sit for a long while to dry and take any next steps after I see what happens. In fact, you don't want to spray anything on it before all the moisture is out, for fear of the clear spray getting cloudy. While I don't think it will occur, the worst thing that can happen from this approach is it completely falls apart and you have some nice red gems...