Please help to id

[dinx]

I'm not a professional - I'm not even sure if the hardness . I'm in Georgia west Georgia - Dallas. Any other info i can provide of asked . If you can help point me into the direction - and also how can I get these things clean??

 

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[Indian Steve]

Possibly garnets. Garnets are a 12 sided crystal.

 

[dinx]

Ooooo. I didn't want to contaminate the idea pool- that was my only guess also. Any isseas on how to clean or is a tumble in the authentic 1963 "rock tumbler fun kit " what they need

 

[stdenis_jd]

Garnet is harder than almost all metals so you should be able to throw some elbow grease at it with a stiff wire brush to get most of that host mineral off. Can't tell if that's rock surrounding it, but if it's simply oxidized iron (rust) most of it will brush off and you can soak it in oxalic acid or CLR to disslove the rust. Otherwise you might have to take a grinding wheel to it to get the junk off.

I'd be real careful first with the brush just in case it isn't a garnet though. If it's a softer mineral you could end up damaging it.