Easy and Fascinating Way to Test Your Garnet Gems

Did you know a magnet can attract a garnet? Yes, it can and I find it very fascinating! I am sure many of you do too. If you are curious to see for yourself, I will explain how to test a garnet with a magnet.
Evidently, garnet should have some iron concentration in them in order to be attracted to a magnet. However, since garnet is not a piece of iron but a stone, the iron concentration has to be so little that you are going to need a very strong magnet to test the garnet. Now, do we have to go buy a 10 pound piece of magnet to do this? Not at all. What you need is a type of magnet called neodymium or earth magnet. They are so strong that a 1" X 1.5" piece can lift something as heavy as a bicycle. If you do a search on okay, you can find these for about $10.00-$15.00. For testing garnet, I use a 1" X 1" cylinder shaped neodymium magnet. You should not handle these magnets with bear hands because the blood has an iron concentration and it may affect the blood flow. Read the handling instructions that gees with it when you buy one.
Once you have the neodymium magnet and the garnet, you are ready to test. Make sure your gem testing area is clear of anything that the magnet can attract. Just a word of caution, it will attract things that you would think are not close enough or light enough. Now that you are ready, place the garnet on a smooth surface like a piece of paper for better results. When you gradually move the magnet closer to the garnet, it will pull towards the magnet. If the garnet is fairly small, it will jump on to the magnet like someone who has unexpectedly seen a long lost friend. It will stay stuck and you can lift and carry the magnet with the garnet still attached to it. I find this very interesting and fascinating. I alwaysenjoy testing garnet with my magnet. This has worked for the garnet types such as almandine, pyrope and tsavorite garnet but not much with hessonite garnet. Hope you learned something new and enjoy testing your garnet gem collection with magnets. Please don't forget to visit my okay store for a huge collection of natural gemstones. Also, check out my about me page for some interesting links.