Just got started in the world of gemology and was wondering what are some good places to get proper equipment. Best quality and price for someone starting out.
Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2008 4:55 pm Posts: 179 Location: London, UK
I love BelOMO loupes (I have rather a lot of them) which can be found online at various places very reasonably. The optics are by Zeiss who own the majority of the company (Company makes missile sights in Belarus!) they are black cased, large and built like tanks. They are on the heavier side, but take a lot of abuse. Price is superb value IMO.
Gem-A's refractometer and their portable folding polariscope are very good value and substantially cheaper than many others (and are high quality).
I've bought calcite dichroscopes and Chelsea filters from eBay and been pleased with the quality, however I have replaced the UV pocket light for the Gem-A one as it wasn't reliable.
After a couple of misses I spent the $ and invested in a set of Tanita scales - wish I had done it from the start. They are pricey, but worth it IMO.
If you are just starting out I would recommend:
x10 loupe - black cased if possible (more than x10 isn't necessary) tweezers - good ones (normal not the 'ping stone across room' locking ones) refractometer dichroscope (I much prefer the calcite ones to the London ones) spectroscope (OPL is a great make, but cheaper ones are okay too) polariscope + conoscope mini UV light (keyring type) Chelsea filter a couple of lights (Gem-A do a couple of good ones: the Zelco Flexi Xenon (great with specroscope and dichroscope) and the OSRAM led one which the folding polariscope can sit on top of.
It will depend a bit on how you are used to using the equipment - Gem-A generally teach using the spectroscope by shining the light right through the stone, holding light stone and spectroscope up to the eye, other places seem to teach using reflected light more often which needs a stronger lamp.
I have a microscope, but it's not my first go to tool by any means and I don't think it's something you need to own early on - I think I was the only person in my FGA diploma class who actually owned one. Others may disagree.
I would shop around for each piece rather than buying from one place.
Joined: Sat Aug 25, 2012 3:45 am Posts: 134 Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Wow.....looks like I have quite a number of things to buy...gotta start from locating places that sell such equipments in my place...Anyway, as a beginner, I love my 10x loupe. It is not of the best quality, but it is so helpful during gemstone examination!
Thanks for information. I have never heard of BelOMO loupes, those things look like they were built for war. I really appreciate all the details, and I was looking at buying a whole package of stuff all grouped together at one lower price, but after your comment I took a second look and was glad I did, it seems that some of the tools in there are not what I need or of not of quality forcing me to end the end spend a lot more than I liked. Does anyone have views on which refractometer is best and where is the best place to get RI fluid.
Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2008 4:55 pm Posts: 179 Location: London, UK
I would still go for the Gem-A refractometer - it comes with the RI fluid in the box and it will take years to get through a bottle of it. Get the light that goes with it as well.
I spent a lot of time researching before buying mine as it is a significant chunk of cash and the Gem-A one was a lot cheaper than many others.
Don't buy one of the cheapy eBay ones - they will drive you nuts. I've got calcite dichroscopes from eBay and they are great but then a dichroscope isn't a precision instrument as such.
The Gem-A portable folding polariscope is also brilliant and I recommend over a big full-size one. It sits nicely on top of the Osram light (as long as you snap the annoying clip off the back of the light).
Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2008 4:55 pm Posts: 179 Location: London, UK
Oh yes, the Belomos are built for war alright. My 3 year-old is very partial to using mine to look at things with and I don't worry at all. I've dropped them repeatedly while mineral hunting over old mine dumps and not even a dent. Best of all, they are very reasonable pricewise so you can have more than one!
The only PITA is you are constantly tightening the screws unless you glue them/ nail-varnish them.
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