With help from members here at IGS, I settled-on and purchased a Fable FGR-002 refractometer and a few other gemology tools. I understand how to use the basic features of the refractometer (I will need some practice of course) - including RI, Double Refractive, Single Refractive and birefringence, but I understand that there maybe more advanced techniques for using the refractometer to do other examinations. Can anyone point me to good source for this?
Thanks
Hi Kirk,
Congrats on getting your feet wet with Gem ID, it’s a fascinating pastime! Google “gemology project refractometer” and that will take you to the gemology project’s article on the refractometer, which is probably the most complete one that I have seen. It’s really a shame that more people don’t learn to use the refractometer to its fullest, as it is a great tool. Good luck with your studies! If you learn to determine optic character and sign with the refractometer you will be well on your way to becpoming th compleat gemologist. Then you should read Hanneman’s Affordable Gemology -royjohn
Some good information here…
http://gemologyproject.com/wiki/index.php?title=Refractometer
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Thanks Hobart and RoyJohn- that is a great site and I have read through it several times- now I just have to get to it.