Dragon Blood Tumbling Rough
This photo shows a sample of our dragon blood tumbling rough. You can see the green dragon color, veins and splashes of red blood and the salt and pepper color of gray quartz. Click on the image for a larger view.
Here are some of the tumbled stones we produced from this dragon blood rough. These stones are mostly about 1 inch to 1 1/2 inches across. Some stones contain quite a bit of red piemontite, while some don't show any at all.
Dragon Blood Tumbling Rough
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What do they mean?
Size:
Mostly 1/2 to 2 inch piecesWhat Is Dragon Blood?
"Dragon Blood" and "Dragon Stone" are marketing names for a metamorphic rock and lapidary material that contains two minerals of the epidote group in specific colors: green epidote and red piemontite.
Epidote is the dominant material in this stone. It makes a dragon-green background, upon which splashes and veins of red piemontite look like blood. Quartz is usually seen in the rock as glassy gray grains or areas of salt and pepper color. If you want to learn more about epidote minerals, please visit our article on Geology.com.
A few of our favorite tumbled stones made from tumbling this dragon blood rough.
New to the Lapidary Market
Dragon Blood is a relatively new stone to the gem and jewelry market. It was almost unknown before about 2015 - when it was first produced and marketed out of South Africa. Now Dragon Blood is becoming popular and you can find it as tumbled stones, cabochons, beads, small sculptures, and more.
Hard and Tenacious
Dragon Blood is a very durable stone. Its primary constituents have a hardness of 6+ to 7 on the Mohs Hardness Scale. It also has a very good tenacity that gives it durability in a rotary tumbler and when it is used to make utility objects.
We tumbled a few barrels of dragon stone, and it was always fun to open the barrel and see the bright dragon blood colors. It shapes quickly and polishes well using our "Tumbling Instructions for Jasper, Agate, and Other Hard, Tenacious Materials". If you want to try an exciting and different material, this might be it!
Dragon Blood - Tumbling Properties | |
| Marketing Name: | Dragon Blood / Dragon Stone |
| Classification: | metamorphic rock >> epidosite |
| Composition: | epidote (green), piemontite (red), quartz (gray), many minor constituents |
| Mohs Hardness: | 6+ to 7 across most of the rock - with some soft spots |
| Size: | pieces of rough are 1/2 inch to 2 inches (measured across the maximum dimension) |
| Recommended Recipe: | We tumbled dragon blood in rotary tumblers with good results using our "Tumbling Instructions for Jasper, Agate, and Other Hard, Tenacious Materials". The stones that we polished in vibratory tumblers had a slightly higher polished luster. |
| Recommended Polish: | TXP aluminum oxide |
| Tips for Success: | (1) Although Dragon Blood is very hard and durable, we don't recommend it for use in tumblers with a rapid barrel rotation. If your tumbler runs at a speed of more than about 70 RPM, your Dragon Blood is likely to be bruised.
(2) Many pieces of Dragon Blood have small openings and surface porosity that can trap grit and polish. We recommend prompt cleaning when it is removed from the barrel so any rock mud is cleaned off before the surface of the stone dries. Also, after the polishing step, we recommend immediate burnishing with Ivory bar soap. |
| * Tumbling properties are for the stones being sold here. Stones from other sources may require a different procedure. If your material was sold as "tumbling rough" you should ask the vendor for tumbling instructions. | |
Seller's Comments:
We tumbled a few barrels of Dragon Blood using our "Tumbling Instructions for Jasper, Agate, and Other Hard, Tenacious Materials". Some was tumbled start-to-finish in Thumler's rotary tumblers (A-R1 and A-R2), and some was tumbled in rotary for the coarse grit step and then in vibratory (UV-10 or Lot-O) for the medium, fine, and polishing steps. Both methods worked great, but we got a slightly better polish in vibratory and more nicely rounded stones in rotary.
Two-pound packages of Dragon Blood are made from a random grab of rough from our dragon stone barrel.
Will every piece display blood? No!
Will every piece make a perfect stone? No!
Will you receive any oversize? undersize? or "country rock"? Yes!
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