Garnet
The garnet is a gemstone that is derived from a type of mineral. Garnets have various uses and it is thought that they have been used by civilisations for centuries dating back to the Bronze Age. As a birthstone, the garnet is given to January birthdays.
Most people associate the garnet with the colour red but the fact is that this stone can come in other colours. It is possible to find garnets in any colour (except blue) depending on the type of garnet in question. So, a garnet might be colourless, white, yellow, green, brown, red or black and all different kinds of shades thereof. The actual colour depends on the mineral blend that goes to make up the base mineral from which the garnet will be taken.
Popular types of garnet include:
- Almandine and Pyropes tend to be dark red in colour.
- Andradites come in various colours from light to dark reds through to greens.
- Grossularites tend not to be red or darkly coloured but can come in most other colours (including clear) apart from blue.
- Hessonites are orange, pink or brown.
- Hydrogrossulars are not transparent garnets. They are most commonly found as a blue-green colour but may also be white, grey and pink.
- Melanites are black.
- Spessartite garnets range in colour from orange to red brown.
- Uvarovites are always dark green and are usually opaque.
Many garnets will be cut and polished for use as gemstones. The garnet, however, also has a range of industrial and commercial uses as it is an exceedingly effective abrasive when used as garnet sand. So, for example, it may be used as sand paper or for sand blasting purposes. It can even be used to cut through metals such as steel in high water pressure solutions.