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nafex - [NAFEX] downside of free potassium source

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  • From: "kieran or donna" <redherring@tnaccess.com>
  • To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] downside of free potassium source
  • Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 22:33:23 -0600

I'm sorry I dont' have time to keep abreast of discussions, and have only
just read all the conversation I inspired. But I am now quite puzzled.
Where did you learn that aluminum is used to engrave tombstones, Charlie? I
looked into this back when I first heard about granite dust, and was told
that they use a product called "Black Diamond". Here is some info on the
kind of stuff I believe they use:
A carbonardo is a rare type of opaque black diamond; they are not used for
jewels, but for items like drilling bits and abrasive wheels. Carbonadoes
are found in Bahia, Brazil, South America. Unlike other diamonds,
carbonadoes are not found in a crystallized form - they are found in
irregular or rounded fragments. Carbonadoes have a hardness of 10 and a
specific gravity (density) of 3.1-3.3.

Charlie wrote:
"The material used to polish blast and shine granite tombstones is aluminum,
I believe aluminum oxide. The aluminum they buy in boxes, and they buy it
every year. My way of thinking, that can only mean that the aluminum is
ending up mixed with the granite dust. "

Could it be that the stones are polished using aluminum as you say, and then
shipped to retail dealers where they are engraved? I can ask about this. I
have also been told that some places do start out using the "Black Diamond"
but they reuse the product repeatedly, with the granite dust mixed in, so it
becomes quite diluted. I would not at all like to learn that I've been
putting an aluminum polishing product around my fruit trees, but I find it
hard to believe that there is any form of aluminum hard enough to polish
granite. And yes, I find the whole notion of clay being half aluminum quite
amusing. Bauxite is so rare and so expensive, it seems obvious that clay is
a VERY stable compound of aluminum, not easy to take apart.
Donna






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