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Butterscotch

Very Interesting. I’ve been tempted to do the same but the cutting scared me away. How did you cut it?

Diamond saw. Very carefully. I wanted to cut the end off because it was badly chipped. So it made a perfect test subject.
The carbide blade in the hack saw would do it but I'd still be cutting it and I think I'd need a new blade and a new arm too.

We know Trans Arks come in 'colors' - some are known to be 'yellowish'. General speculation and word of mouth from sellers say that the greater number of trans arks that were sold were white. I suspect that a great number of yellowish Arks were not yellow to begin with. Possibly through oxidation and use with oil they were, for lack of a better term, tinted. Oil definitely seems to shift the coloring to the warm end of the spectrum. A stone that already has a 'warm tone' would be pushed further into that hue with some oil added in. Oddly, I see that one does not need amber-colored oil to get the diffraction going in that direction, crystal clear oil will do it. So there is more to this puzzle that what meets the eye. Remember, part of the reason the white stones are white is due, in part, to light diffracting off the tiny bit of water in the stone. Perhaps just from losing moisture their colors shift. Indians used to change the lustre by treating the stone with heat... there are many possibilities to consider.

I don't know that I'd agree with soaking a very dense Ark in anything is a sure fire way to remove every bit of seeped in oil... these stones are dense, very very dense and I can see how IF there is oil that took 80-90 years to creep into it, then I can see how it would be possible for it to not always be 100% removed with a short term bath. I had this one wrapped up in a clean paper towel for a verrrry long time in a very warm area, and zero oil crept out onto the towel - so that's telling. I've actually used SG to clean up some old oil stones and it is not always a 100% perfect 'solution' (small pun) to getting the oil out. I am fairly convinced that if I soak the cut off piece in SG for a good long while that it would seem to clean up a bit, but I also feel that the coloring would be shifting toward warm shortly afterwards.

I don't believe that all of this is all that complex. It's just that we do not have all the parts of the puzzle on the table; we weren't there 100 yr ago when the stone was first cut. We just show up 100 yr later and start guessing.
 
The presence of oil in/on the stone has a part in the coloring. How big a part, I am unable to say. But oil is, for sure, a player in the story. I cut a piece off the buttery one... got a good view of the cross section and the surfaces of the stria left by the saw blade.

Not recording any quantifiable working differences between the buttery stones and the pure white ones. Been running side by side tests with identically lapped working surfaces.

Beautiful stone below as shown. If oil is a factor, then maybe the warmer tint has to do with iron trace particles oxidizing over time? Edit: I hadn't read your subsequent post.
 
If you cycle with the sg you can get most of it out by attrition where it doesn't smell of oil or the green anymore really and nothing is migrating to the perimeter and staining if you wrap, seal and leave in a warm area. At the very least you can get all but the most entrenched stuff out where you can get a good idea of the true visual nature. Granted, I have found this can take weeks and not everyone has this level of patience. I wouldn't leave anything that can potentially turn to mush in sg, it just seems like it's asking for trouble. I would use gentler methods for that. I just yanked this washita out of the sg today. It's been in and out for about a month, green, sealed and wrapped in paper towels, green, etc. It's pretty much stopped sweating into paper towels a cycle ago. Granted, it is a more porous stone but it is impressive performance all the same. The one type of stone that has proven more stubborn to liberate of oil than any other for me have been particularly porous hindos. You can keep those in the green and nothing bad happens in my experience, but they just seem to have a limitless capacity to hide oil and sweat it out.
 

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I know how to clean stones with SG, I’ve had much success with it, have gone through gallons of it. The fact is, it’s not a 100% foolproof solution 100% of the time. It’s good, but sometimes Mother Nature’s stubborn-ness trumps modern science.
 
Nothing is really, but sg is particularly brilliant at it compared to most, especially if you use it in concert with other tactics.
 
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Beautiful stone below as shown. If oil is a factor, then maybe the warmer tint has to do with iron trace particles oxidizing over time? Edit: I hadn't read your subsequent post.

I believe thete are a number of possible and actual factors, including oxidation of impurities, presence of oil, actual yellowiish stone due to a natural tint in impurities, sun-turning, and various different combinations of the above.

Because the stone is nearly pure micro/crypto crystalline silica, the effects of light diffraction are going to be seriously amplified - even a teensiest bit of impurity or oil or oxidation could have a major impact on the stone’s appearance. The crystalline structure can act like a signal repeater.

It’s an interesting phenomenon, the ‘antique’ coloring makes for a warm visusl aesthetic. Interesting and functional eye-candy can be fun to have around.
 
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I believe thete are a number of possible and actual factors, including oxidation of impurities, presence of oil, actual yellowiish stone due to a natural tint in impurities, sun-turning, and various different combinations of the above.

Because the stone is nearly pure micro/crypto crystalline silica, the effects of light diffraction are going to be seriously amplified - even a teensiest bit of impurity or oil or oxidation could have a major impact on the stone’s appearance. The crystalline structure can act like a signal repeater.

It’s an interesting phenomenon, the ‘antique’ coloring makes for a warm visusl aesthetic. Interesting and functional eye-candy can be fun to have around.

Almost like silver particles in a gelatine emulsion. Interesting!
 

timwcic

"Look what I found"
Two butterscotch beauties followed be home from my vacation shopping spree. One is 8x2x1 and other is 8x2 1/8x1 1/8. Time for a updated family portrait of these Arks. I still believe it is the natural coloring of the Novaculite due to the few smaller broken stones that I have with the color goes thru completely. A long exhausted vein was the birth place of these stones. Is it also a coincidence that all came in a wooden cases that guessing are well over 100 years old.

Did the wood or use have any influence of coloration?
Is butterscotch the natural color or the stone at time of harvest?

As the narrator said “the world may never know”

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David

B&B’s Champion Corn Shucker
Here's some supporting evidence that at least some of the butterscotch stones are caused from oil seepage. Look at the second pic where it's seeped in from the ends on the bottom.
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Here's one I just sold, and the inside vs outside (it was broken when I got it, but you can tell it was well used before then). Pictures taken one immediately after the other, same light, same angle, same shot... just opposite ends of the stone. One the original end, the other a newly exposed end from stone being broken in half.
 

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Not what I consider a translucent stone even though it passes light really easily. It was white when purchased new,early to mid seventy's. Sg has done about all it can to return it to it's original color.
 
Red/orange washita's definitely exist. Here's the one I've kept. It's fully translucent and quite coarse.
 

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duke762

Rose to the occasion
Geez, I love butterscotch Ark's. It's most likely because that color stands out to me so well. And the fact that it occurs in the fantastic, Trans Ark family which I dearly love. I need one on looks alone.....
 
It maybe enlightening if someone had one to spare to cut a slice off and put it into either super iron out or wallers solution and bring it to a simmer. Preferably outside of course.
 
Does this one count? Looks like a nice little hoss to me.

7.5x 1 15/16x 1 1/16

I will take better pictures once it arrives, and I get it cleaned up a bit!

Sellers Photos:

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