Where can one buy turquoise?

[Larry VanWinkle]

I am looking for a source for turquoise - both crushed and chunked. I found a few "dealers" on the internet - but who to trust and what is a good price? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Larry

[Bill Embrey]

Larry, Rio Grande Jewelry Supply is an outstanding dealer... but they're a little hard to hook up with. If you go to thier website, it will give you the 800 number to call them and set up a login account. I'm not sure of thier reasoning for setting up accounts that way, but once you get your account set up, you'll love thier selections, service and prices. My dad has been making silver and turquoise jewelry for 20 years and they are about the only company he deals with now.

[Jason Clark2]

Arizona Silhouette carries crushed turquoise in 5 different grades: stone, course, medium, fine, extra fine.


Jason

[Frank Kobilsek]

Larry
I'll second Jason's nomination of Arizona Silhoutte. Good product at about $15 per once.

Best place is estate sales. I pick-up a beer flat of costume jewelery for $10 which had several tourquise pieces. Crushed it myself in a coffee can using a cold chisel upside down. Don't tell the old ladies at the sale you are about to destroy the jewelry, they take offense.

Frank

[Jude Kingery]

Larry, I'm with Bill on this one, Rio Grande is a great company and yep, it's a ltitle bit of a to do to call them, get your account, but their prices are great, the catelogues are comprehensive. My brother does a lot of jewelry making and he also says they're the best he's ever worked with. Best to you, Jude

[Bill Wyko]

I actually use a product called Inlace. I tried turquoise and it tears up tools bad. www.Inlaceonline.com It their website.

[Harvey Mushman]

Rio Grande is great. I've used them for years. But, not for turquoise that I was going to crush. AZ Silhouette is also great to deal with. You can do yourself a favor and save some $$$$ if you buy rough turquoise and crush it yourself. The turquoise that you need need not be high grade like Morenci, Sleeping Beauty, or Turquoise Mountain. You can get away with low grade and not spend a lot of $$$$. Go to Ebay. There is a guy there that sells a lot of Navajo jewellry and turquoise cabs. He also sells rough high grade TQ by the pound and half pound ready for cabbing. It is not cheap this way. He also has tons of mine run and chalk available. If you want, drop me a not and I can give you his name and phone #.

[Harvey Mushman]

I actually use a product called Inlace. I tried turquoise and it tears up tools bad. www.Inlaceonline.com It their website.

Bill, Inlace is a pretty cool product. But, I have found that folks that collect and buy high-end work wouldn't spend $1000+ for anything but real turquoise. I inlay crushed TQ after my initial rough sanding. Seldom will I have to use my tooling after this point unless I "booger" something up and decide to shave it back with a scraper. Also, I use silicon-carbide abrasives to level and polish.

Yes, Inlace is easier to work, but there is just something about the real deal.

Have a good one!

[Ron Williams1]

Frank, if you want another source, use "Woodturners Catalog.com". Real turquoise chips are $8 a half-pint, while Inlace turquoise is $32 a half-pint with shipping. I went to a garage sale and picked up about 5 pounds of pea-sized turquoise for $10. Went to Goodwill and paid $6 for a blender. Dumped a handful of rock in there and cranked it up. You mix equal amounts of Devcon epoxy and "blended" turquoise and spread it into wood and it works great. One guy wrote that he went to a large jewelry store in Santa Fe and asked if they had scraps. The people sold him 10 pounds of scraps for $20. He "blended" it and mixed in Devcon.

[John King]

Check out Natural Expressions, Inc. 13802 E Williams Field Rd, Gilbert, AZ 85295. Phone = 480-963-6552. They supply most of the vendors mentioned above; therefore, usually beat their price. Craft Supplies USA crushed turquois = $10.75 per oz (the real stuff). Natural Expressions crushed turquois = $20.00 per 4 oz pkg. I'll do the math for you. That's $5.00 per oz (the real stuff). Natural Expressions synthetic turquois = $10.00 per 4 oz pkg.

[Bill Bukovec]

Try Colbaugh Processing.

info.colbaugh@citlink.net

They emailed the information below (a few months ago)

Attached is a scan of the three types of floor chips we sell. We have 3 pound minimum per purchase.

Top is @$15/lb. fine screen to ¼”

Middle is @$15/lb. ¼” to ¾”

Bottom is @$30/lb. ¼” to ¾”

[willis martin]

I've picked up tq at gun and knife shows in stone form then a take an electric coffee grinder and grind it up They are really not expensive and you can grind until you get the right consistancy.Saves money Willis

[Tony Wheeler]

I get mine here most of the time you call and leave a message and they will return you call http://zunibyharris.com/turquoise.htm