• One common use for garnet is as an abrasive. The mineral is crushed into tiny particles, glued up on a paper backing and turned into garnet paper, It is used for sanding.
• Another common use is for jewellery, but only if the garnet crystal is tansparent.

SPECIMEN ORIGIN: Markstay, Ontario, CANADA

This large, sandy, reddish-purple 12-sided garnet crystal weathered out of the mica schist it was in. The rain & the freeze/thaw cycle makes the schist break down because it is not hard. The garnet is very hard and so just rolls out of the schist into a pile of rock flakes & sand. The surface of the garnet gets dull because the water & chemicals of the sand corrodes its surface. This is called weathering. The crystal looks like a 12-sided die.

COGWHEEL GARNETS are 2 garnets that have grown into each other. The faces that touch have angular "cogwheels".