Hobbies And Interests
Things You'll Need
Instructions
How to Crush Quartz
Break apart a large block of quartz by striking it with a hammer. For very large blocks, a chisel may be necessary to more precisely break apart the quartz. Continue this process until all of the pieces are fist-sized or smaller; this will make the quartz easier to work with and crush.
Crush the quartz by hand, using a mortar and pestel. Press down on the quartz with the pestle, forcing it against the mortar; this will gradually grind and crush it. You can also use a machine, such as a small jaw crusher. Slowly feed the fist-sized pieces of quartz inside the mouth of the small jaw crusher and rotate the wheel to crush the quartz.
Use an 18-mesh screen to sift out the finely crushed quartz from slightly larger crushed pieces. Lay the crushed quartz across the screen and, with gloves on, run your hand across the pieces. The finely crushed pieces will fall through the screen and onto the table or other receptacle.
Rework the larger pieces by hand or machine until they, too, are completely crushed. Sort out any gold pieces or other valuable mineral deposits from the rock. Continue crushing and refining the quartz until all of the pieces are between 10 to 40 millimeters in size.
Rinse the crushed quartz with water to remove any remaining sediment or contaminants. Let the quartz air dry, or dry it on low heat in the oven.