Does Anyone Know Anything about a "Gem Soak"?

[sleepy]

I've been exploring "my world" so to speak and I encountered a refining Packing Slip form which asks the question, "Does your refining include a "gem soak"?"

So I am pondering this matter relevant to any rocks and stones that I may happen to find in the local area. One Google mentions cleaning them in a gentle soap and then brushing the rocks behind them...hmmm...

I believe the trick is to be able to identify a gem from it's normal ordinary rock-encrusted appearance, but I will be looking at this.

A looong time ago, Brother Al told me an odd thing to do.
To crack Marbles, you boil them in hot water, then pick them out of the water with a spoon and drop them into a bucket of ice water. But What for?
Cracked marbles aren't very stable or useful, though they do look pretty sometimes.

But as for gentle soaps, would that be enough to break off the encrustations which hide the gems? Or would it take a dangerous Acid method to dissolve the rock and then not even find any gems at all?

Hot Dang!

There was a Travel Channel program a couple of years ago about gem hunting in Cali and they showed these low-slung triangular stones which, once you knock off the encrustation of rock around it, returns a fine California gem.
I've actually seen these (rarely) but sure enough, once I knew it, they were gone. Haven't seen a single one of these since watching the program!

[faralos]

my mom used to crack marbles by rolling them around in a hot cast iron frying pan
it takes about fifteen minutes
and you must keep them moving lest they shatter due to built up heat

[Ike Savage]

how about a gem tumbler? results always look nice to me, anyway...