BC Jade Keychain

This is a British Columbia Nephrite Jade Keychain that I recently made for sale.

To make the keychain I started by making a rough cabochon. From there I drilled a hole in the top of the cabochon. Then I further sanded and polished the stone. To finish I attached a clip and loop to make the keychain.

Nephrite Jade is one of two minerals that are considered Jade, Nephrite and Jadeite. Nephrite Jade is a metamorphic mineral often found at tectonic subduction zones where one plate is pulled under the other this usually occurs where an ocean plate meets a continental plate. The convergence creates extreme pressure and heat which transforms weaker minerals and can cause them to recrystallize as a stronger mineral like Nephrite. The west coast of the USA is a large subduction zone which is why you can find Nephrite Jade in California, Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia one of the worlds largest suppliers of Nephrite Jade.

Nephrite is considered the strongest naturally occurring mineral on earth. While Diamonds are the hardest mineral to scratch Nephrite is the strongest structurally do its interlocking crystal structure. You could hit a rough chunk of Jade with a hammer at full swing and odds are you would do little damage to the stone it is considered tougher than steel. At the same time Nephrite Jade is softer than many minerals only a 6 on the Mohs scale making it a workable material. For this reason Nephrite was often used by Native Americans for tools because of its durability and workability.

Authentic Jade has a distinct ringing sound when you tap it against metal. This is a good way to separate Nephrite from serpentine. Serpentine has a similar look to nephrite however it is softer and makes a dull sound when struck.

This variety of Nephrite Jade is Bright Green and extremely translucent.

The cabochon is between 25-30 carats in weight. The total keychain weight is 9 grams.

The length of the keychain is 3.5 inches