Garnet as gemstones. The gemstone varieties occur in shades of green, red, yellow, and orange. In the US it is known as the birthstone for January. It is the state mineral of Connecticut, New York's gemstone, and star garnet (garnet with rutile asterisms) is the state gemstone of Idaho. Garnet sand is a good abrasive, and a common replacement for silica sand in sand blasting. Alluvial garnet grains which are rounder are more suitable for such blasting treatments. Mixed with very high pressure water, garnet is used to cut steel and other materials in water jets. For water jet cutting, garnet
Gemstone File Originally distributed in 1975 by hand and mail in photocopy form, the Gemstone File has appeared in slightly revised form in Hustler magazine and on the Internet. Roberts, known only to Stephanie Caruana and conspiracy theorist Mae Brussell, purportedly began gathering information in the file when Howard Hughes stole his invention for processing synthetic rubies, hence the title "Gemstone". According to Gerald Carroll, Roberts was born in New York State on October 27, 1919 and died of lung cancer in San Francisco on July 16, 1976. "Factsheet Five" publisher Mike Gunderloy collected and distributed several versions of the Gemstone File.