Kyanite is highly distinctive due to its bladed, elongated crystal habit and blue coloration. It is famous for its anisotropic hardness, being much softer along the length of the blade than across it, which collectors can test carefully with a scratch test.
Is this kyanite blades?
5-step field checkRun through these checks against the specimen in your hand. The more boxes tick, the more confident the ID.
- 1Test the hardnessTry to scratch kyanite blades with a known reference. Kyanite Blades sits at Mohs 4.5-7 — softer than the next harder reference, harder than the previous one.
- 2Check the streakDrag the specimen across an unglazed porcelain plate. Kyanite Blades leaves a white streak.
- 3Read the lusterHold the specimen under a strong light. Kyanite Blades typically shows a vitreous luster.
- 4Match the color rangeCompare against the expected color range: blue, white, gray, green, black.
- 5Look at form & habitCrystal system: triclinic. Typical habit: bladed, fibrous, radiating.
Often confused with
Kyanite Blades vs. its common look-alikes — and how to tell them apart in the field.
Often found alongside kyanite blades
Minerals reported to co-occur with kyanite blades. Spotting these in float or country rock is a strong cue you are in the right ground.
All properties
- Chemical formula
- Al₂SiO₅
- Mohs hardness
- 4.5-7
- Density
- 3.53-3.65 g/cm³
- Streak
- White
- Luster
- Vitreous
- Transparency
- Translucent
- Crystal system
- Triclinic
- Crystal habit
- Bladed, Fibrous, Radiating
- Cleavage
- Perfect
- Rarity
- Common
- Uses
- Collector, Industrial, Lapidary
- Host rock
- Metamorphic Schists and Gneisses
- Typical price
- $5-50 for small blades, $50-200 for large cabinet specimens
Where rockhounds find kyanite blades
1 mapped spotsClassic worldwide localities
- Switzerland
- Brazil
- USA (North Carolina)
- India
- Nepal
Field-hunting tip
Look in metamorphic schists and gneisses country — that is the host setting where kyanite blades typically forms. If you start seeing garnet, staurolite, quartz in float, you are in the right ground. Field specimens usually show a bladed, fibrous, radiating habit, so train your eye for that shape before scanning the outcrop. In the U.S., the densest reported localities are in Pennsylvania — start trip planning there.
Common questions
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Find kyanite blades on the map
RockHoundR shows mapped rockhounding spots, access rules, and lets you log every find.
