I got around to working with the rhodochrosite again.
It seems that the non-diamond grits smooth more than scratch away.
Anyway, I tried different things with the four stones.
#1 stone - I took it through a 1200 grit polish. The scratches showed up again. So on rhodochrosite it isn't a matter of a grit inbetween 600 and 1200. It is that the 1200 cuts pretty deep into rhodochrosite.
#2 stone - From the tripoli polish I took it through a 14K grit polish. I started on the outside of the pad and that put in scratches. After moving near the center I was able to get rid of most of the scratches I put in and get near the tripoli polish.
#3 stone - From the tripoli polish I took it through a cerium oxide polish. This improved the tripoli polish a great deal. But the finish was just a wee bit hazy.
#4 stone I set aside to mull my options.
I'm starting to think that taking the stone down to a 14K grit polish and then over to the cerium oxide might be best. I say this because even if the diamond does put scratches in the stone, it prepares the surface to take a better polish.
What I'm wondering now is should I do a tripoli polish inbetween the 14K grit and the cerium oxide. That would definitely get rid of all scratches, but it might rough up the 14K grit's work. Perhaps I'll test that if the 14K grit to cerium oxide doesn't work.
========
AH HA!!
Scroll near the end of that and click through next in thread.
OK, so soft stone is issue #1 with regards to high gloss finish. The other is speed.
The two stones I ran through the cerium oxide were done on the outside of the wheel.
So... what now?
I've taken these stones to 14K twice and then up to a tripoli polish. One of the threads in the link above indicates that a 600 grit sanding is sufficient before a slow cerium oxide polish.
I think I'll next work all the stones through cerium oxide on the inside of the pad. The next three stones are larger rhodochrosite that I'll try taking down to 600 grit before moving to the polish.
I also poked around google images looking for some finished rhodochrosite being sold. I think I was expecting a better finish than the stone can give.
If these stones work out I think I'll have to hunt around to find out how to get rid of the final scratches in my moonstone. I suspect that a good run through with the cerium oxide might do the trick.
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Showing posts with label Lapidary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lapidary. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Rethinking tripoli
I can not find any diamond grit in a size between 600 and 1200.
However I have read that tripoli is comparable to 800-1200 diamond grit.
Some if not most of my problems are that the 1200 grit deals very slowly with the scratches from the 600 grit step.
I decided to take my rhodochrosite trough a tripoli polish. It appeared to remove the 600 grit scratches that I had been dealing with. It did dig deeper along mineral changes in the stone (white wavy bits) but not very bad. I'm interested in what the 1200 diamond grit will do with the stone now.
Something that I find maddening is that I'm now sure that if I was willing to drop the $1K - 2K for a proper cabbing setup I wouldn't be having this issue. I say this because I think that the expanding wheels on a full cabbing machine would take these scratches out in short order. Or to put it a different way - I'm not sure that I'm doing anything wrong, it is just that my equipment works the stone slowly.
It is a funny situation. Drop a couple grand and *know* I have equipment that can make better stones than I'm able but have no idea if I can make stones people will buy. Or, drop a couple hundred dollars that I'm willing to lose in order to test a possible income stream and constantly question if I can make a go of stones or if I'm just dealing with the limitations of my starting equipment.
However I have read that tripoli is comparable to 800-1200 diamond grit.
Some if not most of my problems are that the 1200 grit deals very slowly with the scratches from the 600 grit step.
I decided to take my rhodochrosite trough a tripoli polish. It appeared to remove the 600 grit scratches that I had been dealing with. It did dig deeper along mineral changes in the stone (white wavy bits) but not very bad. I'm interested in what the 1200 diamond grit will do with the stone now.
Something that I find maddening is that I'm now sure that if I was willing to drop the $1K - 2K for a proper cabbing setup I wouldn't be having this issue. I say this because I think that the expanding wheels on a full cabbing machine would take these scratches out in short order. Or to put it a different way - I'm not sure that I'm doing anything wrong, it is just that my equipment works the stone slowly.
It is a funny situation. Drop a couple grand and *know* I have equipment that can make better stones than I'm able but have no idea if I can make stones people will buy. Or, drop a couple hundred dollars that I'm willing to lose in order to test a possible income stream and constantly question if I can make a go of stones or if I'm just dealing with the limitations of my starting equipment.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Rhodochrosite
The moonstone is getting me down. I've decided that I'll try to sell the 16x8mm, 13x10mm, 16x9mm, and 14x12mm as is. Assuming there aren't major problems with the polish. I'll repolish the last four moonstones next week. I should be getting my scale in next week and I'll start putting them up on ebay.
In the meantime I'm going to change materials in an effort to get out of my funk.
Here is one of my parcels of rhodochrosite shown wet -
I'm going to flatten the bottoms and mark out the template. As rhodochrosite is soft (3.5 - 4 Moh's scale) I'll not get close to the line with the 100grit wheel. I'm not sure if I'll form the dome on the 220grit wheel or try to do a rough in on the 100grit.
==================
The 100grit wheel was very fast on this stone. I didn't attempt the dome on that wheel. Nothing bad happened but I'm not going to use the 100grit wheel on my other rhodocrosite parcel.
The 220grit wheel was very fast as well. I was on the edge of my seat while putting in the shallow 45 degree bottom edge.
The stone in the upper left had some gouges into the dome that I couldn't work around. I ended up cutting that stone very thin. You can see the bottom of a gouge in the picture. My daughter will enjoy that stone.
In the meantime I'm going to change materials in an effort to get out of my funk.
Here is one of my parcels of rhodochrosite shown wet -
I'm going to flatten the bottoms and mark out the template. As rhodochrosite is soft (3.5 - 4 Moh's scale) I'll not get close to the line with the 100grit wheel. I'm not sure if I'll form the dome on the 220grit wheel or try to do a rough in on the 100grit.
==================
The 100grit wheel was very fast on this stone. I didn't attempt the dome on that wheel. Nothing bad happened but I'm not going to use the 100grit wheel on my other rhodocrosite parcel.
The 220grit wheel was very fast as well. I was on the edge of my seat while putting in the shallow 45 degree bottom edge.
The stone in the upper left had some gouges into the dome that I couldn't work around. I ended up cutting that stone very thin. You can see the bottom of a gouge in the picture. My daughter will enjoy that stone.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Moonstone: 13x10mm and 15x9mm
I find it amazing what a strong light and close-ups of less than an inch will reveal .
I am now positive that I need a polishing step in between the 600 and 1200 grits. I'm also near positive that I'll not be working with moonstone again. The amount of labor involved in orienting and polishing is not made up in the return. Terapeak indicates that my rhodochrosite will give the same return and there is no need to orient it for cabs (unless there is some interesting pattern).
Something else I found interesting was that the 1200 grit did leave scratches that I could barely see without aid. The 14K grit left creases more than scratches. I worked these two stones until I saw no scratches/creases with my 10x loupe under a strong lamp. Yet, creases still show up in the photos.
13x10mm --
15x9mm --
This stone was very disappointing. With the loupe I noticed several fissures that touched the surface. I expected these to affect the price somewhat but continued on regardless. Then a chunk from the bezel broke away during polishing.
Ah well.
I'm going to try a few pics of the 13x10 from farther away to see if the creases show up. Both stones have a mirror polish and no scratches can be seen with the unaided eye on the 13x10. So I think it fair to try to get a pic that shows off the blue without showing the creases.
On the next couple of stones I will polish on the 14k until nothing shows up in the loupe and then polish some more in an effort to get rid of the creases.
========
These two were taken from about four inches away.
The bright direct light shows the effects of the creases. I suspect that I missed them in the loupe during polishing.
I really need to do something about my sinuses. My detail work (here and at my paying job) is suffering.
======================================
Seems my ego is at play.
Things generally come easy for me. When they don't I begin to think that I shouldn't bother because I may not be able to do it at all.
I spoke with my wife about this last night and she said maybe the moonstone is unforgiving. On one hand I wanted to agree with her (of course! it couldn't be my skills or abilities that were in question) on the other hand I know my pride gets the better of me quite often.
So I pondered it a bit more.
Last year I read many articles by lapidaries and it was clear that they had their preferences in materials. I chalked that up to them being able to turn out better work in certain materials than others. But what if their preferences were based off of what they had a miserable time working with? I think that is possible.
Also, this moonstone is very near transparent. That means that any flaw is displayed clearly. It is possible that I should just stay away from any material that is near transparent until I've become much more skilled.
I've been approaching this as if all materials are interchangeable. With the only difference being how much the end product sells for. Clearly that is false.
Perhaps I can, as I have, narrow down the materials that I intend to cut and try to sell. But I should also assess the amount of labor involved in the cutting.
Moonstone is near transparent, tends to have fissures that can not be ground away, and can have chunks fall away. Terapeak indicates that the better stones sell in the $8-30 with a 54% sell through.
Keeping in mind that I picked up the moonstone before I found Terapeak (and from that I've decided better starting materials would be rhodochrosite, jasper, pietersite, and boulder opal) I'd have to say moonstone is a bad option unless you are setting your own stones (or you have 3rd world labor and vast quantities of cheap rough moonstone at your disposal).
I am now positive that I need a polishing step in between the 600 and 1200 grits. I'm also near positive that I'll not be working with moonstone again. The amount of labor involved in orienting and polishing is not made up in the return. Terapeak indicates that my rhodochrosite will give the same return and there is no need to orient it for cabs (unless there is some interesting pattern).
Something else I found interesting was that the 1200 grit did leave scratches that I could barely see without aid. The 14K grit left creases more than scratches. I worked these two stones until I saw no scratches/creases with my 10x loupe under a strong lamp. Yet, creases still show up in the photos.
13x10mm --
15x9mm --
This stone was very disappointing. With the loupe I noticed several fissures that touched the surface. I expected these to affect the price somewhat but continued on regardless. Then a chunk from the bezel broke away during polishing.
Ah well.
I'm going to try a few pics of the 13x10 from farther away to see if the creases show up. Both stones have a mirror polish and no scratches can be seen with the unaided eye on the 13x10. So I think it fair to try to get a pic that shows off the blue without showing the creases.
On the next couple of stones I will polish on the 14k until nothing shows up in the loupe and then polish some more in an effort to get rid of the creases.
========
These two were taken from about four inches away.
The bright direct light shows the effects of the creases. I suspect that I missed them in the loupe during polishing.
I really need to do something about my sinuses. My detail work (here and at my paying job) is suffering.
======================================
Seems my ego is at play.
Things generally come easy for me. When they don't I begin to think that I shouldn't bother because I may not be able to do it at all.
I spoke with my wife about this last night and she said maybe the moonstone is unforgiving. On one hand I wanted to agree with her (of course! it couldn't be my skills or abilities that were in question) on the other hand I know my pride gets the better of me quite often.
So I pondered it a bit more.
Last year I read many articles by lapidaries and it was clear that they had their preferences in materials. I chalked that up to them being able to turn out better work in certain materials than others. But what if their preferences were based off of what they had a miserable time working with? I think that is possible.
Also, this moonstone is very near transparent. That means that any flaw is displayed clearly. It is possible that I should just stay away from any material that is near transparent until I've become much more skilled.
I've been approaching this as if all materials are interchangeable. With the only difference being how much the end product sells for. Clearly that is false.
Perhaps I can, as I have, narrow down the materials that I intend to cut and try to sell. But I should also assess the amount of labor involved in the cutting.
Moonstone is near transparent, tends to have fissures that can not be ground away, and can have chunks fall away. Terapeak indicates that the better stones sell in the $8-30 with a 54% sell through.
Keeping in mind that I picked up the moonstone before I found Terapeak (and from that I've decided better starting materials would be rhodochrosite, jasper, pietersite, and boulder opal) I'd have to say moonstone is a bad option unless you are setting your own stones (or you have 3rd world labor and vast quantities of cheap rough moonstone at your disposal).
Monday, January 28, 2008
The ongoing saga of the moonstones
A few updates.
I got the velvet and here's an example with my 40watt lamp in close-
I attempted a few pics with two lamps on the stone but multiple lights killed the blue flash. It was strange. I could see the blue but the camera didn't pick it up.
So I picked up a lamp and some 75watt bulbs.
Here's an example with the lamp in close --
And one in the photobox (sorry about the blurring) -
The photobox pic needs a much stronger lamp.
At this point I checked out terapeak and confirmed the main three price groups.
For the past 30days:
All of the above pics are of the same stone.
My current issue is that I need to repolish all of them.
As I said, when my head gets bad, detail work suffers. I noticed scratches on all of the stones in my pics. They really show up in bright light and magnification.
But such polishing is something I know I can do. So things aren't so bad... just moving much slower than I'd like.
=========
Ok, my head is feeling a bit better.
Going to do a few before pics and then repolish.
16x8mm can be seen above.
13x10mm --
15x9mm --
16x9mm --
14x12mm --
===============
First attempted to repolish on the 14K grit. Based on how slow it went I decided to try going back to the 600 grit.
The 600 grit gives a matte polish and the 1200 grit gives the beginning of the mirror polish. That matte polish hides scratches that the loupe doesn't show (or that I couldn't see). I'm thinking I should have only gone back to the 1200 grit. In working the stones tonight I'm starting to think I need a 800-900 grit step because the 600 to 1200 grit just moves too slow.
I got the velvet and here's an example with my 40watt lamp in close-
I attempted a few pics with two lamps on the stone but multiple lights killed the blue flash. It was strange. I could see the blue but the camera didn't pick it up.
So I picked up a lamp and some 75watt bulbs.
Here's an example with the lamp in close --
And one in the photobox (sorry about the blurring) -
The photobox pic needs a much stronger lamp.
At this point I checked out terapeak and confirmed the main three price groups.
For the past 30days:
- $0.01-1.99 -- generally no flash and near solid color
- $2-5.00 -- a great deal of silk and some flash
- $5-203.99 -- strong blue with the top prices going for clarity and size
All of the above pics are of the same stone.
My current issue is that I need to repolish all of them.
As I said, when my head gets bad, detail work suffers. I noticed scratches on all of the stones in my pics. They really show up in bright light and magnification.
But such polishing is something I know I can do. So things aren't so bad... just moving much slower than I'd like.
=========
Ok, my head is feeling a bit better.
Going to do a few before pics and then repolish.
16x8mm can be seen above.
13x10mm --
15x9mm --
16x9mm --
14x12mm --
===============
First attempted to repolish on the 14K grit. Based on how slow it went I decided to try going back to the 600 grit.
The 600 grit gives a matte polish and the 1200 grit gives the beginning of the mirror polish. That matte polish hides scratches that the loupe doesn't show (or that I couldn't see). I'm thinking I should have only gone back to the 1200 grit. In working the stones tonight I'm starting to think I need a 800-900 grit step because the 600 to 1200 grit just moves too slow.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Started on the good moonstone
As I mentioned in the update to the last forex post the weather has been hurting me. I've been trying to muddle through.
I won two auctions for some rhodochrosite that I'll be cutting soon.
In the meantime I cut the good moonstone I bought a while ago.
Because my head has been fogged for several weeks now I managed to forget to take pictures of each step.
Needless to say, moonstone is a bit of a pain. On first viewing it looked like I had a number of large stones in the parcel. However, to orient to the very nice blue flash, many stones had to be cut smaller. Around half were of a size that I went forward with. The rest would end up being very small. If the larger stones do well I'll cut and sell the small ones in a parcel.
I'll put up some pics of the finished moonstone in a bit.
===========================================
Well this is annoying. My lighting is much too weak. I couldn't get pics of the standout stones as the flash washed them out.
I managed a pic of them all here -
I'm feeling pretty lucky that I picked up as much blue flash as I did as I oriented for head on viewing.
Here is an example of the flash washout. It was much worse with the single stones.
I need a few strong lamps.
===========================================
Downloaded the manuals for my wife's camera and tried a few more things.
Still think I need to get the strong lamps. But the moonstone is tough on black (which shows the blue flash best). Any strong light makes the stones glow white and washes out the blue.
=\
I very much like how the polish came out. You can clearly see the inside of my photo box reflected in the stones. I polished down to 14K diamond grit.
===========================================
At my wife's suggestion I hunted around ebay for user groups and guides on photography focused on jewelry. I found a list of guides by a "camerajim" and tried a few of the things he pointed out.
I'm well pleased.
This was done outside of my photobox with only one lamp. I need to tinker a bit more but I think I may have a few ebay ready photos real soon.
Might also try the pic under water as that reduces glare as well.
===========================================
Yet another update -
Head is hurting near 2006 levels. Makes me leery of trying anything requiring attention.
Very concerning. Not at the point where I feel the need to go round to all the docs, but pretty close.
Think the temps recently going from 17 degrees to 80 in a few days time is what is causing the problem. It isn't much fun to have a built in barometer in one's head. No, not fun at all. Would rather be able to predict the weather with my knee.
Anyhow, in comparing my moonstone with what is out on terapeak it looks like they might go for far more than the $10-20 that I first thought. Considering my low feedback (30) it probably won't but it is still a possibility.
With that in mind, my wife suggested that the black foam I'm using could turn away the high ticket item buyers. She is going to pick up some matte black velvet and a tripod for me.
She is far kinder to me than I deserve.
That leaves my rhodochrosite. I may mark it out this week but my head's condition makes me a bit scared to cut it as it is such a soft rock.
Thing is I have no idea when the weather (pressure/temps) will settle out and come February, the juniper pollen will be in the air. So, right now, I may be better off than I will be in a month.
Just don't know.
=\
I won two auctions for some rhodochrosite that I'll be cutting soon.
In the meantime I cut the good moonstone I bought a while ago.
Because my head has been fogged for several weeks now I managed to forget to take pictures of each step.
Needless to say, moonstone is a bit of a pain. On first viewing it looked like I had a number of large stones in the parcel. However, to orient to the very nice blue flash, many stones had to be cut smaller. Around half were of a size that I went forward with. The rest would end up being very small. If the larger stones do well I'll cut and sell the small ones in a parcel.
I'll put up some pics of the finished moonstone in a bit.
===========================================
Well this is annoying. My lighting is much too weak. I couldn't get pics of the standout stones as the flash washed them out.
I managed a pic of them all here -
I'm feeling pretty lucky that I picked up as much blue flash as I did as I oriented for head on viewing.
Here is an example of the flash washout. It was much worse with the single stones.
I need a few strong lamps.
===========================================
Downloaded the manuals for my wife's camera and tried a few more things.
Still think I need to get the strong lamps. But the moonstone is tough on black (which shows the blue flash best). Any strong light makes the stones glow white and washes out the blue.
=\
I very much like how the polish came out. You can clearly see the inside of my photo box reflected in the stones. I polished down to 14K diamond grit.
===========================================
At my wife's suggestion I hunted around ebay for user groups and guides on photography focused on jewelry. I found a list of guides by a "camerajim" and tried a few of the things he pointed out.
I'm well pleased.
This was done outside of my photobox with only one lamp. I need to tinker a bit more but I think I may have a few ebay ready photos real soon.
Might also try the pic under water as that reduces glare as well.
===========================================
Yet another update -
Head is hurting near 2006 levels. Makes me leery of trying anything requiring attention.
Very concerning. Not at the point where I feel the need to go round to all the docs, but pretty close.
Think the temps recently going from 17 degrees to 80 in a few days time is what is causing the problem. It isn't much fun to have a built in barometer in one's head. No, not fun at all. Would rather be able to predict the weather with my knee.
Anyhow, in comparing my moonstone with what is out on terapeak it looks like they might go for far more than the $10-20 that I first thought. Considering my low feedback (30) it probably won't but it is still a possibility.
With that in mind, my wife suggested that the black foam I'm using could turn away the high ticket item buyers. She is going to pick up some matte black velvet and a tripod for me.
She is far kinder to me than I deserve.
That leaves my rhodochrosite. I may mark it out this week but my head's condition makes me a bit scared to cut it as it is such a soft rock.
Thing is I have no idea when the weather (pressure/temps) will settle out and come February, the juniper pollen will be in the air. So, right now, I may be better off than I will be in a month.
Just don't know.
=\
Saturday, December 29, 2007
More thoughts on starting materials
Thought about what I'd start with some more.
Ruby rough is kinda spendy and good jade rough is hard to find.
I thought again on the price range I should start with. I wanted to keep it low at first because my ebay feedback is low but good. When such is the case and I have no brick-and-mortar to back me I can not risk high price items on ebay. The item will sell much lower than it should because potential buyers will move on past because they don't trust me.
But I think I aimed too low. I picked $10-20 and I think I can safely look in the $10-40 range.
That opens the door for new materials.
So, using both ebay searches and terapeak research on what sells as a cab and what has decently priced rough, I've decided to look at pietersite, jasper (ocean and any with good "pictures"), rhodochrosite (shows up in ebay as rhodocrosite quite often), and boulder opal.
I've mentioned in the past that I was spooked by the amount of jasper and agate sold as fancy cabs. Well I'm not positive, but, I think I may have been wrong. The fancy cabs do well but so do the plain ovals and rounds if they have good pictures/patterns.
I'm also doing research into making silver chains as they go well in that price range.
Ruby rough is kinda spendy and good jade rough is hard to find.
I thought again on the price range I should start with. I wanted to keep it low at first because my ebay feedback is low but good. When such is the case and I have no brick-and-mortar to back me I can not risk high price items on ebay. The item will sell much lower than it should because potential buyers will move on past because they don't trust me.
But I think I aimed too low. I picked $10-20 and I think I can safely look in the $10-40 range.
That opens the door for new materials.
So, using both ebay searches and terapeak research on what sells as a cab and what has decently priced rough, I've decided to look at pietersite, jasper (ocean and any with good "pictures"), rhodochrosite (shows up in ebay as rhodocrosite quite often), and boulder opal.
I've mentioned in the past that I was spooked by the amount of jasper and agate sold as fancy cabs. Well I'm not positive, but, I think I may have been wrong. The fancy cabs do well but so do the plain ovals and rounds if they have good pictures/patterns.
I'm also doing research into making silver chains as they go well in that price range.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Learned a few things
Rounded bezel -
Trying to round it on the 220grit sanding step was not good enough. I'll try doing it on the 220grit grinding step in the same manner as rounding the peak of the dome in the 100grit grinding step.
Scratches -
In the cab books I saw mention of scratches and getting rid of the previous step's scratches before moving on. I had thought that I had not seen that until this batch. But that isn't the case. On a few of my found rocks I saw scratches show up at polishing that I thought came from me being sloppy and hitting the arbor nut.
After the scratches came up on the obsidian I decided that I'd use my loupe on the stone before moving on. I was surprised at how often they showed up. In most of the materials I was able to go back and work it out. But on a few (petrified wood mainly), further work made more scratches. In those cases I'd try to minimize the scratch and then work it out on the next grit.
1200 diamond grit -
It arrived just in time.
I found that it cut much slower than the tripoli but I had no undercutting. It also runs hotter. I needed to swap out the stones that I was working in order to keep them cool enough to stay on the dop.
On some rocks I was beginning to think that it didn't give as good of a polish as the tripoli, but I'm not sure. It shined the clear areas on the crazy lace agates to a high gloss. So in this case, I'm thinking it was the material that didn't give a high gloss with 1200grit. Based on that assumption I was tempted to break out the cerium oxide. However, I was worried that it would chew the material up like the tripoli.
I had bought 14K diamond grit along with the 1200, but forgot to buy the second uncharged disk.
=\
Regardless, I'm left thinking that not only should I get 50K grit in case I run across more stones with very soft parts but maybe a grit somewhere around 800-1000 because the 1200 is pretty slow.
Update:
I had another thought regarding the 1200 diamond grit.
I've been buying the cheapest paste (5gr for ~$5 (cheaper diamond paste has less diamond)) and it has worked well because I try to do all the primary work on the wheels. By that I mean I don't want it to cut fast. But I wonder if I higher density diamond paste would take care of the slowness I'm seeing.
Trying to round it on the 220grit sanding step was not good enough. I'll try doing it on the 220grit grinding step in the same manner as rounding the peak of the dome in the 100grit grinding step.
Scratches -
In the cab books I saw mention of scratches and getting rid of the previous step's scratches before moving on. I had thought that I had not seen that until this batch. But that isn't the case. On a few of my found rocks I saw scratches show up at polishing that I thought came from me being sloppy and hitting the arbor nut.
After the scratches came up on the obsidian I decided that I'd use my loupe on the stone before moving on. I was surprised at how often they showed up. In most of the materials I was able to go back and work it out. But on a few (petrified wood mainly), further work made more scratches. In those cases I'd try to minimize the scratch and then work it out on the next grit.
1200 diamond grit -
It arrived just in time.
I found that it cut much slower than the tripoli but I had no undercutting. It also runs hotter. I needed to swap out the stones that I was working in order to keep them cool enough to stay on the dop.
On some rocks I was beginning to think that it didn't give as good of a polish as the tripoli, but I'm not sure. It shined the clear areas on the crazy lace agates to a high gloss. So in this case, I'm thinking it was the material that didn't give a high gloss with 1200grit. Based on that assumption I was tempted to break out the cerium oxide. However, I was worried that it would chew the material up like the tripoli.
I had bought 14K diamond grit along with the 1200, but forgot to buy the second uncharged disk.
=\
Regardless, I'm left thinking that not only should I get 50K grit in case I run across more stones with very soft parts but maybe a grit somewhere around 800-1000 because the 1200 is pretty slow.
Update:
I had another thought regarding the 1200 diamond grit.
I've been buying the cheapest paste (5gr for ~$5 (cheaper diamond paste has less diamond)) and it has worked well because I try to do all the primary work on the wheels. By that I mean I don't want it to cut fast. But I wonder if I higher density diamond paste would take care of the slowness I'm seeing.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Opalized Petrified Wood from Arizona
Some chipping on the larger stone. I didn't resize and will just free-form it.
================================
Like the WY stone, 100grit wheel tore through it.
================================
220grit grind went smoothly
And the large one backlit... just because
================================
600grit sanding -
220 and 360grit sandings went smoothly.
================================
1200grit Polish --
================================
Like the WY stone, 100grit wheel tore through it.
================================
220grit grind went smoothly
And the large one backlit... just because
================================
600grit sanding -
220 and 360grit sandings went smoothly.
================================
1200grit Polish --
Opalized Petrified Wood from Wyoming
Some chipping but nothing large.
================================
100grit wheel was fast on this stone. Also left a number of scratches.
Cabbing very large stones is a pain. The large one here is 52x38mm.
================================
220grit grind went smoothly
And the large one backlit... just because
================================
600grit sanding -
220 and 360grit sandings had several scratches develop. I got rid of most of them but a few more showed up when I tried to get rid of all of them.
================================
1200grit Polish --
================================
100grit wheel was fast on this stone. Also left a number of scratches.
Cabbing very large stones is a pain. The large one here is 52x38mm.
================================
220grit grind went smoothly
And the large one backlit... just because
================================
600grit sanding -
220 and 360grit sandings had several scratches develop. I got rid of most of them but a few more showed up when I tried to get rid of all of them.
================================
1200grit Polish --
Rodeo Lace Agate
Had some additional chipping on some of the stones. The one with two bezel lines was a hard choice - use the bottom as top and have a less interesting pattern or keep the same top and take the stone inside of the template.
I chose the better pattern.
================================
I worked this stone right after the Crazy Lace. In comparison it felt as soft as compressed clay. The 100grit wheel was very fast on this material.
The round came apart in an unclean break. Can't use the glue to fix it.
================================
220grit grind -
================================
600grit sanding -
220 and 360grit sandings went smoothly.
================================
1200grit Polish --
I chose the better pattern.
================================
I worked this stone right after the Crazy Lace. In comparison it felt as soft as compressed clay. The 100grit wheel was very fast on this material.
The round came apart in an unclean break. Can't use the glue to fix it.
================================
220grit grind -
================================
600grit sanding -
220 and 360grit sandings went smoothly.
================================
1200grit Polish --
Mexican Crazy Lace Agate
More issues with this stone. The larger stone with the white spike had some of the edge fall away. I thought of resizing it but the pattern is just too nice. I took the sides in to get rid of the hole and to attempt to get it symmetrical.
================================
Worked these after the wonderstone and petrified wood.
Very strange material. Some of its components felt like they worked as hard as the corundum I've found. But it also had this very soft blood colored material throughout.
Unfortunately, my dragon's head was distorted by the curve of the cab. Also, one of the larger stones had a large cavity open up. But this isn't a cavity like I've dealt with on my found rocks. No, it is like a mini geode with little crystals in it. What I'm trying to figure out now is if I should leave it as is or try to fill it with crazy-glue or some kind of resin.
Ehh.
================================
220grit grind -
Backlit -
================================
600grit sanding -
220 and 360grit sandings went smoothly.
================================
1200grit Polish --
================================
Worked these after the wonderstone and petrified wood.
Very strange material. Some of its components felt like they worked as hard as the corundum I've found. But it also had this very soft blood colored material throughout.
Unfortunately, my dragon's head was distorted by the curve of the cab. Also, one of the larger stones had a large cavity open up. But this isn't a cavity like I've dealt with on my found rocks. No, it is like a mini geode with little crystals in it. What I'm trying to figure out now is if I should leave it as is or try to fill it with crazy-glue or some kind of resin.
Ehh.
================================
220grit grind -
Backlit -
================================
600grit sanding -
220 and 360grit sandings went smoothly.
================================
1200grit Polish --
Monday, December 17, 2007
Wonderstone Rhyolite
Again had some chipping on grinding down to template. Also have some fissures on the sides of a couple. Not sure if I can fix those.
==================================
These were about the same hardness as what I'm used to with my found rocks.
My "feather" rock came apart cleanly on a seam. Made a quick check on a site that I found on GeekPress. Nothing was said about gluing stone to stone, but it said super-glue was good for ceramic to ceramic.
I glued the two pieces together and continued on.
================================
220grit grind -
================================
600grit sanding -
220 and 360grit sandings had a few scratches develop but were removed in later sandings.
================================
1200grit Polish --
==================================
These were about the same hardness as what I'm used to with my found rocks.
My "feather" rock came apart cleanly on a seam. Made a quick check on a site that I found on GeekPress. Nothing was said about gluing stone to stone, but it said super-glue was good for ceramic to ceramic.
I glued the two pieces together and continued on.
================================
220grit grind -
================================
600grit sanding -
220 and 360grit sandings had a few scratches develop but were removed in later sandings.
================================
1200grit Polish --
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Zebra Jasper
I'll be happy when I'm done with this stinky stone.
100grit grind --
Well, the stench has gone from musk, mold, and rot to all of that plus rotten eggs.
A nice winged horse in the center of the larger stone though.
======================
220grit grind --
Only stinky when I smoothed the bottom. A very strange stone.
In the interest of saving time I'm not going to take pics of the 220 and 600 grit sandings.
======================
360grit sanding --
======================
These will have to wait until the 1200 diamond grit comes as the tripoli chewed into the one I tried. Not as bad as the speckled one I posted a while back but annoying nonetheless.
======================
1200grit Polish --
100grit grind --
Well, the stench has gone from musk, mold, and rot to all of that plus rotten eggs.
A nice winged horse in the center of the larger stone though.
======================
220grit grind --
Only stinky when I smoothed the bottom. A very strange stone.
In the interest of saving time I'm not going to take pics of the 220 and 600 grit sandings.
======================
360grit sanding --
======================
These will have to wait until the 1200 diamond grit comes as the tripoli chewed into the one I tried. Not as bad as the speckled one I posted a while back but annoying nonetheless.
======================
1200grit Polish --
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