carloscinco
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2008
Posts: 1,639
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Post by carloscinco on Sept 7, 2009 14:43:33 GMT -5
These are some slabs I cut with my workforce saw today. They turned out OK in at least two dimensions. Gotta practice. Pet wood at the top, jasper and some agates I sliced this off a chunk of parrot wing I picked up at the Corpus Christi Gem and Mineral Club annual show last year. I cut a couple of slices off this rock but the striped part kept breaking off. Frustrating! Another shot of the agates Welp, it's back to work tomorrow. Have a good week
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Post by frane on Sept 7, 2009 16:43:58 GMT -5
Looks like you had a good day of cutting! I always hate it when you loose a pattern in a stone you really want but if it breaks at this point, it just won't hold up when you try to cab it. You have some great looking agates but boy, do they take a lot of time to cut through! It is raining here today so no cutting for me.... Fran
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Post by frane on Sept 9, 2009 18:57:08 GMT -5
You know, I didn't see the parrot wing that well the first time I looked. It sure looks like it will make beautiful cabs! Is that in the same family as chrysocola? Fran
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carloscinco
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2008
Posts: 1,639
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Post by carloscinco on Sept 10, 2009 20:03:22 GMT -5
The man I bought it from said it was Parrot Wing Chrysocola. It's pretty hard and he said it was well silicicated. I hope that's a real word. I cut it and now I have to decide how to shape it for tumbling and what type of material to tumble it with. It wasn't real expensive but I would hate to waste such a pretty specimen. I have about half a pound remaining.
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Post by tkrueger3 on Sept 10, 2009 23:25:58 GMT -5
Man, that's a bunch of cutting with a WF, especially those agates. Looks like you're doing a great job of rolling the rocks to increase the diameter of what you can slice with the WF. I wish I could do that, but every time I try it, I screw it all up. So back to nuttin but slabs for me.
That one agate with the pink and the stripes - that's really a neat rock. I hope you can manage to get a good solid slab off it - that would make a couple of outstanding cabs! Maybe cut it a bit thicker? Dunno.
Tom
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carloscinco
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2008
Posts: 1,639
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Post by carloscinco on Sept 11, 2009 15:29:37 GMT -5
The toughest part for me is cutting a rock that is the same thickness all around. I have to plane off one surface to try and get the two slab surfaces parallel. I grab the slab with one hand, pretend my hand is the deli meat holder and move it back and forth along the side of the spinning diamond saw blade like I'm slicing bologna. It's labor intensive but it beats using sandpaper.
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Post by stonesthatrock on Sept 11, 2009 21:58:13 GMT -5
you doing a great job cutting those on the WF. mine are all uneven, so i let ralph do all that. I thought parrot wing was expensive? atleast the slabs i seen were. That has some very pretty colors. i bet it will make a great cab.
mary ann
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carloscinco
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2008
Posts: 1,639
|
Post by carloscinco on Sept 11, 2009 22:28:05 GMT -5
It helps me to start with a new blade. I usually use the saw to rough shape rocks for tumbling so the edge of the blade wears unevenly from the right or left side. A blade with uneven wear will wind up drifting which blows my parallel cut out of the water. I do better with a new blade but still not as good as I'd like. This time around I'm going to cut out the forms before I try to true it up. Duh! This is the first parrot wing I've ever bought. I paid about $15 for just over half a pound. It has soft material on the back side that has a lot of iron in it.
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