Don
Cave Dweller
He wants you too, Malachi.
Member since December 2009
Posts: 2,616
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Post by Don on Jan 17, 2012 16:00:38 GMT -5
Here's a couple windowed pieces that I cabbed up. Boy, windowed material is sure easy to work with. It's not always ideal from a carving stand point, but for an easy cab, it's great. these are Mexican fire agates that I got from Christoper, or ebay somewhere...I have so many it's hard to keep track... These are small ring stones.
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NDK
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 9,440
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Post by NDK on Jan 18, 2012 19:54:48 GMT -5
Dang, those are awesome Don!
Nate
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Post by FrogAndBearCreations on Jan 18, 2012 20:02:33 GMT -5
Wow, love them!
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Post by beefjello on Jan 18, 2012 20:10:10 GMT -5
Those will make nice rings!
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unclestu
Cave Dweller
WINNER OF THE FIRST RTH KILLER CAB CONTEST UNCLESTU'S AGUA NUEVA AGATE
Member since April 2011
Posts: 2,298
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Post by unclestu on Jan 18, 2012 21:42:05 GMT -5
Hey Don, I have some of Christophers fire agates and I am waiting on my flex tool to arrive. Did you make those cabs with a flex tool or did you grinsd them on a diamond wheel cab machine? Stu
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adrian65
Cave Dweller
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,777
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Post by adrian65 on Jan 18, 2012 23:49:03 GMT -5
There's a whole rainbow in the first one, what a beauty!
Adrian
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Don
Cave Dweller
He wants you too, Malachi.
Member since December 2009
Posts: 2,616
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Post by Don on Jan 19, 2012 1:15:32 GMT -5
Hey Don, I have some of Christophers fire agates and I am waiting on my flex tool to arrive. Did you make those cabs with a flex tool or did you grinsd them on a diamond wheel cab machine? Stu stu, these where small complete nodules that could be cabbed up on regular grinding wheels. i still finished polishing them on the foredom for diamond paste to 50k. some windowed material is nice shaped for cabbing. having both tools at your disposal will allow you to work any piece of fire agate regardless of the shape and formation of the color layers
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Post by christopherl1234 on Jan 19, 2012 3:18:17 GMT -5
You did an excellent job on those Don!!
Good quality windowed material is the best bet for a novice and the experienced cutter, in terms of yield for your time and investment. The hardest part is already done. The fire has been found for you. Of course one must still be careful, but there is less risk.
Those are some beautiful stones!!
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Post by texaswoodie on Jan 19, 2012 7:48:19 GMT -5
Man, those are super!
Curt
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Post by frane on Jan 19, 2012 10:57:17 GMT -5
Beautiful Work! Fran
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unclestu
Cave Dweller
WINNER OF THE FIRST RTH KILLER CAB CONTEST UNCLESTU'S AGUA NUEVA AGATE
Member since April 2011
Posts: 2,298
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Post by unclestu on Jan 19, 2012 16:25:04 GMT -5
Thanks for the info Don. Those are some really nice FA cabs. You gat me inspired to say the least. Can't wait to get some time and my Flex. I was wondering if there is any sort of tutorial for working with these windowed Fire Agates. I literally have not a clue as to where to start. I am afraid of grinding to muchh and is there some sort of rule as to where to start grinding? Is there so e sort of direction that you must go in in order to catch as much fire as possoble? I know that the best teacher is trial and error however it would be such a shame to ruin some of those beautiful agates that I got from Chris. Stu
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Don
Cave Dweller
He wants you too, Malachi.
Member since December 2009
Posts: 2,616
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Post by Don on Jan 19, 2012 18:45:26 GMT -5
Thanks for the info Don. Those are some really nice FA cabs. You gat me inspired to say the least. Can't wait to get some time and my Flex. I was wondering if there is any sort of tutorial for working with these windowed Fire Agates. I literally have not a clue as to where to start. I am afraid of grinding to muchh and is there some sort of rule as to where to start grinding? Is there so e sort of direction that you must go in in order to catch as much fire as possoble? I know that the best teacher is trial and error however it would be such a shame to ruin some of those beautiful agates that I got from Chris. Stu Stu, most windowed fire agate has been worked down to a specific point where the worker decided the color was best and then polished the window. If I'm satisfied with that work, I'll leave it be and just focus on shaping the piece, removing un-necessary material that does not have fire, grinding down the back of the piece and shaping it into a cab friendly free-form. while I'm grinding and shaping, I do not touch the fire at all with a wheel. I'll clean up my grinding by going over it with finer grits until about 320-400 grit. at this point, I'll lightly go over the entire cab with the 320 or 400 grit belt on expando drum to bring everything to that level of grit. You may lose some fire doing this, that's why I say use a very light touch on the fire, only taking away enough to make sure there are no coarse scratches. If the fire window has a polish on it higher than 400 grit, I won't touch the color until I've brought the rest of the cab up to that level of polish, unless there are scratches in the window. From there I'll proceed to 600, 1200 and then take it over to the foredom for diamond paste polishing 3000 grit through 50k and then polish.
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TByrd
fully equipped rock polisher
Have you performed your random act of kindness?
Member since December 2010
Posts: 1,350
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Post by TByrd on Jan 20, 2012 2:26:45 GMT -5
That is awesome. I love those.
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JUDY
spending too much on rocks
Member since September 2011
Posts: 431
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Post by JUDY on Jan 20, 2012 9:39:08 GMT -5
beautiful Don! I havent started with the ones I got from Christopher yet
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Post by talkingstones on Jan 20, 2012 21:35:50 GMT -5
Why do I find these fire agates so attractive? I'm a picture stone person........!!!!!!!! Beautiful!
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