SirRoxalot
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 790
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Post by SirRoxalot on Jan 6, 2015 12:36:24 GMT -5
I see people posting pics of cabs with obvious cracks in them, and it makes me wince.
Unless the rough is very expensive, rare, unique, or just always riddled with cracks, I nip them all out with carbide-tipped brick nippers or the trim saw.
What's your opinion?
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Post by socalagatehound on Jan 6, 2015 13:10:19 GMT -5
I have done some cabs with cracks, but they make me wince, too. Some materials are just always fractured, and some fractures are not noticeable in some stones. I would say I approach it on a stone-by-stone basis but try to not cut fractured material if possible.
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gemfeller
Cave Dweller
Member since June 2011
Posts: 3,831
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Post by gemfeller on Jan 6, 2015 14:05:10 GMT -5
Never, unless I simply don't notice them until after they're cut. The only exceptions, as already mentioned, are cabs of rare and collectible materials. I'm not a believer in trying to repair fractures with various methods. Maybe I'm missing something but I've never seen a repaired cab that didn't still show the original fracture, although less noticeably. But it's like life in general: opinions vary.
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Tommy
Administrator
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,717
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Post by Tommy on Jan 6, 2015 14:13:34 GMT -5
Even if it's a rare material I never get emotionally invested or start working on a cab with a visible fracture unless I'm absolutely convinced that it is a stable healed fracture and would be able to sell it as such.
Design is the key - you have to design around the cracks. If a crack is unavoidable in the sweet spot of the rock then I try my best to break it with my hands and if I can't break it I slam it on the workbench top to see if it's going to break. If it breaks then the remaining pieces are the shapes that that stone gave me to work with. If it passes those tests I will consider starting to grind on it but again, I have to know it's a healed fracture that I won't be embarrassed to show it or sell it.
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gemfeller
Cave Dweller
Member since June 2011
Posts: 3,831
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Post by gemfeller on Jan 6, 2015 14:17:08 GMT -5
Tommy, I agree on naturally-healed fractures. I've cut lots of cabs that have them but I put them into a different category than "obvious cracks," as stipulated in the first post above.
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Post by MrP on Jan 6, 2015 14:35:59 GMT -5
I would love to have all my cabs to be perfect but that is simply not possible.
If I am hand crafting a pendent earing set I try to use the best material I can. If I am putting all that work into it I would like it to be the best it can be but there are just some rocks that you can only get so much from such as cracks, fractures, dull shine, matrix free, pit free, etc.
I have tumbled polished many pendants that I have sold to some of my co-workers and donated the money to World Vision. Part of the reason I started cutting these because I didn't have a Genie at the time and to get smalls and other shapes to help with tumble polishing larger slabs. The first time I took the tumbled polished pendants in, for the co-workers to go through, I tried to make sure they were all very nice shapes. I didn't get all the odd ones out and ended up finding that many of the ladies wanted the odd ones.
Some people want perfect and others know it is a rock and like the imperfections that come with that..........MrP
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bcrockhound
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2014
Posts: 418
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Post by bcrockhound on Jan 6, 2015 15:07:12 GMT -5
As a consumer, not a cab maker, I often like ones with cracks or other imperfections, so long as they are not too fragile. More noticeable to me is a bad shine or scratch marks. Sometimes agates especially can look "too perfect" and not rocky enough to me. I bet a lot of the time I would not recognize that it is a cracked cab but think it's just how the natural rock looks, as a newbie and consumer.
Perhaps it is similar to how certain grammatical mistakes or sentence structures absolutely infuriate me and make me want to trash a whole document, but 99.99% of readers will not even notice it or care.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,688
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Post by Fossilman on Jan 6, 2015 16:32:11 GMT -5
Yes,I guess I would,if it was for my collection and not resale!
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Post by 150FromFundy on Jan 6, 2015 17:21:14 GMT -5
If the crack is cosmetic and not obviously structural, I would finish the cab. Many once perfect agates have been fractured by geologic forces.
If the fracture is structural, the cab will probably fall apart before you can finish it. Polishing in a vibe will also often bring any structural issues to light.
As a few have suggested, minor imperfections may make the finished piece appear real. I have polished some beautiful near-perfect, glass-like cabs only to have people not believe that they are real.
Darryl.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,472
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Post by Sabre52 on Jan 6, 2015 18:26:24 GMT -5
Not on purpose unless naturally healed by silica. Once and awhile one shows up without being invited though *L* especially in jasper like Morgan Hill or Stone Canyon....Mel
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Post by pauls on Jan 6, 2015 19:53:12 GMT -5
If I finish a stone with a crack or pit or that wont polish to a mirror finish its a reject, sometimes the crack gets sawn out and the stone will be tumbled but often it just gets flicked into the garden. Having said that i do have a couple of outstandingly beautifully patterned Agates that just had to have the crack left in or I would have lost the pattern, but they don't generally see the light of day. And I do have a couple of lovely dark bits of petrified wood with a nice white Agate healed crack in them, but fully healed is good.
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Post by pghram on Jan 6, 2015 21:43:02 GMT -5
I prefer no cracks, but if it's something special, or that can be hidden in the pattern, I will. But, I do them for me & not for sale.
Rich
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zarguy
fully equipped rock polisher
Cedar City, Utah - rockhound heaven!
Member since December 2005
Posts: 1,791
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Post by zarguy on Jan 6, 2015 23:27:46 GMT -5
I hate visible fractures. It seems that most of the great material I have such as Tiffany Stone, Morgan Hill PJ, Indian Blanket jasper, local jasp/agate & others needs some babying. I use superglue, Hxtal, & will soon be stabilizing with Cactus Juice in a vacuum chamber. Lynn
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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 7, 2015 1:55:19 GMT -5
Short answer: Nay!
Long answer: I noticed that, every time I tried to polish a cracked cab, (and I'm talking here only about fresh ones, not naturally healed ones which I like and consider them part of the pattern) the polish outlined the crack more and more compared to how visible it was in the beginning. So I avoid them completely. To find them, sink the slab in water and then let it dry. The cracks dry harder and become more visible at a certain moment.
Adrian
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Post by vegasjames on Jan 7, 2015 2:30:32 GMT -5
Cracks do not always go through and even if so can be filled with something like polymerized sodium silicate (my favorite). So why not. Cracks can give a stone more character.
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Post by vegasjames on Jan 7, 2015 3:44:11 GMT -5
Here is one I have not finished with. But will fill the open crack then will finish polishing. Again the other cracks I think give the stone more character.
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Post by vegasjames on Jan 7, 2015 3:48:07 GMT -5
Another one I did with cracks.
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Post by vegasjames on Jan 7, 2015 3:51:31 GMT -5
Here is a stone in my collection that I think would look great cabbed despite the cracks.
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Post by Peruano on Jan 8, 2015 13:57:37 GMT -5
Would you discard an old painting because a chip of paint was missing? A beautiful stone with an imperfection is far more attractive to me, than a perfect specimen of dubious material, composition, or execution. Send all those cracked Montana agates to me, and I'll try to save them from obscurity and the flower bed destiny. I understand that other folks' time is more valuable than mine, but hey I worked hard all my life so I can be inefficient, and play all I want now. Tom
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Post by stardiamond on Jan 8, 2015 19:05:05 GMT -5
Healed yes, partially healed or vugs, the scene needs to be very special. I don't fill. I pay the most attention to cracks when I am looking to buy a slab to get an idea how much is usable working around the cracks.
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