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Post by stardiamond on May 7, 2024 14:05:25 GMT -5
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Post by stardiamond on May 3, 2024 16:16:53 GMT -5
I leave water in my trays. I top of my higher grit tray and refresh the lower grit tray when I use it for lower grits. A little standing water attracts mosquitos and they can be pests.
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Post by stardiamond on May 3, 2024 15:33:37 GMT -5
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Post by stardiamond on May 1, 2024 18:10:56 GMT -5
Super seven polished specimen.
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Post by stardiamond on Apr 27, 2024 13:45:03 GMT -5
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Post by stardiamond on Apr 24, 2024 17:37:54 GMT -5
When I get a new slab, I layout and trim preforms. Some I grind and some I put away for later. I have hundreds waiting to grind. I used to do that, but I found I was wasting blade life on ones I knew I would never cab. Even at that, I have a lot of preforms, too. Every Spring, I go through and weed them out. I agree. I make a lot more cabs than I sell. I lay out only cabs made from great material like Guadalupe, OJ or Blue Mountain with a great pattern. When I sell a cab from the slab, I will grind the replacement. When the pattern is not interesting it becomes a scrap.
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Post by stardiamond on Apr 23, 2024 19:41:58 GMT -5
When I get a new slab, I layout and trim preforms. Some I grind and some I put away for later. I have hundreds waiting to grind.
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Post by stardiamond on Apr 22, 2024 14:46:34 GMT -5
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Post by stardiamond on Apr 21, 2024 15:50:02 GMT -5
I like to work on the cabs where I don't know how they will turn out first. The Blue Mountain has a surface vug and after grinding the face is not as nice as the back, so I will put it aside. The Super Seven has a high dome and I think it will look better lowered. Low 80's today and tomorrow. Cooling off and rain on Friday. I'll finish some of these tomorrow and that will be it for the week.
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Post by stardiamond on Apr 21, 2024 14:25:54 GMT -5
I dopped 7. The missing one is a super seven already on the dop. New Mexican material, Prudent Man, Morgan Hill Poppy. The last one is from a Blue Mountain heel slab. The bottom is good, but I won't know about the top until after it is ground.
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Post by stardiamond on Apr 21, 2024 11:51:27 GMT -5
Super seven is material with seven minerals and is from Brazil. This cab has some amethyst and cacoxenite.
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Post by stardiamond on Apr 20, 2024 15:19:14 GMT -5
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Post by stardiamond on Mar 28, 2024 15:26:25 GMT -5
One of the nice things about the Genie is the spin on right arbor so a lot of wheel grits can be available with minimal effort. Highland Park has soft wheels in many grits including 14,000 and 50,000. The eight inch are $100 and there will likely be a BF deal at 10% off. They don't charge tax and the shipping is free. I have 8,000,14,000 and 50,000 mounted and 100k diamond paste on a canvas pad. I also have zam on another.
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Post by stardiamond on Mar 23, 2024 15:36:17 GMT -5
I sell enough to fund the hobby. Sales is a validation of a person's work. I decided to set up a Facebook page to sell cabs. I've tried using cab sales pages but it is annoying. The problem with a page is getting people to look at it. One way is the Facebook search. I put seven cab posts on my page and when searching for a particular material my posts are shown. I didn't even bother pricing the cabs. It will take a while to be discovered.
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Post by stardiamond on Mar 21, 2024 14:19:45 GMT -5
I've done enough grinding this week to take today off. Crap weather coming up. I took a picture of the gold sheen obsidian cab that shows the flash.
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Post by stardiamond on Mar 20, 2024 16:54:47 GMT -5
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Post by stardiamond on Mar 19, 2024 21:19:36 GMT -5
I haven't had great results from my purchases from him. He has a lot of followers so can price high. There were/are some sellers on eBay that beautiful material and get high prices on their auctions. I missed out on some good material years ago when I was a hobbyist because expense needs to be controlled.
When I find something of high quality I clean out the seller. I have a little absolutely stunning OJ. I like to shop.
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Post by stardiamond on Mar 19, 2024 18:37:22 GMT -5
This is the Road Cut This one was from Martin Kramer. Some people thought it was Beers Mountain, but Martin knows his rock. I identify Biggs as having a swirly pattern and these are atypical.
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Post by stardiamond on Mar 19, 2024 18:06:14 GMT -5
It isn't age or appreciation. It is supply and demand. Those who have an abundant supply can have a lower price. The best of a material will sell at a premium. When I make a cab I want to use the best material I can afford. I don't collect, so a slab to me is cabbing material. There is a completely different market for collector slabs. I view a slab as a collection of preforms. A slab might be worth $500 to a slab collector and much less to me.
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Post by stardiamond on Mar 19, 2024 17:52:04 GMT -5
The longer I've looked for Biggs the more variations I've seen. There is some appearance overlap between Biggs and Deschutes. There is also Opalized Biggs and Biggs opal. One of the most recent purchases was called Road Cut Biggs. It was brown not the BB associated with road cut.
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