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Post by Rockoonz on Oct 22, 2023 13:34:07 GMT -5
It held well, so far. Been doing this for a long time, originally learned from sphereguy possibly, and it also works well with any sliding jaw vice. They tend to bind up in the slide, you think the rock is clamped tight, but a little pressure and vibration pops it loose and  The jaw jacks from the 1/2-13 bolts and coupler nuts help too. The vice was also drilled and threaded to hold the jaws parallel, but they take to long to set up in my experience. |
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Post by Rockoonz on Oct 22, 2023 13:35:24 GMT -5
Oh, and that Biggs is turning out pretty nice too...
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Post by Peruano on Oct 23, 2023 6:17:42 GMT -5
I do my hammering on hardwood wedges. The wedges are only inserted when the rock is "tight" and then hammered (tapped) in and if possible tightened a bit more. My old custom saw has a vice tightened with a 3/4" open end wrench which gives me some leverage; and I seem to recall that Tommy joins me in using a box wrench to extend the squeeze of the Highland Park vice on the tough ones. Your tapping is a good option too.
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Post by Rockoonz on Oct 23, 2023 12:41:44 GMT -5
I do my hammering on hardwood wedges. The wedges are only inserted when the rock is "tight" and then hammered (tapped) in and if possible tightened a bit more. My old custom saw has a vice tightened with a 3/4" open end wrench which gives me some leverage; and I seem to recall that Tommy joins me in using a box wrench to extend the squeeze of the Highland Park vice on the tough ones. Your tapping is a good option too. I have a piece of 1/2" water pipe that I sometimes tighten with, but again if the jaws bind up in the slide I can totally torque on it and the rock isn't fully clamped at all. The FranTom 18 I used for the video and the HP 18 it replaced were both notorious for that. The 14" FranTom I got from your friend is absolutely amazing, very rarely do I need to do more than snugly hand tighten, with the jaw jack of course. Matt the FranTom museum curator says it's their final vice jaw upgrade before they sold out to HP. When I have a rock like that Biggs to cut, I tend to toss everything possible at it to ensure that it doesn't move. I also intend to glue to a 2x4 end to finish it, but I have to have something to glue to first. A lot of the time with a real difficult one I take 1 cut that gets it flat, degrease the halves, and do a glue up for a safer cut. A lot of the time that allows the pieces to be oriented on the 2x4 so the blade starts the cut at close to 90 degrees. Those cuts that have to start with the blade at a shallow angle to the rock are nailbiters, you can really dish a blade in a hurry that way. 2 rocks down in the que for that saw is a really nice rainbow wood mostly round with some evident fracturing. I will have to glue it up with the generic starbond I have and then put a large hose clamp around it on both sides of where I'm cutting it to hopefully end up with a display specimen or 2. Going through the old timers estates I've seen a lot of ways they cut difficult rocks and kept the saw blades safe. When the 20" Spartan is operational in a week or 4 I'll have to put something up about that vice, I think the design on that one has some real advantages. |
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Post by Peruano on Oct 23, 2023 17:12:45 GMT -5
Clearly we share the same techniques and tricks. Yes the hp vice can bind a bit short of a firm clamp and all the tightening in the world can let the rock jiggle. This probably in part to rock crumbs in the vice grooves or gremlins. That's where you tapping is applicable.
The issue of a blade first contacting a shallow angle is best addressed by making sure the saw is started with the stone close but not in contact with it. Thus it is spinning straight and cuts the correct groove and is not wedging the blade laterally.
Slabbing is an art and probably as important to the economics of lapidary as the final steps. Cheers.
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Post by Starguy on Oct 24, 2023 11:34:44 GMT -5
It’s good advice for Covington saws too. I always tap.
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