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Post by cabby on Sept 16, 2024 14:01:20 GMT -5
Maybe someday I’ll make a thread on how to cut rocks. Cut a few different types. Thundereggs etc. I’ll be sure to be extremely crass and condescending and critical in my explanations 😂 Upvote! Upvooooote! |
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Post by cabby on Sept 16, 2024 17:36:21 GMT -5
Still being faaar too scared of messing up angles on weird rocks, so I decided to get some slices off of a rock that that my imaginary friend Slabby hypothetically owns. Was planning to do the wider end first but couldn’t get it seated at the angle I wanted. Would have wanted some slabettes as well to starting there today.   |
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Post by tribeunited on Sept 16, 2024 18:19:41 GMT -5
I like that slab old slabby had.
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rocknrob
has rocks in the head
If Costco only sold slabs in bulk...
Member since May 2024
Posts: 655
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Post by rocknrob on Sept 19, 2024 9:01:02 GMT -5
And here I was being all dumb and buying slabs from estate sales instead of the rough rocks. Of course that was before I got the drop saw and any slabbing would have been done using the 10" trim/slab saw, a tedious process at best since I would have been the "power feed" on that one. Thanks for taking us through this journey of yours cabby. It's something I've been thinking of doing myself when my clients aren't chaining me to my desk and my wife isn't stuffing my garage full of soon-to-be-moved-in furniture. Hell hath no fury like a woman who's dressers have a light mist of trim saw spray on them. - Rob |
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Post by cabby on Sept 19, 2024 9:44:00 GMT -5
And here I was being all dumb and buying slabs from estate sales instead of the rough rocks. Of course that was before I got the drop saw and any slabbing would have been done using the 10" trim/slab saw, a tedious process at best since I would have been the "power feed" on that one. Thanks for taking us through this journey of yours cabby. It's something I've been thinking of doing myself when my clients aren't chaining me to my desk and my wife isn't stuffing my garage full of soon-to-be-moved-in furniture. Hell hath no fury like a woman who's dressers have a light mist of trim saw spray on them. - Rob I originally planned to focus on making cabs and jewelry but there’s just soooo many rocks! And every time I try to do anything other than slabbing I discover more bits and bobs that are missing or need replacement. When I was first given this stuff I was under the impression that most people buy rough and cut it themselves, so I need to focus on a final product. Now aware that slabs are a viable product too! Got saws, got rocks… may as well! The downside is that there is now a total amateur chopping up nice quality old stock materials 😆 sure, I can buy affordable current stock to practice with, except that will never teach me how to handle THESE materials. Was doing my best to choose easier and less valuable rocks to start off with, but that’s surprisingly difficult when practically nothing I own is still widely available lol |
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rocknrob
has rocks in the head
If Costco only sold slabs in bulk...
Member since May 2024
Posts: 655
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Post by rocknrob on Sept 19, 2024 10:59:04 GMT -5
And here I was being all dumb and buying slabs from estate sales instead of the rough rocks. Of course that was before I got the drop saw and any slabbing would have been done using the 10" trim/slab saw, a tedious process at best since I would have been the "power feed" on that one. Thanks for taking us through this journey of yours cabby . It's something I've been thinking of doing myself when my clients aren't chaining me to my desk and my wife isn't stuffing my garage full of soon-to-be-moved-in furniture. Hell hath no fury like a woman who's dressers have a light mist of trim saw spray on them. - Rob I originally planned to focus on making cabs and jewelry but there’s just soooo many rocks! And every time I try to do anything other than slabbing I discover more bits and bobs that are missing or need replacement. When I was first given this stuff I was under the impression that most people buy rough and cut it themselves, so I need to focus on a final product. Now aware that slabs are a viable product too! Got saws, got rocks… may as well! The downside is that there is now a total amateur chopping up nice quality old stock materials 😆 sure, I can buy affordable current stock to practice with, except that will never teach me how to handle THESE materials. Was doing my best to choose easier and less valuable rocks to start off with, but that’s surprisingly difficult when practically nothing I own is still widely available lol My first introduction to cutting was attempting to slab a particularly hard specimen of jaspagate which was fantastically humbling so I switched over to sodalite which is WAY more forgiving. I don't have anything too "old stock" in rough form and the stuff I do have that would be considered old stock is thankfully already slabbed. You're a brave individual working on old stock, I've only been cutting for half a year now and that just gives me a lot of caution even thinking about it. I've had this rough chunk of crazy lace seam agate that is absolutely beautiful but is super fragile staring at me when I'm cabbing. My first couple of runs at it made some pretty slabs but they did not cab well as I think I introduced some fractures in it. So I'm working on getting a bit more confident in technique before I get to it. - Rob |
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Post by cabby on Sept 19, 2024 11:10:21 GMT -5
rocknrob thankfully fragile isn’t an issue with this stock so far! This guy WAS buying readily available materials and saving money with sales, but since he was ordering from ads in lapidary journal he was getting higher quality materials from reputable dealers. I pretty much ONLY have higher quality old stock material to practice with, which is both a blessing and a curse! It’s a lot easier to work with but buying more material in the future will feel like downgrading 😆
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rocknrob
has rocks in the head
If Costco only sold slabs in bulk...
Member since May 2024
Posts: 655
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Post by rocknrob on Sept 19, 2024 11:52:45 GMT -5
rocknrob thankfully fragile isn’t an issue with this stock so far! This guy WAS buying readily available materials and saving money with sales, but since he was ordering from ads in lapidary journal he was getting higher quality materials from reputable dealers. I pretty much ONLY have higher quality old stock material to practice with, which is both a blessing and a curse! It’s a lot easier to work with but buying more material in the future will feel like downgrading 😆 Hehe, that does put a bit more pressure on things than a $10 5 pound chunk of red jaspagate  |
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