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Post by whalecottagedesigns on Sept 21, 2024 22:25:33 GMT -5
After searching for a long while, managed to find some lovely material - love this rock sooooooooooo much!   |
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Post by rockjunquie on Sept 21, 2024 22:29:33 GMT -5
Soft and surreal looking. I love the glow of moonstones.
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Post by whalecottagedesigns on Sept 21, 2024 23:03:32 GMT -5
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Post by rockjunquie on Sept 21, 2024 23:21:00 GMT -5
Moonstones, like a few others, benefit from video. As a new cloudinary user, you can't use it for video. Most people just use youtube to host a video and then link to that. Not saying you have to do that, but, boy, I bet that thing is gorgeous when moved around.
Yours doesn't appear to have much, if any, of those pesky internal fractures. Because I can't get the rough, I buy native cut moonstones (Indian). I end up recutting some of them. Not the best quality fracture wise, but lots of good flash. |
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lapidary1234
spending too much on rocks
"If you like rocks you can't be all bad!!" ~ old timer quote
Member since October 2021
Posts: 338
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Post by lapidary1234 on Sept 22, 2024 0:08:17 GMT -5
Moonstones, like a few others, benefit from video. As a new cloudinary user, you can't use it for video. Most people just use youtube to host a video and then link to that. Not saying you have to do that, but, boy, I bet that thing is gorgeous when moved around.
Yours doesn't appear to have much, if any, of those pesky internal fractures. Because I can't get the rough, I buy native cut moonstones (Indian). I end up recutting some of them. Not the best quality fracture wise, but lots of good flash. Yeah I find it to just be "the nature of the beast" I guess. The Wisconsin moonstone is especially fracture prone. That along with the natural cleavage and orientation needed make me extra proud when I finish a nice piece! Regarding video, I've never uploaded anything on YouTube so that would be a learning process. I'm glad to have figured out the photo uploading but there were good instructions for that! I'll post some of (what I consider) nice Wisconsin moonstone  |
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Post by rockjunquie on Sept 22, 2024 0:16:00 GMT -5
Great color on that!! |
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Post by whalecottagedesigns on Sept 22, 2024 1:27:53 GMT -5
rockjunquie The rough I bough was also from India, but it took us a long time to find someone who sells large enough rough that is great quality! If you look at my latest post this morning on IG (whalecottagedesigns), and swipe, you can see the video there! :-) And I have also considered just buying cabs from that side of the world to recut, not that there is anything wrong with how they do it, because those folks really know their stuff, just for the chance to play with good materials... lapidary1234 That is great colour in the Wisconsin! As we are still learning, I am still trying to figure out the best final polish for the feldspars! Would like to nail down that ever-present undercutting, even though it is typically just slight - but it itches my slight ocd. Theo
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Post by tribeunited on Sept 22, 2024 9:15:24 GMT -5
Really pretty moonstone cab whalecottagedesigns - it's glowing softly just like the moon! I think that means you got the polish just right lapidary1234 - Wisconsin moonstone is a new one for me. Thanks for sharing it! I hope you post more of your cabs soon, I enjoy seeing them. |
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lapidary1234
spending too much on rocks
"If you like rocks you can't be all bad!!" ~ old timer quote
Member since October 2021
Posts: 338
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Post by lapidary1234 on Sept 22, 2024 14:38:06 GMT -5
whalecottagedesigns regarding polish compounds, I used tin oxide on hard felt for the longest time. It works great on most stones (including feldspar) but as with any type of compound needing to be made into a slurry, it can get stuck in the microcrevices. I somewhat recently found a product called "rapid polish #61" it is a submicron alumina oxide (.25 micron/75,000 grit). This stuff works amazingly well as a slurry on felt or leather but will still get stuck in any fractures/microcrevices. It is available from MN lapidary supply and is much cheaper than lindeA or raybriteA. You have to call them to order though, they don't have online ordering (at least didn't as of recently). I'm not sure if they ship overseas but I don't see why they wouldn't. If the rapid polish is something you really want to try and can't get it shipped shoot me a message and I can send you some! The other method of polishing feldspar (and alot of other stones) I've been using is an additional spindle holding the finer grit (8,000 14,000 50,000) wheels. This avoids the problem of slurry getting stuck in fractures and produces a great shine on most stones!
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Post by whalecottagedesigns on Sept 22, 2024 19:44:31 GMT -5
Really pretty moonstone cab whalecottagedesigns - it's glowing softly just like the moon! I think that means you got the polish just right lapidary1234 - Wisconsin moonstone is a new one for me. Thanks for sharing it! I hope you post more of your cabs soon, I enjoy seeing them. Thank you kindly! tribeunited |
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Post by whalecottagedesigns on Sept 22, 2024 20:04:11 GMT -5
whalecottagedesigns regarding polish compounds, I used tin oxide on hard felt for the longest time. It works great on most stones (including feldspar) but as with any type of compound needing to be made into a slurry, it can get stuck in the microcrevices. I somewhat recently found a product called "rapid polish #61" it is a submicron alumina oxide (.25 micron/75,000 grit). This stuff works amazingly well as a slurry on felt or leather but will still get stuck in any fractures/microcrevices. It is available from MN lapidary supply and is much cheaper than lindeA or raybriteA. You have to call them to order though, they don't have online ordering (at least didn't as of recently). I'm not sure if they ship overseas but I don't see why they wouldn't. If the rapid polish is something you really want to try and can't get it shipped shoot me a message and I can send you some! The other method of polishing feldspar (and alot of other stones) I've been using is an additional spindle holding the finer grit (8,000 14,000 50,000) wheels. This avoids the problem of slurry getting stuck in fractures and produces a great shine on most stones! Great talking to you on here! And thank you again for the forum suggestion! My current main polishing setup is to use Linde-A on leather. It works seriously well for all of the quartzes, including crypto and micro-crystalline versions like Jasper and Agates. And if I read the right literature (I do find that different people say different things sometimes in very authoratitive ways) that is .3 micron or roughly 100K grit, and did pick up a fair batch of it. But when that runs out I will keep in mind what you said about "rapid polish number 61". It is still dark, cannot find the hash :-) It is sort of interesting that one can jump straight from 3K straight to 100K and it works fine. Logically it should not really! You would imagine an intermediate step or two would be necessary. While I had some concerns about whether it may damage rocks, I am using an ultrasonic cleaner to get out any trapped polish, and boy, does that work a treat! Have used it on many kinds of rock now, and have not seen any problems yet. So, so far so good! That trapped polish really was a pain :-) I have a Cabking, so am not able to do the extra spindle thing - that is a massive advantage for the other machine, can't think of it's name now. But I will get the little screw-in Nova's at 8K, 14K and 50K for the right-hand side of the Cabking, see if that helps with the undercutting of softer rocks and multi-mineral rocks! Nice idea! |
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lapidary1234
spending too much on rocks
"If you like rocks you can't be all bad!!" ~ old timer quote
Member since October 2021
Posts: 338
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Post by lapidary1234 on Sept 22, 2024 23:51:26 GMT -5
whalecottagedesigns I agree the submicron ao polishes like lindeA work extremely well. Also thank you for your comments about the ultra sonic cleaner, I have thought about getting one but I work with alot of moonstone so was unsure how safe it would be in one. I'm glad to hear it working for you. I also suppose it's better to have something break before its sold to a customer but still, who enjoys breaking stones? What you say is true about being able to go from a 3,000 grit wheel to lindeA, if everything is prepped properly it will work. I have even heard of folks going from 600 silicon carbide straight to polish. Similarly, I'm amazed how fast some of my slabs start taking a polish using the nova endplates (no foam backing). Often times i start getting a gloss at 600! The biggest problem I've had with them is they're still just breaking in so I run into stray scratches at times but I can tell they're getting better and better every day.
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