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Post by Tweetiepy on Jul 20, 2006 18:30:23 GMT -5
Here I tried my hand again at flat sided cabs - I suck! The first up... what looks like a brazilian agate piece - I left a small piece of "rough" at the bottom - it's not quite a crystal druzy, more like a skin I guess - with these I discovered that anything with a flat side needs more work  Up next, a piece of montana agate - this again is from the freebie pile at the shop - it's pretty thick, the shine is amazing but the flat edges need more practice.  A piece of Tony's jade - this stuff was pretty milky on the grinder - it oozed out a whitish creamy liquid when it was ground - it's pretty soft too and this particular piece didn't take a fantastic shine but the colors are beautiful - I'll probably retry to get it shiny on the diamond machine at the club (if I can make it back there someday!  )  Finally, This is from a piece of Banjo's graveyard plume (where is Banjo?) This was the most amazing piece I ever saw and when they slabbed it at the club, they cut it way too thick so the whole piece was cut in THICK slabs (which really bummed me out) even a two sided cab is super thick if I want decent thickness cabs, I'll have to waste & grind away a lot of material - so this is a piece that I cut from the thickness of the slab - it's about 3/4" wide  I don't think the pieces are lopsided - the angle may be off and the rock slipping on the window sill - but on the flat sided cabs, the rounded straightness may be what you see Thanks for looking |
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller 
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,494
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Post by Sabre52 on Jul 20, 2006 21:58:14 GMT -5
Tweetie: A bit of advice I received from an old timer here who cuts the most beautiful jade cabs I've seen. When working the jade, use the most worn belts or wheels you have. A fresh diamond wheel or belt will grab fibers right out of the jade and result on a rougher surface or onion-skinning effect on the cab and set you right back to the begining again. Worn silicon carbide belts are even better than diamond belts or wheels as they grab even less. This old timer works even included jades like flowering jade and gets a mirror polish so I guess he knows what he's doing. I still have yet to achieve his success but I use all diamond so that may be my ultimate problem, but someday I hope to polish jade as well as he does. Oh, and some of that milkiness may be due to high serpentine content. Many jades are a combination of serpentine which is much softer and the harder nephrite..mel
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Post by stoner on Jul 20, 2006 22:55:06 GMT -5
Nice job Tweetie. The jade is a difficult stone to get a good polish on and like Mel said, it works better with worn belts. Another trick I found is to try and not use too much pressure once you get to the 600 belt. That's too bad about the plume slabs all being rather thick, you get nicer looking cabs when that stuff is cut a little on the thin side.
All in all though, very nice looking cabs.
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181lizard
Cave Dweller
Still lurking :)
Member since December 2005
Posts: 2,171
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Post by 181lizard on Jul 21, 2006 0:49:14 GMT -5
Tweet,
Those are great even if you don't think so!
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mihir
off to a rocking start
Member since July 2006
Posts: 10
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Post by mihir on Jul 21, 2006 7:13:25 GMT -5
those cabs are great?
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Post by joe on Jul 21, 2006 8:47:59 GMT -5
Hey Tweetie, those are lookin' real nice. I have a lot of trouble with the flat sides also.
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,113
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Post by stefan on Jul 21, 2006 9:28:55 GMT -5
Tweet- You got it going- Don't worry about the flats- It will come with time- As for the Jade- I read somewhere about using the worn belts and make sure to drive heat into the polishing stage (you gotta get the cab hot when polishing) Too bad about the plume- I cut the stuff thicker also- then trim the slab width wise- Gives me a nice Flat surface to work with- and also allows me to pick the best Plume features (but does tend to waste more material)
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Post by rockyraccoon on Jul 22, 2006 0:55:36 GMT -5
if you had a slab grabber you could cut those slabs into 2 slabs if they are 3/4" thick.
nice cabs tweetie!
kim
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WyckedWyre
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since April 2007
Posts: 1,391
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Post by WyckedWyre on Jul 22, 2006 10:44:29 GMT -5
Nice colors, Tweet. I like them.  S |
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Post by gemkoi on Jul 22, 2006 12:46:47 GMT -5
Keep it up Tweet! I like the Montana the best, nice pattern and complenting shape. The Jade Tips are good, but i personally found that softern Jade from Tony worked up much easier than the harder blue, or recently a piece of Chrome i cut and sent him which he sent me a big slab of. I work all my cabs in sanding stages from 100-1200 silicon carbide. Than prepolishing using diamond paste upto 50k. But worn belts in most cases for finish sanding prepolishing work better on all stones.
And make sure when doing flat bezels(sides) to get them cut even by the 220 stage. And this is were a metal wheel works better too. AS when i refine my bezel that cab is vertical to wheel, not horizontal. But i dont use a bezel set which allot of folks do. But the majority of that bezel is cut during the original rough shaping on my 100 wheel. Then i refine it on the 220 so the top edge and the side edge come together evenly, with no chips. It it was sevral years of cabochon cutting before i really got the hang of doing it right. SO keep it up, we love seeing those cabs.
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Post by Cher on Jul 24, 2006 12:54:51 GMT -5
Nice job Tweet, I love the first one. LOL I had to think about the loony cabs for a minute, DUH!!
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) 
S
