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Post by bobby1 on Mar 8, 2008 1:10:41 GMT -5
For those of you who encounter WWR with dark plumes, here is a way to make them show better. Here are photos of a typical slab (actually a preform) that is about 3/16" thick. Even with back lighting the plumes don't show well.   Side view.  I cut the piece down the center parallel to the two faces.  Now the plumes show much better, but they are a bit thin to cab.    These next photos show a different approach to using the material. These are from a different piece than the ones above. By grinding and lapping the rough very thin and making a triplet you get a totally different result. I used a light translucent piece of agate for the back and a piece of synthetic quartz for the front. Here are some photos of the "sandwich" glued together and ready to cab. The front.  The back.  The side.  The finished cab. It is about 1 1/2" tall.  Here is another finished cab.  I hope this encourages some more experimenting with this material. Thanks for looking. Bob |
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Post by fishenman on Mar 8, 2008 12:03:38 GMT -5
Wow so nice. I remember that cab from your first post about the triplet. Thanks so much for the tutorial. What type of epoxy do you use? Where do you find synthetic quartz?
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Post by bobby1 on Mar 8, 2008 14:00:34 GMT -5
I use Epoxy 330. I used to get the synthetic quartz from the local rock shop - Gems Galore, but it is out of business now. The former owner still sells the stuff. If you are interested I can pm you the contact info.
Bob
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Post by Cher on Mar 8, 2008 14:32:19 GMT -5
That's really neat Bobby, sure made the plumes show up nicely.
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181lizard
Cave Dweller 
Still lurking :)
Member since December 2005
Posts: 2,171
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Post by 181lizard on Mar 8, 2008 17:18:46 GMT -5
I use to poo-poo doublets & triplets back in the old days but now that I understand the reasons for doing them, I actually think if you see a cab done in this method, you have to stop & think about the craftsmanship that went into it. There's even more labor hours that went into his above stone than a normal cab. Nice tute!
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Post by Titania on Mar 10, 2008 7:39:31 GMT -5
Thanks for that tutorial!!! Those really do show off the plumes to maximum effect!
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adrian65
Cave Dweller
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,790
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Post by adrian65 on Mar 10, 2008 15:35:19 GMT -5
I always had the impression that doublets and triplets are cheaper and a sort of fake. But now I realize they require a lot of work and should be treasured at least as much as a normal cab. Thank you for the tutorial.
Adrian
PS. Amazing precision, to cut such a thin slab in two equal slabs, each having constant thickness. Hawk-eye and shure-hand!
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Post by stonesthatrock on Mar 10, 2008 22:29:59 GMT -5
that looks beautiful, what a difference.
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SirRoxalot
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 790
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Post by SirRoxalot on Mar 13, 2008 19:17:15 GMT -5
Did you flat lap the three slabs before gluing? Any bubble trouble?
Triplets are something I've been thinking about this week. I'd like to slice a dark colored gem very thin, then mount it on a slice of optical quartz and lap it down super thin, like 1mm, to expose the color. Don't have a flat lap but grit on glass should do it.
Superb work you've done there.
SirRoxalot
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Post by Tonyterner on Mar 18, 2008 15:07:28 GMT -5
Makes me want to run out an buy a flat lap.
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Post by bobby1 on Mar 18, 2008 20:44:56 GMT -5
I don't have a flat lap. I do all of my assembled cabs with a piece of glass and tumbling grit. It goes faster than you think it would. For those surfaces that are not cut on the slab saw I grind them as flat as I can on the wheel before I take them to the glass and grit steps. I glued the thin pieces on the quartz this last weekend. I hope to cab them this next weekend. I'll post pictures of the finished product.
Bob
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Post by bobby1 on Apr 1, 2008 23:31:11 GMT -5
I finished one of the pieces. Before adding the quartz on the back and cabbing. After cabbing. The WWR plume piece is about 1/16" thick, the quartz is about twice as thick.  Bob |
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beaddot
spending too much on rocks
Member since March 2008
Posts: 266
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Post by beaddot on Apr 2, 2008 6:29:53 GMT -5
Wow, very nice Bob!
Dot
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