Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Mar 12, 2010 13:04:22 GMT -5
It's been a long time since I've posted anything that I've done, but then I rarely get time to play with my rocks. Anyway, here is my latest project. I wanted to make a belt for my brother in Oregon that he could wear to work (which is kind of tough since most belt buckles seem to be very western). He's a financial planner, so the western look isn't really appropriate.
I ordered a couple of slab belt buckles from Eloxite. One frames the slab, and the other is a T bar. They're both made of pot metal, so I'm not sure how well they'll hold up. The frame is shinier than pictured on their web site and the T bar has 2 angles that I'll have to address by shaping the back of the stone. I haven't glued the stones yet, so if anyone has a lead on better quality buckles, I'd love to hear it.
Here's a shot of the front of the frame buckle:
Here's the back:
Here is the front of the T bar:
Back of T bar:
Here's a side shot that illustrates the angles:
And now on to the slabs. I had a really difficult time polishing the flats on these and have spent hours sanding and polishing before I finally got it. Unfortunately, at least one of the stones cracked from the heat during these attempts. I noticed that the edges polished well, but the flats just would not polish. So, I ended up doming them to see if that helped, which only helped a little. Finally, I ran my worn 600 belt at 2000 rpm and that did it.
The first one is my "piece of crap" rock that Tony (catmandewe) cut for me. (I named it my "piece of crap" rock because Tony had just cut a rock that he called the "holy crap!" rock.) I was mainly using it as a practice piece, but it turned out better than I expected.
The next 2 pieces came from a slab that Tony included when he sent my cut rock back. I don't know what it is, but I think it's pretty and masculine.
This one developed a hair line crack:
This one may have cracked; I just noticed the line on it, so I may have to cut a new one:
The finished product:
Thanks for looking!
Chuck
I ordered a couple of slab belt buckles from Eloxite. One frames the slab, and the other is a T bar. They're both made of pot metal, so I'm not sure how well they'll hold up. The frame is shinier than pictured on their web site and the T bar has 2 angles that I'll have to address by shaping the back of the stone. I haven't glued the stones yet, so if anyone has a lead on better quality buckles, I'd love to hear it.
Here's a shot of the front of the frame buckle:
Here's the back:
Here is the front of the T bar:
Back of T bar:
Here's a side shot that illustrates the angles:
And now on to the slabs. I had a really difficult time polishing the flats on these and have spent hours sanding and polishing before I finally got it. Unfortunately, at least one of the stones cracked from the heat during these attempts. I noticed that the edges polished well, but the flats just would not polish. So, I ended up doming them to see if that helped, which only helped a little. Finally, I ran my worn 600 belt at 2000 rpm and that did it.
The first one is my "piece of crap" rock that Tony (catmandewe) cut for me. (I named it my "piece of crap" rock because Tony had just cut a rock that he called the "holy crap!" rock.) I was mainly using it as a practice piece, but it turned out better than I expected.
The next 2 pieces came from a slab that Tony included when he sent my cut rock back. I don't know what it is, but I think it's pretty and masculine.
This one developed a hair line crack:
This one may have cracked; I just noticed the line on it, so I may have to cut a new one:
The finished product:
Thanks for looking!
Chuck
