Roger
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2013
Posts: 1,487
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Post by Roger on Mar 20, 2013 7:20:26 GMT -5
Hello everyone. I have just about finished refurbishing a Lortone ST-10 saw I recently purchased. It is my first slab saw (yay!). I have some great rock to start cutting slabs from (Thank you Daniel & Tony). However, I also have some decent sized WWR agates I found on a recent trip to Alpine/WWR. I am not sure how to go about cutting one of them, the second from the left. I took my Dremel to the outer crust to see what may be inside. I didn't have a grinder of any kind at the time. I haven't seen one quite like this before. It has what look like strings as well as the traditional looking plumes running through it. They are in several colors - which didn't all come through in the photo. Red, orange, green, blue, and some yellow deeper in. The main section where all the interesting bits are is only ~1 1/2" thick, and then tapers sharply down to ~1/2. Of course I didn't get a photo of the back of it.. Most of the rock is made up of small, delicate looking loops or swirls of material, similar to what can be seen around the outer edge of the last photo. There are lots of crevaces all around the stone. I don't want to break or mess up what could be a very good slab or two.. how should I go about cutting it? I will try to get another photo or two of the back end of the rock tonight or tommorrow - but I am curious if I am maybe worrying over nothing "it is rock, it is going to cut" or "yes, that baby will shatter in a heartbeat".. As always, thank you for the help and advice! Roger
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Post by sheltie on Mar 20, 2013 8:50:58 GMT -5
Start with a small end piece and go from there. If it looks fractured or unappealing, stop and put it in your rock pile. Otherwise, go for it.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2013 9:07:44 GMT -5
Hi Roger, That last WWR is NOT worth cutting. Just ship it to me and I will return it to nature. :drool: Nice finds! I would wait to cut it until you have a larger saw or meet some one with a large saw that will slab it for you. Tim
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Post by deb193redux on Mar 20, 2013 9:48:47 GMT -5
Roger, you only have to choose here between good and better. The strings you see are a moss, and they may be closer to the surface or more likely throughout the rock. There is no very large downside to any choice you make. You can clamp the rock with the long axis into the vise and slice a few smllish slabs. Then you can clamp the cut face in a grabber (or glue it to a wood block) and slice small slabs in from the other end. The endcuts and possibly 1st slab may not be cabbable, but you should get some 1-cab slabs after those cuts. (Maybe two small cabs per slab).
As an alternative, and as an insurance if the moss is only near the surface, you can glue the rock to a block of wood (using lots of gorilla glue) in such a way that the window you have exposed is approximately parallel to the blade. This should mean at least one slab showing the moss pattern you exposed. Likely you will get a 2nd and possibly 3rd. Because you are now taking slabs across a shorter axis of the rock, you will only get 2 (or possibly 3), but they will be a little bigger and at least the 1st one will have the pattern you see.
A variation on this that might make gluing easier, is to glue the windowed face to the block. This means the final slab should have that pattern, and it help you line up the window to the blade. Just make sure you leave the last slab thick enough, and that you do not break it getting it unstuck from the block.
Does this make sense?
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Roger
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2013
Posts: 1,487
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Post by Roger on Mar 20, 2013 10:53:34 GMT -5
Makes sense. Okay it is called moss. I will put up better photos. Most of rock has that moss all over it on the back sidr. Those are the loops I was talking about. They are twisted together all over the outside skin, sort of like spaghetti. That is the part that concerns me about possibly breaking the rock. I will get some more photos of it.
Appreciate the advice everyone, thank you!
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Roger
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2013
Posts: 1,487
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Post by Roger on Mar 25, 2013 8:13:08 GMT -5
I started cutting my first slabs this weekend. After working with another material, I decided I couldn't wait and I HAD to try cutting the WWR agate. I hit several small snags in the process. The shape of the rock required several cuts to remove stone that was blocking my ability to make slabs where I wanted to. I made 6 cuts total (first photo) to dress the stone. From thes 6 cuts I made, 2 are workable slabs. Slab 1 Slab 2 Now the stone is ready to be glued to some wood or a grabber, to cut what I hope will be some really nice slabs. Remaing rough. Thanks everyone! Roge
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keystonecops
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2010
Posts: 957
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Post by keystonecops on Mar 25, 2013 9:43:06 GMT -5
Lotta voids, but I've been able to get some decent cabs outa rock like that. Looks like some calibrated cabs if you want, but more freeform. All I used to do was calibrated, but found I could get more going fre form. Enjoy-Later Clyde
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Post by deb193redux on Mar 25, 2013 9:52:59 GMT -5
keep en eye out for voids that might be incorporated into a finished stone. it will need custom setting but so what.
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Post by phil on Mar 25, 2013 9:54:58 GMT -5
I bite the bullet on all my stones and once i figure which direction I want the slabs form, slice it in half. Then I glue both sides to small pieces of 2x2 x 3 inches long using Elmers interior wood glue. NOT the interior exterior stuff. The interior will dissolve in water once it's soaked for a week or two, but the interior exterior doesn't. This allows me to not only get 2 assured good slabs (closest to the wood) when I slab it, it also allows me to get 100% of the rock slabbed. NO thick butts wasted. I usually find that the butts (or exterior) is where some of the best patterns and colors are. All slabs, no waste. Just adjust your cutting thickness to make sure that last slab is a usable thickness. Phil
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Mar 25, 2013 17:20:26 GMT -5
I cut a fair amount of Woodward material and orientation is very important. The nodules are best opened like biscuits with your cut parallel or almost that way to the bottom and top of the nodule. For the hunks with bubbles ( botryoidal specimens) the best moss and plume often extends up into those bubbles so you want to have your cut parallel or lengthwise along the bubble formation for the best patterns. Unfortunately the best Woodward moss and plume often occurs in stones with voids or crystal vugs and as Phil has mentioned, the best patterns are often right under the skin, so IMHO, calibrated cabs are pretty much never the way to go. Free forms will usually allow you to better capture the best plumes or moss and there will be a of of Woodward material that you either chop up into small slabs for the tumbler or just chuck out in your flower beds because it's too vuggy or pitted to waste a lot of time on....Mel
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jspencer
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since March 2011
Posts: 929
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Post by jspencer on Mar 28, 2013 23:32:36 GMT -5
Amen to that Mel! I love the plumes but hate to see the waste that comes from it.
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Roger
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2013
Posts: 1,487
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Post by Roger on Mar 28, 2013 23:49:25 GMT -5
I will be doing the transverse cuts on the one in the photos, tomorrow. I cut a "sausage" I had from WRR into 9 slabs yesterday. It wasn't as nice as this one, but there were no voids in it. I have a large biscuit on the saw now which looks good. I am hoping to get 8 sold slabs from it.
I think cutting these things is more addictive than anything else lol.
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Post by deb193redux on Mar 29, 2013 12:17:33 GMT -5
It must be a very large biscuit if you can get 8 slabs. Most are only just over an inch thick.
Pictures!
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