Slabbing or preforum service if needed, I have a 16 inch saw

Forgot to note shipping the blades costs like $50

Jeez, back when I ran my 20 inch HP, if I had considered how much it was costing me, I'd have given it away. I did by the way, give it to my buddy before my Texas move. Think one of the final straws was when I bought a brand new segmented rim blade from Eloxite for abut $330 and had a hunk of rock break, jamb and destroy the blade the first time I ran it. Then, to add insult to injury, I figured I send it to Barranca for repair like I did all my notched rim blades, and found out those segmented continuous rim type blade could not be repaired. Now, I understand no one repairs blades anymore as Barranca sold their equipment. It's pretty much anyone's guess how and when you'll destroy a blade but it happens often enough that I'd not want to try a cut for hire business. Matter of fact, when I did try a little rock business and sat down to figure costs: time, equipment wear, purchased rough etc. I said the H*ll with that! *L*. I was making less per hour that I did with my freaking paper route at age ten....Mel

Yeah, if i am cutting rock that i think would slip out of the vice i usually use my crappy blade that is already slightly bent that came with the machine. Also my arbor ring is not 100% snug so if and when the blade does bind it doesn't ruin the blade usually... As for rocks that might slip out i don't have that problem really as i typically apply soo much pressure that the rock will pop out due to the pressure... the only rocks that tend to come out of the vice while cutting are ones that are very small.



The main reason i'm offering the service if for folks that don't have the equipment.. i might as well offer preform service as some people don't have saws to do that as well. I won't offer cabbing service but once I start cabbing people can pm me if its something special.

Yeah, i would only trade cutting service for rough or material if i really like the material, not many people around have a rock saw that is willing to offer service... only my co-worker (lives a long way from town) myself, and at least one shop in anchorage that i know of. For the most part people up here don't buy alaskan material (specimens) and will not buy black an white material (usually) even if it has a little color. It is a hard market up here... Zebra stone might look cool (i don't have any yet) but noone will buy it up here.

Please don't take my quotes out of context... locally there are only 3 people excluding myself i know with rock saws, that can cut a decent amount of material. There is only one person that cuts for non friends and he has a rock store in anchorage. The other people are in the rock club and do not cut for people they don't know. I am the only person to my knowledge in the area that has a rock saw and cabbing machine... If i lived in nevada / arizona i would probably know hundreds of people that have machines.

As for the first statement there are a lot of people who don't cab that tumble... they only have a tumbler but no saws... (of which i know several folks). you ask why preform service, it is because people tumble preforms and they turn out just fine, I used to preforum stuff on my co-workers trim saw and throw it in my tumbler, you could not tell ir has been tumbled verses made on a cabbing machine after it came out.

Personally, I dont agree with that. If you put a preform in a tumbler it does not come out as precise as a cab on a cabbing machine. In a vibe it would come out ok but still not as precise as from a cabber IMHO. I like to think i can tell the difference.

I think its great you are willing to cut for others but do you have alot of cutting experience or are you trying to gain experience through cutting for others? Nothing wrong with that but if you are charging top dollar then you should prove the quality of your workmanship. The only picture you have posted so far was one slab you did awhile ago. There is alot of trial and error in learning to cut different materials and i wouldnt want to gain that experience at others expense if i was trying to make a successful side job out of it.

Saying things like "if its a rock that might slip out of the vise then i will use my crappy slightly bent blade" isn't going to make me stand in line for your services. And "if i get too many requests i may raise the price" is another statement that would turn me away. And offering up cabbing service before you start cabbing might be getting ahead of yourself. Hope you dont mind some constructive criticism here. I wish you the best of luck with this but considering that you have limited cutting experience you might consider undercutting current market prices and offer a cheaper service to gain experience and clients. Otherwise, if there are 3 guys in my area willing to cut rocks for the same price then im going to the guy with the most experience.

Captbob and etc... he just doesn't get it. I wish him luck.

Yeah, I don't think it will tumble out well for the person, I personally would never tumble the stabs and highly recommend the person doesn't tumble the slabs. I don't know if i will see the end product or not but i told him he should buy some polishing pads and polish the slabs that way; I hope takes my advice.

He also calls it Dallasite Jasper which Dallisite might be the name but its not a jasper.

That ain't dallasite. That is quartz and most likely green schist (chlorite).

This is Dallasite



image courtesy of bcrockhound