|
Post by stardiamond on Oct 21, 2014 14:43:25 GMT -5
I'm not a newbie working with it. I understand working around the fractures. First attempt pear; fracture. Second attempt pointy on both ends; fracture. Third attempt: I bought a nodule of red Montana and cut a slab. I held up the slab to the light and drew a pear using a template between the fractures. Got a fracture right on the pencil line. Made it slight smaller. Found a small area for a free form between the fractures on another slab. Optimistically attempted another pear, which fractured all over the place. Took a look at what was left and saw many more fractures. I liked the color so I cut a small freeform. It has a hole in the bottom 1/8" and will need to be recut. I went ahead and polished it. I hope this post doesn't bother anyone. It's not all about showing successes.
|
|
azgnoinc
spending too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 484
|
Post by azgnoinc on Oct 21, 2014 15:34:44 GMT -5
Being a newbie, I have agreat appreciation for those pieces that come out slightly to great differently than what they had originally been intended to be (shape wise) - I like them quite a bit!!
|
|
|
Post by snowmom on Oct 21, 2014 15:43:06 GMT -5
somebody said we learn more from our failures than our successes (or should). I Appreciate that you show what can be done in case of trouble. Thank you.
|
|
|
Post by pghram on Oct 22, 2014 23:15:53 GMT -5
I'd say you got the most out of them, they look good.
Rich
|
|
|
Post by kk on Oct 23, 2014 10:48:53 GMT -5
Being one of my favorite materials to work with, yet understand exactly where you are coming from. Sometimes you work on a piece including a fracture where you are pretty sure that it might fall apart, and you are ready to go freestyle, yet, it holds up just fine. At other times things simply just don't want to work out regardless what you do. I find that Montana falls apart on me more often during cutting and hence I give it often as much as a 6th of an inch leeway from the shape i want. Grinding my way in from there, rarely has given me problems. Odd shape? Welcome to the club! They often look better that way anyhow....
|
|
bsky4463
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2013
Posts: 1,696
|
Post by bsky4463 on Oct 23, 2014 12:28:39 GMT -5
stardiamond are your fractures showing up at a particulars stage in the cabbing process? I had trouble with MT aggies crazing on me during the polish stage - using a leather wheel on end of genie - resulting from too much heat. I have since switch to a slower dedicated polishing wheel and using a softer hand - I no longer have those issues. I typically free form a lot of MT aggie cabs due to enable me to work around the existing fractures and maximize the use of the available material. And so I too end up with some add ball shapes, but I like it as it is the character of those stones... Cheers
|
|
|
Post by stardiamond on Oct 23, 2014 13:50:35 GMT -5
3000 and 14000 are diamond wheels. 50,000 and 100,000 are diamond paste on canvas. I don't have a heating problem. Maybe it's time to replace the pads. They still seem to be working but are old. Most of my fractures occur during preforming and rough grinding. The difference between a healed fracture and an unhealed is the fingernail test and whether they stay together. Morgan Hill has similar issues.
|
|
Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,709
|
Post by Fossilman on Oct 24, 2014 8:49:27 GMT -5
Montanas are hard to work with,because of the healed fractures in the rock....It can be done though....Keep on keeping..
|
|