fireforged
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2015
Posts: 216 
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Post by fireforged on Aug 11, 2016 16:57:17 GMT -5
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dottyt
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2016
Posts: 305 
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Post by dottyt on Aug 13, 2016 0:44:07 GMT -5
Lovely colors and interesting shapes. What size are they?
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Post by Jugglerguy on Aug 13, 2016 8:07:32 GMT -5
How did you end up making the holes? I make beads with 1mm holes and drill them from both sides. I tried that with a larger hole and came close but missed by a small amount. I make a board with a broken drill bit (I used a small dowel for the big hole bead) sticking out of it. I line the drill bit in my drill press up with the drill coming out of the board, then I put the half drilled bead on the drill bit in the boards of that the bit sticks into the hole. Then when I drill, I know I'm lined up.
I've also been making some cylindrical beads for my wife's Pandora bracelet. For those, I just let the drill blow out the back and then grind off the blow out, making the bead a little shorter.
If you figured out a better technique, I'd love to hear it.
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fireforged
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2015
Posts: 216
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Post by fireforged on Aug 13, 2016 11:37:21 GMT -5
Lovely colors and interesting shapes. What size are they? The beads are roughly 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 long and about 1 tp 1 1/4 wide. The holes are 6 mm. The shapes were basically the way the stones broke before I picked them up. |
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fireforged
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2015
Posts: 216
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Post by fireforged on Aug 13, 2016 11:49:20 GMT -5
How did you end up making the holes? I make beads with 1mm holes and drill them from both sides. I tried that with a larger hole and came close but missed by a small amount. I make a board with a broken drill bit (I used a small dowel for the big hole bead) sticking out of it. I line the drill bit in my drill press up with the drill coming out of the board, then I put the half drilled bead on the drill bit in the boards of that the bit sticks into the hole. Then when I drill, I know I'm lined up. I've also been making some cylindrical beads for my wife's Pandora bracelet. For those, I just let the drill blow out the back and then grind off the blow out, making the bead a little shorter. If you figured out a better technique, I'd love to hear it. I do not have a better way to make the holes. The hole is the first thing done on the stone. Then I take a diamond burr to dress up the hole. If at this point everything is too ugly I just throw it away and start again. After this point it is the standard grind and polish routine. |
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fireforged
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2015
Posts: 216
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Post by fireforged on Aug 13, 2016 11:49:54 GMT -5
How did you end up making the holes? I make beads with 1mm holes and drill them from both sides. I tried that with a larger hole and came close but missed by a small amount. I make a board with a broken drill bit (I used a small dowel for the big hole bead) sticking out of it. I line the drill bit in my drill press up with the drill coming out of the board, then I put the half drilled bead on the drill bit in the boards of that the bit sticks into the hole. Then when I drill, I know I'm lined up. I've also been making some cylindrical beads for my wife's Pandora bracelet. For those, I just let the drill blow out the back and then grind off the blow out, making the bead a little shorter. If you figured out a better technique, I'd love to hear it. I do not have a better way to make the holes. The hole is the first thing done on the stone. Then I take a diamond burr to dress up the hole. If at this point everything is too ugly I just throw it away and start again. After this point it is the standard grind and polish routine. |
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fireforged
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2015
Posts: 216
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Post by fireforged on Aug 17, 2016 14:50:54 GMT -5
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Post by Peruano on Aug 17, 2016 16:39:53 GMT -5
Nice job on finishing those holes. I like to let the stone talk about its shape and don't in anyway pretend that I know more than the stone as to what it wants to look like as the final product. My job is to save it from obscurity with some respect for what it started as. You have done well.
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Post by vegasjames on Aug 17, 2016 17:01:30 GMT -5
Nice. The first one in the second set looks like a fish head.
Just a thought. Have you thought about drilling the holes the vibratory tumbling the pieces to maintain the basic shape but without having to do all the grinding on a cabbing machine?
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fireforged
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2015
Posts: 216
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Post by fireforged on Aug 17, 2016 19:03:14 GMT -5
Nice. The first one in the second set looks like a fish head. Just a thought. Have you thought about drilling the holes the vibratory tumbling the pieces to maintain the basic shape but without having to do all the grinding on a cabbing machine? Yes I guess I didn't speak too clearly. I am sorting through an old collection (around 600 lbs) of mostly Mt agate and pet wood. The previous hound that had the rocks, had slabbed and cut many of the rocks and I received a bunch of small slabbets, shards, flakes, of varying sizes, thicknesses, qualities. I got about a one gallon bucket of them and this was the only way I could figure to use them. I drill the hole, trim the bad fractures and make a nice shape, maybe grind a little to smooth the rough stuff, and then vibrate a nice polish on them.  In this first picture I tried to show the shards and small shaped mt agates I have been working with. Some are just obviously too big for a bead so I trim them into 2 or 3 pieces to make a smaller or thinner size. Pretty much have to just go with the flow with the small stuff.  The larger pieces as you can see in this second picture have a lot of potential for every kind of lapidary activity. I just don't get tired of looking through these piles.  As you can see in the third picture I don't have to confine my efforts to the lowly Mt agate but also get to play with some very colorful Pet wood. |
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bcgal
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since March 2016
Posts: 94
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Post by bcgal on Aug 19, 2016 15:25:50 GMT -5
those rocks are gorgeous!
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