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Post by rockjunquie on May 7, 2019 18:52:32 GMT -5
Like stardiamond I had a few cabs that I always thought could be better, so today I revisited some and fixed the shapes. I also am finally satisfied with that rutilated quartz. Got a few new ones in, too. Posted before. This is how big it the rutilated quartz started out. Then it was a pear, which had to be reshaped to what is seen below and then a 24mm freehand round, which I think turned out pretty good. I even hand polished the bottom. Was it worth it? No.     How does one polish azurite? I never had a problem before. I took this to 100k and used zam with a felt buff and still it is not really shiny. Gorgeous blue, though. This was pretty hard and not a bit crumbly- more like brittle.  Do you know what kind of seam agate this is? I want to say Morocco, but I simply can't remember.  Another copper complex. I don't know what the green in it is, though. vegasjames , is it turquoise?  scrap of blue gem bone  from some eBay buys of so called deschutes. This is my freebie cab for the dday. Didn't polish well and is pitted. Ick. Super cheap, what can I say?  I broke this a long time ago and finally got around to fixing it. It looks like it is cracked, but it is not. It will probably be a freebie, too.  red gem bone  mohawkite. Had to fix the wonky shape that has bugged me for years.  an old variscite that needed some work.  That was it for the day- thanks for looking.  |
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Post by hummingbirdstones on May 7, 2019 19:04:58 GMT -5
rockjunquie that rutilated quartz turned out fabulous! You can see all the rutile and you did a great job on the freehand round. I think it was worth it. People love, love, love rutilated quartz. Give it one of your superb wrapping jobs and put a premium price on it. Rutilated quartz is hard to find nowadays and it's expensive.
The rest of your cabs are awesome. On the azurite, I think there's always going to be some that doesn't polish. Nature of the beast.
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Post by rockjunquie on May 7, 2019 19:09:27 GMT -5
rockjunquie that rutilated quartz turned out fabulous! You can see all the rutile and you did a great job on the freehand round. I think it was worth it. People love, love, love rutilated quartz. Give it one of your superb wrapping jobs and put a premium price on it. Rutilated quartz is hard to find nowadays and it's expensive.
The rest of your cabs are awesome. On the azurite, I think there's always going to be some that doesn't polish. Nature of the beast.
Thanks for your comments @ the rutilated quartz. I kept stubbornly at it even though I felt like it was a losing proposition. So, thanks for that. I've never had an azurite like that before. I have a whole slab of it, too. Too bad about the polish. |
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Post by Rockindad on May 7, 2019 19:14:03 GMT -5
I like the rutilated quartz better round anyway . Also loving the mohawkite! Al |
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Post by hummingbirdstones on May 7, 2019 19:14:11 GMT -5
On the azurite, you could coat it with Hxtal and see if it soaks in enough to make the stone harder. You'd be able to get a decent shine on it if it does.
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Post by rockjunquie on May 7, 2019 19:19:38 GMT -5
On the azurite, you could coat it with Hxtal and see if it soaks in enough to make the stone harder. You'd be able to get a decent shine on it if it does. Funny you should say that. I had a feeling it would fall apart when I cut into it, so I coated it with hxtal for that. It ground off when I cabbed it and apparently didn't soak in enough for a polish. It's very fine, tight grained. |
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Post by stardiamond on May 7, 2019 19:20:53 GMT -5
Very nice rutilated quartz.
Recutting is fun. Fixing my technical mistakes not as much. I could spend a very long time improving technical mistakes on cabs I cut over a very long time period. I'm working on face scratches and smoothing girdles and that is relatively quick. I have a lot of nice cabs that are technically ok but have high girdles. When I cut them I was interested in the scene and didn't want to do a lot of grinding on thick slabs.
When I need more inventory, I'll have to decide if I want to go back to grinding or offer as is. I could be spending all my time for a very long time recutting to get a lower girdle and fixing scratches and girdles. The satisfaction will come from seeing my technique improving.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on May 7, 2019 19:35:06 GMT -5
On the azurite, you could coat it with Hxtal and see if it soaks in enough to make the stone harder. You'd be able to get a decent shine on it if it does. Funny you should say that. I had a feeling it would fall apart when I cut into it, so I coated it with hxtal for that. It ground off when I cabbed it and apparently didn't soak in enough for a polish. It's very fine, tight grained. Huh. I'm stumped. It has a glow and with that beautiful color you don't really need on a high shine on that one. The color will sell it in a second. |
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julieooly
Cave Dweller 
Member since October 2018
Posts: 721 
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Post by julieooly on May 7, 2019 20:04:24 GMT -5
Good job on all, what's the secret with the Lucin undercutting? Should I skip the harder wheels? Have had terrible luck with it twice and I'm not sure if it was me or the material. Maybe I should Hxtal it?
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Post by rockjunquie on May 7, 2019 20:22:48 GMT -5
Good job on all, what's the secret with the Lucin undercutting? Should I skip the harder wheels? Have had terrible luck with it twice and I'm not sure if it was me or the material. Maybe I should Hxtal it? I've never used any stabilizing. I get most of it done on the hard wheels and go easy on the soft wheels. Hard wheels don't typically undercut- soft ones do. |
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Post by vegasjames on May 7, 2019 20:30:21 GMT -5
I have found the same green in one of the pieces but have not tested it to finds out what it is. Off hand it does look possibly like turquoise or the closely related variscite. A lot of Nevada turquoise does tend to be green to greenish from the high iron content. If that is one of the pieces from Southern Nevada then I would lean more towards turquoise as I have not heard of any confirmed deposits of variscite here.
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Post by rockjunquie on May 7, 2019 20:46:32 GMT -5
I have found the same green in one of the pieces but have not tested it to finds out what it is. Off hand it does look possibly like turquoise or the closely related variscite. A lot of Nevada turquoise does tend to be green to greenish from the high iron content. If that is one of the pieces from Southern Nevada then I would lean more towards turquoise as I have not heard of any confirmed deposits of variscite here. Thanks- I'm not sure where it came from, but I have worked a lot of variscite and I doesn't seem like any I've worked. Not to say it isn't. I just call it another copper complex cabochon. |
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Roger
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2013
Posts: 1,487
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Post by Roger on May 7, 2019 21:42:31 GMT -5
Your unknown seam agate looks like its from a peice of Ankara Turkey Pseudo Morph agate I gave to Dave a couple years or so back.
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Post by rockjunquie on May 7, 2019 21:56:25 GMT -5
Your unknown seam agate looks like its from a peice of Ankara Turkey Pseudo Morph agate I gave to Dave a couple years or so back. Thank you! I thought it came from him but I couldn't remember. Awesome. Nice stuff. |
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Post by fernwood on May 8, 2019 4:15:25 GMT -5
The RQ turned out fantastic.
What is the pink/white one? I rarely see pink rocks with patterns like that.
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Post by rockjunquie on May 8, 2019 5:46:27 GMT -5
The RQ turned out fantastic. What is the pink/white one? I rarely see pink rocks with patterns like that. Thank you! Argentinian Rhodochrosite. |
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,723 
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Post by Fossilman on May 8, 2019 9:06:55 GMT -5
Nice work on all the cabs... Thumbs up
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Post by miket on May 8, 2019 10:19:24 GMT -5
Just saw this post, all are fantastic. Stupid bar, why does it have to be so damn high...  |
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Post by MsAli on May 8, 2019 10:29:51 GMT -5
Absolutely in LOVE with that rutilated quartz. Great job!
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Post by rockjunquie on May 8, 2019 10:36:26 GMT -5
Just saw this post, all are fantastic. Stupid bar, why does it have to be so damn high...  Off your knees! We all started somewhere. Right? You have an even better start. With all you are learning you are doing- just imagine how great your cabs are gonna be with a machine! I'll be bowing to you, just like I bow to so many others. |
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