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Post by jasoninsd on Dec 27, 2020 11:08:17 GMT -5
Ha Ha. Welcome to the club.    To see the scratches, dry cab with a rag, stand in the sunshine, and slowly turn it every which way. A friend does that when buying slabs at shows or sales because he can see the scratches better. If wet, you see the colors, but not the scratches. I totally tried this and failed miserably. I took each one of the dried cabs out of the garage into the sunlight and never could see the scratches...I even put my reading glasses on! LOL |
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Post by jasoninsd on Dec 27, 2020 11:15:03 GMT -5
Thanks Tela!  I like Robin's suggestion below... Thanks a bunch Robin! I did mark one with a Sharpie, but only "near" the area I saw the scratch. I like the idea of coloring the entire surface... Near won’t do the trick. You want it inside the scratch, otherwise it will grind off before the scratch is gone (and I need to re-emphasize using the metallic Sharpies, not the regular ones — btw red and purple soak even deeper into the stone than black : forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/85501/red-sharpie-removed). I need to remember just to do this with every cab, not just the ones where I missed the scratch. I usually try it Pat ’s way, but I miss a lot. It worked better 10 years ago. I wonder what changed....  After I was thinking about it last night, it made sense that the Sharpie would go "into" the scratch and would still be visible until the scratch was gone...one of those "duh" moments! LOL I'm glad you told me to use the metallic Sharpies. I wouldn't have otherwise...then all my cabochons would have looked like they were made of Lignte! LOL |
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Post by stephan on Dec 27, 2020 11:16:24 GMT -5
To see the scratches, dry cab with a rag, stand in the sunshine, and slowly turn it every which way. A friend does that when buying slabs at shows or sales because he can see the scratches better. If wet, you see the colors, but not the scratches. I totally tried this and failed miserably. I took each one of the dried cabs out of the garage into the sunlight and never could see the scratches...I even put my reading glasses on! LOL Oddly, I’ve found them in a dark room, holding under an ordinary lamp, and moving them around. Failing that, taking and posting a picture usually works. As for buying slabs at shows, drying definitely shows fractures that are not visible on wet slabs. |
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Post by jasoninsd on Dec 27, 2020 11:28:28 GMT -5
I totally tried this and failed miserably. I took each one of the dried cabs out of the garage into the sunlight and never could see the scratches...I even put my reading glasses on! LOL Oddly, I’ve found them in a dark room, holding under an ordinary lamp, and moving them around. Failing that, taking and posting a picture usually works. As for buying slabs at shows, drying definitely shows fractures that are not visible on wet slabs. LOL - yep, taking pictures is how I finally saw some scratches I had no clue were there! I learned that lesson looking at slabs on eBay. I don't trust an auction that doesn't show the slab dry. I also should've asked at what stage do you color the cab, or do you color it at each stage of sanding? |
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Post by stephan on Dec 27, 2020 11:39:04 GMT -5
Oddly, I’ve found them in a dark room, holding under an ordinary lamp, and moving them around. Failing that, taking and posting a picture usually works. As for buying slabs at shows, drying definitely shows fractures that are not visible on wet slabs. LOL - yep, taking pictures is how I finally saw some scratches I had no clue were there! I learned that lesson looking at slabs on eBay. I don't trust an auction that doesn't show the slab dry. I also should've asked at what stage do you color the cab, or do you color it at each stage of sanding? I typically just do it at the 280 stage, but for perfect polish it would make sense to do it at every stage. As Tela mentioned, her 1200 wheel isn’t getting all the scratches from the 600. I probably won’t bother doing that until I can afford new wheel, except, maybe, for the really hard material like Owyhee. |
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Post by Pat on Dec 27, 2020 11:44:10 GMT -5
An optivisor helps, too. Fits over my tri-focals.
I didn’t know Sharpies soaked further into red and purple.
How about using Crayons?
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Post by opalpyrexia on Dec 27, 2020 13:01:38 GMT -5
Nice work, Jason! You've really been busy! My favorite is your crazy lace with the little bird and butterfly (after turning it on its side):  |
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Post by rockjunquie on Dec 27, 2020 13:04:46 GMT -5
Some people just use a number 2 pencil. Sharpies will soak into a lot of rocks. Had it ruin some oj once.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Dec 27, 2020 13:14:13 GMT -5
Oddly, I’ve found them in a dark room, holding under an ordinary lamp, and moving them around. Failing that, taking and posting a picture usually works. As for buying slabs at shows, drying definitely shows fractures that are not visible on wet slabs. LOL - yep, taking pictures is how I finally saw some scratches I had no clue were there! I learned that lesson looking at slabs on eBay. I don't trust an auction that doesn't show the slab dry. I also should've asked at what stage do you color the cab, or do you color it at each stage of sanding? I would do it after the 220, 280, and 600. After 220 when you're working on the 280, you'll be able to see if you got all the deep scratches out from the 80. If not, you can go back to the 220 and work on it some more to get those deep buggers out. Once I'm on the pre-polish and polish wheels, I'll work the cab and when I think I've got them all, I'll work it for a little bit longer, just to be sure. You could also do it after the 80 if you wanted to. It takes a whole couple of seconds to sharpie a cab and let it dry.
There is such a thing as subsurface damage. This article was written for facetors, but the concept remains the same:
I'm not suggesting that you don't use an 80 grit wheel, just that you need to grind off more than you think on the 220 to get all the 80 grit damage off the stone to alleviate the scratches.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Dec 27, 2020 13:17:04 GMT -5
Some people just use a number 2 pencil. Sharpies will soak into a lot of rocks. Had it ruin some oj once. Good point. I wouldn't use a sharpie on anything I know is soft or porous. #2 pencils work fine, they just take longer to color on the stone. The metallic sharpies may not cause a problem. I'm going to have to do some experimenting with some soft stone scraps to test it out. |
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Post by stephan on Dec 27, 2020 13:42:35 GMT -5
Some people just use a number 2 pencil. Sharpies will soak into a lot of rocks. Had it ruin some oj once. Good point. I wouldn't use a sharpie on anything I know is soft or porous. #2 pencils work fine, they just take longer to color on the stone. The metallic sharpies may not cause a problem. I'm going to have to do some experimenting with some soft stone scraps to test it out. Yep. Problem can be that porosity can sneak up on you, so to speak. I’ve erred on the side of caution with moss and plume agates, as well as Dino bone, and used either pencil or scribe, but I had no idea that piece of OJ would be so porous. I like the idea of a grease pencil or crayon, if they can be sharp enough (when outlining a cab, at least... I suppose sharpness is not needed for marking scratches). Or maybe the colored pencil. |
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Post by jasoninsd on Dec 27, 2020 15:09:59 GMT -5
An optivisor helps, too. Fits over my tri-focals. I didn’t know Sharpies soaked further into red and purple. How about using Crayons? I've been working on the slant cabber under a 3x magnifying lens/light. It has a 5x lens that came with it. Maybe I need to switch over to the 5x. I looked up the optivisor and it seems most of them go up to 3x. Nice work, Jason! You've really been busy! My favorite is your crazy lace with the little bird and butterfly (after turning it on its side): Thanks! I love the intracacies of the banding on this piece. That darn fissure opened up right in the quartz section. I was hoping it would open up into a nice druzy pocket, but it didn't... Some people just use a number 2 pencil. Sharpies will soak into a lot of rocks. Had it ruin some oj once. Darnit! I read about that awhile back and forgot all about it. Thanks for bringing that back up again Tela. LOL - yep, taking pictures is how I finally saw some scratches I had no clue were there! I learned that lesson looking at slabs on eBay. I don't trust an auction that doesn't show the slab dry. I also should've asked at what stage do you color the cab, or do you color it at each stage of sanding? I would do it after the 220, 280, and 600. After 220 when you're working on the 280, you'll be able to see if you got all the deep scratches out from the 80. If not, you can go back to the 220 and work on it some more to get those deep buggers out. Once I'm on the pre-polish and polish wheels, I'll work the cab and when I think I've got them all, I'll work it for a little bit longer, just to be sure. You could also do it after the 80 if you wanted to. It takes a whole couple of seconds to sharpie a cab and let it dry.
There is such a thing as subsurface damage. This article was written for facetors, but the concept remains the same:
I'm not suggesting that you don't use an 80 grit wheel, just that you need to grind off more than you think on the 220 to get all the 80 grit damage off the stone to alleviate the scratches.
Gotcha. My grits on the slant cabber are 180/325/500/1200/3000. So, I'd be definitely doing it after the 180 and the 325 for sure... I read that article. Some very interesting things I hadn't thought about... Good point. I wouldn't use a sharpie on anything I know is soft or porous. #2 pencils work fine, they just take longer to color on the stone. The metallic sharpies may not cause a problem. I'm going to have to do some experimenting with some soft stone scraps to test it out. Yep. Problem can be that porosity can sneak up on you, so to speak. I’ve erred on the side of caution with moss and plume agates, as well as Dino bone, and used either pencil or scribe, but I had no idea that piece of OJ would be so porous. I like the idea of a grease pencil or crayon, if they can be sharp enough (when outlining a cab, at least... I suppose sharpness is not needed for marking scratches). Or maybe the colored pencil. I don't know why I have this image of the crayons and grease pencils mucking up the polishing wheels...plus I'd use every color and the disk would end up looking like a Picasso painting! LOL I like the #2 pencil idea on definitely suspected soft material... |
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Post by Pat on Dec 27, 2020 16:26:19 GMT -5
jasoninsd. Optivisors have a whole set of magnifying eye pieces. I have 3x. 4x. 5x. And 7x. I use the 3x and 4x almost exclusively. You can buy whichever works best for you. One head piece is all you need, but as many eyepieces as necessary. They fit over your glasses. Harbor Freight carries a cheaper version. Some have two eyepieces. Some have a light on each side above the ear. Light setup is removable; it’s heavy., but also fits over glasses.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller 
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,723 
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Post by Fossilman on Dec 27, 2020 21:22:27 GMT -5
Beautiful work..
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Post by jasoninsd on Dec 27, 2020 21:40:11 GMT -5
Thank you so very much. |
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Post by stephan on Dec 28, 2020 10:43:30 GMT -5
jasoninsd . Optivisors have a whole set of magnifying eye pieces. I have 3x. 4x. 5x. And 7x. I use the 3x and 4x almost exclusively. You can buy whichever works best for you. One head piece is all you need, but as many eyepieces as necessary. They fit over your glasses. Harbor Freight carries a cheaper version. Some have two eyepieces. Some have a light on each side above the ear. Light setup is removable; it’s heavy., but also fits over glasses. <SIGH> It might be that time.... |
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cman60
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2019
Posts: 13
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Post by cman60 on Dec 29, 2020 20:04:46 GMT -5
Enjoyed the cabs.
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agatewhisperer
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since May 2020
Posts: 836
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Post by agatewhisperer on Dec 29, 2020 23:40:11 GMT -5
Those are looking really good. Good work!
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Post by jasoninsd on Dec 30, 2020 0:47:37 GMT -5
jasoninsd . Optivisors have a whole set of magnifying eye pieces. I have 3x. 4x. 5x. And 7x. I use the 3x and 4x almost exclusively. You can buy whichever works best for you. One head piece is all you need, but as many eyepieces as necessary. They fit over your glasses. Harbor Freight carries a cheaper version. Some have two eyepieces. Some have a light on each side above the ear. Light setup is removable; it’s heavy., but also fits over glasses. <SIGH> It might be that time.... I broke one of my pairs of reading glasses today...so I had to wear my wife's while in the house. I'm man enough to wear pink! LOL Thank you so much! I'm still working on getting better with each one...and one of these days I'll post some decent pics of the cabs I make! LOL Those are looking really good. Good work! I really appreciate it! I am enjoying figuring a lot of this out. I still get frustrated with certain shapes and materials, but I know that'll all come with time and experience.  |
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Post by stephan on Jan 1, 2021 0:39:57 GMT -5
<SIGH> It might be that time.... I broke one of my pairs of reading glasses today...so I had to wear my wife's while in the house. I'm man enough to wear pink! LOL Thank you so much! I'm still working on getting better with each one...and one of these days I'll post some decent pics of the cabs I make! LOL Those are looking really good. Good work! I really appreciate it! I am enjoying figuring a lot of this out. I still get frustrated with certain shapes and materials, but I know that'll all come with time and experience. I bet you ROCKED the pink (which, incidentally, did not become a “feminine” color until 1970s. Before then, it was “manly”). People are funny. |
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