Stabilizing Gold in Quartz?
Mar 24, 2021 16:20:00 GMT -5
broseph82, hummingbirdstones, and 2 more like this
Post by goldfinder on Mar 24, 2021 16:20:00 GMT -5
Hello again all!
I've been having a blast with my old Lortone 6" combo unit.
We recently found a new spot that producing some very pretty gold in quartz that i think might make some delicious cabs/slabs.
Some of the specimens have some fractures/cracks and I'm wondering what would be the best way to go about it. I've seen a post on here about using a resin/epoxy to stabilize fractured specimens. Is that very common or sort of sacrilegious? Will the resin/epoxy take a similar polish/gloss as the quartz?
Or do I just simply let the fractures/cracks dictate what I can cab?
Sorry I'm a complete noob when it comes to rock cutting and I have never attempted a cab before. Any tips or suggestions would be great!!
Here is the type of material in questions, with a few eye candy pics from the same spot thrown in for good measure lol.
This one in a good sized rock (about softball sized) and gives a very good signal on the detector so I know it's potentially packing some stellar looking stuff inside. I don't want to ruin something that likely holds a good amount of valuable and rare material.
This is the piece I cut off the larger rock above.
I was pretty stoked after slicing this one as the black/blue slate/graphite rich material sometimes gives false signals on the detectors.
This one is sort of reminds me of a mountain like Half Dome or El Capitain with little chunks of gold climbing up it lol.
A few slices down from the above pic i intersected a nice pocket of goodness, definitely be best slice yet I'd say. (note the light fracturing though)
Just another pic of another chunk I sliced from this spot.
Any comments or suggestions are greatly welcome.
PS: I'm looking at building or buying a larger saw as it's impossible to cut some of this material with my little 6". If anyone has any leads or any plans they could send me that'd be awesome! Thinking of building something around an 18" saw.
Thanks!!
I've been having a blast with my old Lortone 6" combo unit.
We recently found a new spot that producing some very pretty gold in quartz that i think might make some delicious cabs/slabs.
Some of the specimens have some fractures/cracks and I'm wondering what would be the best way to go about it. I've seen a post on here about using a resin/epoxy to stabilize fractured specimens. Is that very common or sort of sacrilegious? Will the resin/epoxy take a similar polish/gloss as the quartz?
Or do I just simply let the fractures/cracks dictate what I can cab?
Sorry I'm a complete noob when it comes to rock cutting and I have never attempted a cab before. Any tips or suggestions would be great!!
Here is the type of material in questions, with a few eye candy pics from the same spot thrown in for good measure lol.
This one in a good sized rock (about softball sized) and gives a very good signal on the detector so I know it's potentially packing some stellar looking stuff inside. I don't want to ruin something that likely holds a good amount of valuable and rare material.
This is the piece I cut off the larger rock above.
I was pretty stoked after slicing this one as the black/blue slate/graphite rich material sometimes gives false signals on the detectors.
This one is sort of reminds me of a mountain like Half Dome or El Capitain with little chunks of gold climbing up it lol.
A few slices down from the above pic i intersected a nice pocket of goodness, definitely be best slice yet I'd say. (note the light fracturing though)
Just another pic of another chunk I sliced from this spot.
Any comments or suggestions are greatly welcome.
PS: I'm looking at building or buying a larger saw as it's impossible to cut some of this material with my little 6". If anyone has any leads or any plans they could send me that'd be awesome! Thinking of building something around an 18" saw.
Thanks!!
