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Post by stardiamond on Jul 6, 2023 10:45:01 GMT -5
I've read about people stacking saw blades with cd's between them for spacers. Make whatever width you want. I've heard that too, thanks, that might be the most aggressive grind money can buy if I take the time to set it up. Idk how to multi-quote on this site but liveoak I checked them out and looks like they have the Galaxy, 8 x 1.5" and 8 x 2" electroplated wheels. Each are $10 more than competitors though. stardiamond looks like an identically mirrored image of Kingsley North's textured wheel. They're only selling it in 6" tho and their price for 6" is higher than KN. Their 8" untextured wheel is $2 cheaper tho. At about the same price as electroplated wheels, the Kingsley North textured wheel is probably the best deal on a wheel for hobby-level material removal IMO. But that extra half inch from the non-textured JewelsNTools/JohnsonBrothers sounds kinda nice too. I've bought quite a few of the Lithuanian wheels and they are more aggressive than DP. for 8 inch wheels: jadecarver.com/product-category/grinding-wheels/
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Post by stardiamond on Jul 5, 2023 20:09:52 GMT -5
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Post by stardiamond on Jul 5, 2023 16:33:17 GMT -5
I paid $28.93 for this parcel expecting to get more for a cab made from the little slab. The parcel arrived today and I took pictures. The little slab with the knife edge is smaller than I expected. I tried photographing the two slabs in one picture but the large picture looked like the listing picture. I put it on stand with an ott lite and the picture looks like the slab. The slab I wanted from the parcel was not as good as expected and the other one much better. He would have got more for the parcel with good pictures.
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Post by stardiamond on Jul 4, 2023 18:37:41 GMT -5
I don't know Ochoco and a lot of other mosses. HC has a looser pattern.
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Post by stardiamond on Jul 4, 2023 17:05:52 GMT -5
Badger pocket sycamore is becoming harder to get since the area where it is found is no longer accessible. It's on my list of materials that I search for. This is a slab I got in April. It is atypical and interesting. I have a customer who buys most of my badger pocket cabs. I decided to send her a picture of the marked slab before cutting. I trimmed up some other preforms at the same time; Blue Mountain, Cave Onyx and MMM.
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Post by stardiamond on Jul 4, 2023 12:41:12 GMT -5
Looks more like a top ten buffet.
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Post by stardiamond on Jul 4, 2023 11:52:18 GMT -5
There is a lot of lapis being offered by fb sellers that I buy from. The Highland Park zoom rough auctions had a ton of lapis for sale. From scraps to boulders. I don't buy lapis so I can't evaluate their prices. The stuff was being gobbled up.
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Post by stardiamond on Jul 2, 2023 10:26:01 GMT -5
Deschutes has a lot of different looks. Some of it similar to Blue Biggs and some very different. I am very familiar with it. I am not nearly as familiar with Royal Sahara variations. The material I've bought is darker. A Deschutes cab I made. Working Deschutes vs Royal Sahara is very different. Royal Sahara is much harder. Deschutes has a smell when being ground. My only comment on FB was that it looked like Deschutes, not that is Deschutes. His response on FB was that they can look similar and then he blocked me. The id is not relevant. He changed it so he wasn't absolutely convinced. His behavior was unacceptable.
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Post by stardiamond on Jul 1, 2023 22:18:47 GMT -5
I saw this on fb described as Royal Sahara. I commented that it looked like Deschutes and the seller got pissed at me. A customer asked me if I had picked up any Blue Biggs slab. I decided to go to ebay and look for Blue Biggs and Deschutes. While looking, I found this on Ebay listed as Deschutes. I sent the seller a message about this and his response was that he banned me on FB and that I was causing him trouble. He was clearly unhinged and I replied that I didn't expect a response to what I just wrote and if I got one I would send the message string to ebay.
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Post by stardiamond on Jul 1, 2023 19:23:39 GMT -5
stardiamond So is your trim saw already set up with water coolant, and maybe a water conditioner additive? Or are you draining oil, using water just to do a bunch of these soft rock cuts, and then refilling with oil? My trim saw is filled with oil. Maybe a little tile saw could be an option for water cuts. 🤔 I have an Highland Park reboot 10 inch slab saw. It has .032 kerf which is the same as my Genie trim saw attachment. The Genie is designed to work with water and an additive. The HP10 is designed to work with oil. I have an HP14 reboot that needs to be uncrated and set up. It is the same design as the HP10. I have only one large Mookaite piece of rough that requires a larger saw and I have no immediate need for Mookaite slabs. Most of the large rocks I cut were done on my 16 inch Covington saw and I have cut a bunch of slabs. Any large rough that I would buy would be too expensive. Those of you who are lucky enough to self collect can really benefit using a large slab saw. I have to buy all my rough.
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Post by stardiamond on Jul 1, 2023 18:55:04 GMT -5
Converting to water is likely a bad idea. The blades last longer using oil.
I have the eight inch Genie trim saw attachment which uses water with an additive; water aid (DP) lube-cool, kool-lube. The blade is an 8 inch mk303.
I bought a used slab similar to yours on the internet. It was supposed to be 10 inches but was likely an 8 with a 9 inch blade. It used oil. The gravity feed was useless and I ended up pushing the material through which is hard on blades.
I used my Genie trim saw for many years doing small slabbing and bought a lot of blades. The Genie blade has a one inch arbor and they charge a premium for that over the standard 5/8. I now buy generic 303 blades and ream them out to an inch. The only relevant for you is that the generics are cheaper than the mk and do a good job.
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Post by stardiamond on Jul 1, 2023 18:53:30 GMT -5
posted on wrong topic.
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Post by stardiamond on Jul 1, 2023 16:09:55 GMT -5
I cut small, soft, rough like variscite and chrysocolla with my trim saw using water. Too much waste and breakage using a slab saw.
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Post by stardiamond on Jun 30, 2023 19:35:41 GMT -5
I saw this on fb described as Royal Sahara. I commented that it looked like Deschutes and the seller got pissed at me. I found this on Ebay listed as Deschutes. Since I don't think there is a scam involved. The seller decided I was right. I went through my fb notifications and his response to my comment is gone. Never bought form him before and unlikely to in the future.
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Post by stardiamond on Jun 30, 2023 17:19:58 GMT -5
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Post by stardiamond on Jun 30, 2023 14:19:17 GMT -5
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Post by stardiamond on Jun 29, 2023 13:02:46 GMT -5
Jellybean, Paisley agate, Luna and Tahoma. I cut the Tahoma with the seam to get a larger cab and the edges told me that the pattern was deep. I'll start grinding of the matrix and if the pattern looks good I'll flip it otherwise I'll use a flat lap to level it.
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Post by stardiamond on Jun 29, 2023 12:30:28 GMT -5
I have/had two slab saws, a Covington 16 inch combo and a 10 inch HP. The Covington had a clutch system that would cut fast through softer material and slow down to clear harder material. My HP is fixed rate feed. The Covington could like a bat out of hell. The HP is much slower and should do fine on harder material. I'm retiring my Covington and have an HP 14 waiting to be set up.
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Post by stardiamond on Jun 27, 2023 17:00:39 GMT -5
The Guadalupe jasper arrived.
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Post by stardiamond on Jun 26, 2023 15:26:21 GMT -5
Snap. Started out as a pear and it fractured. Matrix in the nose that was crumbing. Truncated until it was solid. Pop. Started out as an inverted shield. I went caveman on the grinding and blew out a sphere on the left side. The large poppy and the Luna were preforms the rest were scraps.
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