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Post by stardiamond on Apr 21, 2024 15:50:02 GMT -5
I like to work on the cabs where I don't know how they will turn out first. The Blue Mountain has a surface vug and after grinding the face is not as nice as the back, so I will put it aside. The Super Seven has a high dome and I think it will look better lowered. Low 80's today and tomorrow. Cooling off and rain on Friday. I'll finish some of these tomorrow and that will be it for the week.
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Post by stardiamond on Apr 21, 2024 14:25:54 GMT -5
I dopped 7. The missing one is a super seven already on the dop. New Mexican material, Prudent Man, Morgan Hill Poppy. The last one is from a Blue Mountain heel slab. The bottom is good, but I won't know about the top until after it is ground.
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Post by stardiamond on Apr 21, 2024 11:51:27 GMT -5
Super seven is material with seven minerals and is from Brazil. This cab has some amethyst and cacoxenite.
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Post by stardiamond on Apr 20, 2024 15:19:14 GMT -5
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Post by stardiamond on Mar 28, 2024 15:26:25 GMT -5
One of the nice things about the Genie is the spin on right arbor so a lot of wheel grits can be available with minimal effort. Highland Park has soft wheels in many grits including 14,000 and 50,000. The eight inch are $100 and there will likely be a BF deal at 10% off. They don't charge tax and the shipping is free. I have 8,000,14,000 and 50,000 mounted and 100k diamond paste on a canvas pad. I also have zam on another.
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Post by stardiamond on Mar 23, 2024 15:36:17 GMT -5
I sell enough to fund the hobby. Sales is a validation of a person's work. I decided to set up a Facebook page to sell cabs. I've tried using cab sales pages but it is annoying. The problem with a page is getting people to look at it. One way is the Facebook search. I put seven cab posts on my page and when searching for a particular material my posts are shown. I didn't even bother pricing the cabs. It will take a while to be discovered.
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Post by stardiamond on Mar 21, 2024 14:19:45 GMT -5
I've done enough grinding this week to take today off. Crap weather coming up. I took a picture of the gold sheen obsidian cab that shows the flash.
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Post by stardiamond on Mar 20, 2024 16:54:47 GMT -5
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Post by stardiamond on Mar 19, 2024 21:19:36 GMT -5
I haven't had great results from my purchases from him. He has a lot of followers so can price high. There were/are some sellers on eBay that beautiful material and get high prices on their auctions. I missed out on some good material years ago when I was a hobbyist because expense needs to be controlled.
When I find something of high quality I clean out the seller. I have a little absolutely stunning OJ. I like to shop.
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Post by stardiamond on Mar 19, 2024 18:37:22 GMT -5
This is the Road Cut This one was from Martin Kramer. Some people thought it was Beers Mountain, but Martin knows his rock. I identify Biggs as having a swirly pattern and these are atypical.
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Post by stardiamond on Mar 19, 2024 18:06:14 GMT -5
It isn't age or appreciation. It is supply and demand. Those who have an abundant supply can have a lower price. The best of a material will sell at a premium. When I make a cab I want to use the best material I can afford. I don't collect, so a slab to me is cabbing material. There is a completely different market for collector slabs. I view a slab as a collection of preforms. A slab might be worth $500 to a slab collector and much less to me.
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Post by stardiamond on Mar 19, 2024 17:52:04 GMT -5
The longer I've looked for Biggs the more variations I've seen. There is some appearance overlap between Biggs and Deschutes. There is also Opalized Biggs and Biggs opal. One of the most recent purchases was called Road Cut Biggs. It was brown not the BB associated with road cut.
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Post by stardiamond on Mar 19, 2024 14:32:09 GMT -5
I don't go to shows. Most of my slabs are bought on Facebook. Hobbyists selling to hobbyists. What I pay for a slab is the quality, rareness and how much of the slab will make excellent cabs. Mediocre is only good for practicing. Other than 20 years ago this is a good time to buy slabs.
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Post by stardiamond on Mar 18, 2024 19:52:40 GMT -5
HP Lapidary has had a lot of demos for sphere making. I have to buy all my rough and beside the cost of the equipment the rough for spheres would be expensive so I am sticking to making cabs. Someone who has a lot of rough can convert it to cash faster than cutting cabs.
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Post by stardiamond on Mar 18, 2024 15:06:27 GMT -5
Blue Mountain group shot.
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Post by stardiamond on Mar 18, 2024 14:51:31 GMT -5
Dark and shiny is tough to photograph, so I will try again tomorrow. I got a decent picture of the 40x30 pear. This one was so bad it made me consider another hobby. 100 passes on a wheel would not be too much of an exaggeration. Grind, dry, curse, grind dry curse.... So what did I learn. Two things; leave some material to grind after the aggressive wheel and grind with a not so wet wheel to avoid hydroplaning.
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Post by stardiamond on Mar 18, 2024 12:43:36 GMT -5
There are four domes and the edges are cut with the edges of the wheels, like the notches on a heart.
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Post by stardiamond on Mar 17, 2024 19:38:57 GMT -5
What a frustrating day. I have a top 80 textured wheel that is new and chews rock without chipping. It does leave deep scratches. I worked on three Blue Mountain jaspers today and still have scratches on the largest one. I've made an embarrassing number of attempts including going back to the textured wheel with a light touch. So much grinding my hand started to cramp. Tomorrow is another day.
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Post by stardiamond on Mar 17, 2024 17:08:21 GMT -5
I deactivated my 16" Covington combo saw. Either I don't know what I am doing or the saw doesn't like me. It kept jamming probably because the cross feed drifts. Getting the clutch right is above my capabilities and over adjusting it can ruin it. It is a great saw when it is working right and support is excellent.
I replaced it with a 10 inch HP saw. For years I slabbed with a trim saw 8 inch .032 kerf. The HP is 110 inch with a .032 kerf. I buy expensive material and don't want to donate it to the saw. Most of what I buy is small rough. The HP is slow and reliable and obviously more accurate than my had cutting with a slab saw. The vise goes up and down rather than the usual side to side which. The HP vise requires less material in the vise to hold it in place. I also bought a 14 inch HP that has the same design as the 10. I also bought a HP 14 inch drop saw. I have not unpacked either from the crate. The drop saw is likely the first one set up since it cuts fast and is lighter to put on my work table.
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Post by stardiamond on Mar 16, 2024 16:09:48 GMT -5
I dopped three Blue Mountain Jaspers and while waiting for the glue to dry, I did some more work on the Bruneau and a flat top Montana that also had scratches. Two of my most difficult materials to get clean. I dry and mark with a pencil and still don't see the scratches. In a perfect world, I wouldn't need to keep going back.
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