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Post by taylor on Nov 20, 2020 23:46:52 GMT -5
I have three more pieces started. Two are landscape jaspers and the third is pinolith. Both sides of the first landscape jasper are nice. I am thinking about capping it with glass on both sides. I guess that makes it a triplet. Anyway. How can I expect the glass to behave? Do I need to improve the surface finish of the intarsia before I add the glass? Can I expect the glass to distort the picture when domed?
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Post by taylor on Nov 20, 2020 23:40:15 GMT -5
Larger, I hope, picture.  |
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Post by taylor on Nov 20, 2020 23:36:51 GMT -5
Tips on rectangles? Not really, taylor , just the way I usually do them. Different radius on the dome N-S and E-W so I work on them mainly before cleaning up the diagonals. Tried it the other way around once—cutting the diagonals first—but it didn’t help me any. That makes sense. I started out working each side evenly, but soon decided that just wasn't gonna work. Then I had a ridge at each corner but getting that ridge perfectly straight into the corner of the inner frame seemed next to impossible. |
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Post by taylor on Nov 20, 2020 23:19:39 GMT -5
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Post by taylor on Nov 19, 2020 23:44:54 GMT -5
Its done! Thank you to Mr. Al Sesona for his grinder. Thank you to Mr. Bill Boggs for his excellent book and video. I'm happy with the intarsia part, but any tips on cabbing larger rectangles would be appreciated. The white spot on the right side in the black border is a white spot and not a scratch. Rats!  Thanks for looking! edit--bigger pic |
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Post by taylor on Nov 13, 2020 23:49:35 GMT -5
Welcome from San Manuel!
I recommend the Old Pueblo Lapidary Club. Please see their web site. I believe that the labs are open, but with Covid rules in place.
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Post by taylor on Nov 8, 2020 23:23:37 GMT -5
Welcome!
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Post by taylor on Nov 8, 2020 23:08:52 GMT -5
Congratulations! Awesome cab!
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Post by taylor on Nov 6, 2020 21:27:05 GMT -5
Very nice! Number 3 is intriguing. What is it? #3 is a piece of agatized coral from Georgia. I got that rough from jamesp many years ago. I made a really nice pendant from that same slab. Chuck Thank you! Love the color combination and the subtle pattern. |
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Post by taylor on Nov 5, 2020 23:18:44 GMT -5
Welcome!
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Post by taylor on Nov 5, 2020 22:49:03 GMT -5
Very nice! Number 3 is intriguing. What is it?
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Post by taylor on Nov 5, 2020 22:28:21 GMT -5
We started out with a smaller Lortone tumbler which is still in service ten years later. A few months after we got the Lortone we bought a new MJR for its larger capacity. It ran very fast which makes the stones fall rather than slide producing breakage and bruising. We continued to use it for step 1 periodically. At the most the MJR run time was 10% of that of the Lortone when the barrel wore through. So we replaced the barrel. Five days into the first run with the new barrel the motor died. Simply not enough run time for catastrophic failures.
Our original Lortone ran continuously for the first three years, now it runs about eight months of the year. Shortly after we got the MJR we picked up a small Thumblers. It does a good job, but my wimpy hands have a hard time getting the o-ring over the barrel to seal the lid.
Just our experience with the MJR. If you search this forum for that brand you will find other threads where it is discussed in more detail. Lots of folks here with a lot more experience than me...I read good things here about Lot-O, but I haven't used one. There are a number folks here with home built tumblers.
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Post by taylor on Nov 5, 2020 18:56:44 GMT -5
Can't say it fast 3 times either!  |
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Post by taylor on Nov 5, 2020 15:05:04 GMT -5
Welcome from southern Arizona!
Had a MJR tumbler. Cannot give it a good review. Complete waste of money!
Have had excellent performance from both Lortone and Thumblers.
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Post by taylor on Nov 4, 2020 22:11:33 GMT -5
Thank you EricD for starting this thread. Thank you for the tips, guys. I am also trying to figure out a working process on a vibe lap. I am working on a turritella specimen piece that is too large for my flat lap. Its a thick end cut, perhaps half an inch. The objective is to polish the cut side and keep the rough side as it is...dozens of partially eroded snails. I've got it flat, but polish just isn't happening. HankRocks would you please provide more details on caulk/glue techniques that work and what to avoid? herb do you add weight to the thunder eggs? |
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Post by taylor on Nov 4, 2020 21:38:23 GMT -5
Soft toothbrush and a tiny bit of dish soap. Gently, some of the Leland Blue is very soft.
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Post by taylor on Nov 3, 2020 12:04:28 GMT -5
Your pictures reminded me of our experience running obsidian. After a couple of fails we sorted the obsidian more carefully and got super results. In our case we removed the mahogany obsidian and the opaque obsidian from the rest. We are running rotary and used cerium oxide to polish. We do use plastic pellets. The pellets are dedicated to a "grit." For example one set is used in 600, another set for cerium oxide, and another set for "clean after polish." Good luck!
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Post by taylor on Nov 2, 2020 23:05:33 GMT -5
Welcome from southern Arizona!
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Post by taylor on Oct 31, 2020 20:42:17 GMT -5
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Post by taylor on Oct 27, 2020 16:32:56 GMT -5
Congratulations!!!
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Fortunately it was a very small area! 
