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Saw this link on the Aussie Sapphire website and thought i would share it. http://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2017-06-19/zebra-rock-mining-company-chooses-to-protect-rare-deposit/8540958

Well it has taken a while, but i have finally cleared out the garage enough so i could start bringing my lapidary equipment in. Decided since i was in close proximity to the laundry to hook the grinders up to mains water. So far so good, just have to be careful not to turn the tap on too hard :o...

A good friend of mine is looking at selling his 14 inch auto feed lapidary slab saw and asked if i would post it up here. Comes with blades, belts, motor, stand, 12 volt fuel pump for cleanouts, i believe diesel for cutting(if wanted), chain for vice (for cutting geodes or other rounds) and...

I was visiting a friend yesterday, when he showed me a cooking pot with some brown liquid in it. On closer inspection i saw it had rocks in it. When we started pulling out the rocks some beautiful color appeared. He explained to me that it was fairy opal and he was treating it with sugar to...

I was lucky enough to be given a piece of rainbow obsidian to cut up recently. I found it very interesting as the outside was a grey with a sharkskin like texture from the flow banding, but as it was slabbed some beautiful colorful banding started to appear. Hope i can manage to keep the colour...

Have just finished my first stone and set it in a blank ring. The cut is mulders box and the stone is cubic zirconia. I was trying for a 7mm square, but the finished stone was about 7.2. I was quiet happy for my first go, but still have a long way to go.

Getting close to christmas i have started trying to make a few presents for family and friends. Not being able to afford to start silver work yet i decided to try some blank findings, the first couple seem to have come out ok.

The Illawarra lapidary club will be holding a jewellery, gems and minerals festival this weekend sat 5th and sun 6th of November. Should be a good day out. I hope to be there Sunday.

Here are a few bits i have been playing with recently.

Have started cutting some of the thunder eggs i won at auction. It has been great fun seeing what is inside.

G'day all. Sat down last night and started my first stone on the new machine. Had a few hicups along the way, but was impressed with what i ended up with. The bottom of the stone had already been started as some sort of brilliant cut, so i transfered it and started the top. Cut the facets in...

G'day all, just wondering if it matters how far the dop stick sits out of the quill in a faceting machine? The few dops i have machined so far, i have made to the size of the only dop that came with the machine, which was about 68 mm in length. This leaves roughly 30 mm coming out of the quill...

Managed to convince my better half to head to an auction on the weekend. Had some lapidary equipment and rock lots. Managed to get a couple of rock lots as well as a couple of other bargains, but missed out on the cabbing grinder I had gone down there for and a lot of bolder opal with some tiger...

Just thought I would put up a few pics of some bits and pieces i have picked up recently. Nothing special, but interesting to me. Managed to con the wife into going for a drive to look for some rocks the other day. She ended up finding a nice sliver of agate. Not much colour and has a crack...

Managed to pick up a second hand Agate master 12" slab saw and what I think is a flat lap today. The saw works , but needs to be cleaned and have a bench made to put the saw on and mount the motor under. Paid $300 which seemed like a reasonable price. The flat lap works, though I broke the belt...

Just saw this on the news. Still have to test the rock in question, but what are the odds. http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/world/meteorite-kills-man-in-south-india-authorities-say/ar-BBpfL74?ocid=spartandhp

Cut the ends off of a few of my larger bits of jasper today. I had planned on trying to get a few slabs of each to cab with. The green piece seems fine but the other two show a fair bit of fracturing. Any thoughts on if it would be worth trying to slab, or if I am wasting my time?

Recently started a batch of rocks, mostly jasper and petrified wood. Even though most were well rounded, I started off on the course grind stage to see what they would look like with a bit taken back. Everything seemed like it was going fine until the polish stage. In pre-polish a few stones had...

Went to the lapidary club for my first class this morning, was hoping to use some of my jasper but as it was not ready to work on and needed cutting. I was lucky enough to get given a few small bits so I could have a go at cabbing, whilst a few bits of jasper are prepared for next time. Managed...

G'day all, have a small group of rocks I picked up at Kangaroo valley that have me scratching my head a little. Anyone seen any like these? The first has some interesting marking on the top. When I first picked it up I assumed it was from forming around crystals and minerals, but when I looked...