⭐ Gemstone & Mineral Show n Tell

[silver]

A few rocks
I like how this is segmented, almost like a concretion

Petrified wood, never seen one with the dots before

I forget what the basalt ones with little vaugh's are called

Not very clear, but they are little crystals.
(Thatsthe big hole on the rock above)

 

[Badge]

Beautiful Wally, love the second stone.

Cheers - Better give you another photo of it then

https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...3758_c0b64047-18d0-407f-8b4b-b1963d8c94d7.jpg

WOW, what a brilliant gem. I'm in awe of the work you guys do.
I just finished my first ever stone. A piece of quartz to start. Lots of inclusions so it doesn't matter how bad a job it is.
I haven't got a final polishing disc so used an old CD with some Cerium Oxide. A poor result but my first attempt so I can only improve from here and I do have further polishing supplies on order.
The pics on this thread are giving me inspiration.

 

[Wally69]

Nice start Badge, looks like the sister to my first stone, think I used cerium on a CD as well.

Mine first sits along side my latest stone in my gem box. I did decided to get some tuition a couple of stones in to help my learning curve advance and was very pleased to see the improvement as I learnt how to see, then micro adjust facets, then polish, then fix what I thought was a polish.

Still learning every time I sit down and have a go at a different stone or design..a very rewarding process.

Looking forward to seeing your next one.

 

[Badge]

Thanks for the input Wally. Tuition for me would be about an hour and a half drive each way at a Lapidary Club. Meanwhile I spend hours watching people faceting on Youtube picking up tips as I go. Not all do the same thing the same way so plenty of room for the trial and error method.
I'm not put off by my first go either. The final polish will be my biggest hurdle I think. In fact I'm keen now to get the next one started. I'll keep those gems of your in mind as I progress through the stages.
I only have a 64 index, do you or anyone else think that is all I need or should I look around for a 96 index?
And yeah, I'll be picking brains on here as I go. It's a great source of knowledge.
Cheers,
Badge.

 

[Wally69]

There are more designs using a 64 than I could cut in a lifetime, but that didnt stop me getting a 96. Nothing wrong with having too many toys.

 

[Dihusky]

Great start Badge. :Y: Taking a stone to pre-polish is relatively straight forward, but after that the real challenges start. You will discover there are more opinions on polishing techniques, 'polishing soups' and other mystic equations to polishing than there are Facetors. Don't get me started on the mythical variety of polishing laps, that's a whole different story :awful: To put it simply polishing is the true art and to achieve a flawless polish takes a lot of practice and you may go grey in the process.

That said, the target is to develop a system for quartz and softer stones and one for harder stones. Personally, I use 50k diamond for everything and mainly two different laps, though I do occasionally experiment. There is one lap I haven't used and that's Horst's special alloy CAT Lap, many facetors speak highly of this so it's on my try list.

On with the good work mate.

 

[Badge]

What hair I have left is already grey so I'm in the right game.
I have started on a garnet. It seems to be very fragile but getting there slowly. For the polishing steps I'm trying the Cerium Oxy Laps with better results but still a long way off. I read that a perspex lap can be used with cerium oxide so I got one to try, and I also got a new aluminium lap. I thought the cerium oxide would tear through perspex. Working out how to use each one will take time and on a stone that doesn't crack as easy as this particulat garnet. Maybe the perspex lap for the oxy laps?
Thanks for the tips. This forum is great for getting advice. So far between you and Wally I'm feeling confident I'll get a half decent polish soon.
Cheers.
Badge.

 

[Dihusky]

Garnet?... Now you've launched yourself down a different path, Cerium will polish stones with a Moh of 8 max, so with Garnet having a Moh of 7.5 - 8.5 you're going to hit problems and you will have to go to diamond. If you have either a Pewter, Typemetal or Tin lap in your mix, go for one of these with 50k and a little baby oil. Less is better with diamond. Clean your lap with Eucalyptus oil then 3 or 4 drops of baby oil wiped over the lap, then a couple of drops of powder before smoothing around and a gentle wipe with tissue, what's on the tissue you can use for a recharge.

I've found that too much diamond has a wonderful tendency to scratch badly as it balls up with the gem debris.

 

[Badge]

Garnet?... Now you've launched yourself down a different path, Cerium will polish stones with a Moh of 8 max, so with Garnet having a Moh of 7.5 - 8.5 you're going to hit problems and you will have to go to diamond. If you have either a Pewter, Typemetal or Tin lap in your mix, go for one of these with 50k and a little baby oil. Less is better with diamond. Clean your lap with Eucalyptus oil then 3 or 4 drops of baby oil wiped over the lap, then a couple of drops of powder before smoothing around and a gentle wipe with tissue, what's on the tissue you can use for a recharge.

I've found that too much diamond has a wonderful tendency to scratch badly as it balls up with the gem debris.

oop: I didn't read this post before proceeding.
OK so, as I said a garnet was the project. It now sits a a reminder never to use garnet again. 9 hours on the window.
It cut fine. But I wasn't going to use a good stone on only my 2nd project, just one with lots of inclusions.
And I actually cut around most of them but the one that remained was in the middle of the window. It looked like a big blur, hour after hour, after hour.
My wife says it looks OK from a distance. :brokenh:

Onwards. But back to something cheap without inclusions, like quartz. I've got heaps of it. I don't know what sort of quartz they are but they are all rounded from washing in the creek, and are blackish at one end.
Should keep me busy.

Thanks for the input Dihusky. I'm limited with laps and waiting for new stock to arrive at GemCuts. A copper lap and a tin lap was my intention but willing to look at something else.

Cheers.
Badge.

 

[Martyz]

Dont give up on garnets Badge. Theres a few nice examples on the forum of how well garnets can turn out when done properly.
Here is one example of a beautifully finished garnet that Dihusky cut for me.

 

[Badge]

WOW. No mabe I'll just wait until I've got the experience to take one on again.
That's a great looking garnet Martyz. Dihusky really does great work.
Cheers.
Badge.

 

[Dihusky]

Don't give up Badge, there are many beautiful stones you WILL cut in the future, it's all about learning the skills and with precision work and sometimes temperamental material it can be frustrating at times, we have all experienced it and still do.

The guy that taught me set me a target: Cut a Standard round brilliant, a scissor cut, an oval, a pear, a cushion and an emerald cut. This will cover most of the techniques and different types, though there are more. Use both soft (quartz) and a cheap hard material, can be synthetic like CZ or something like black spinel which really shows polishing problems. Also buy John Broadfoot's book on beginning gem cutting, you'll find it invaluable as it explains virtually everything you'll need to know and answers many of your questions.

Keep at it mate :fistpump:

 

[OzzieAu]

This discussion reminds me of this pair of garnets that I acquired from Lefty, another gem cutter on here.
I had them mounted in silver as ear rings for the wife.... she loves em. :inlove:
Btw whats happened to Lefty, havent seen him here for ages. I used to love seeing the work he posted up. :trophy:

 

[RM Outback]

Very nice Adrian erfect:

X2 regarding Lefty, I miss his creations and input. If you read this Lefty come back mate :beer:

 

[Badge]

Don't give up Badge, there are many beautiful stones you WILL cut in the future, it's all about learning the skills and with precision work and sometimes temperamental material it can be frustrating at times, we have all experienced it and still do.

The guy that taught me set me a target: Cut a Standard round brilliant, a scissor cut, an oval, a pear, a cushion and an emerald cut. This will cover most of the techniques and different types, though there are more. Use both soft (quartz) and a cheap hard material, can be synthetic like CZ or something like black spinel which really shows polishing problems. Also buy John Broadfoot's book on beginning gem cutting, you'll find it invaluable as it explains virtually everything you'll need to know and answers many of your questions.

Keep at it mate :fistpump:

I won't be giving up mate. I've spent to much to throw in the towel now. Plus I do enjoy the challenge. Standard round brilliant first from that list.
And thanks for the advice above. I've got until mid March to work something out with this machine and then it's off looking for some rough up north, and then down to Tingha. I've got three stones on my shopping list. Topaz, Garnet (both FNQ) and sapphire from Tingha where my family come from. Anything else will be a bonus.
Those ear rings look beautiful. If my wife saw them she'd me onto me for a pair.
Cheers.
Badge.

 

[Dihusky]

X3, doesn't look as though Lefty has visited since April 2020, hope he's OK and didn't get caught by the Covid bug :awful:

 

[ktmman]

Lefty has moved onto Facebook, he's still cutting some nice stones.

 

[user 4386]

"I forget what the basalt ones with little vaugh's are called" - amygdales? Crystals lining vesicles (gas bubble holes)

 

[Badge]

I've finally found time to get back to the faceting. A couple of disasters along the way with a couple of garnets so I've come to the conclusion the stones I have purchased are just crap. They crack very easily and the inclusions are never ending.
But I did try a little pale green stone (no idea what it is but is very soft to cut) and a small sapphire that was in one of the containers that came with the machine.
I find it strange that the sapphire cut and polished far easier than the ghost garnets that have haunted me. A few inclusions though.

Still a long way behind you guys but I'm back in the game.

Cheers.
Badge.

 

[Badge]

While I'm waiting for Australia Post to deliver what looks like fairly clean stones to cut (sapphires, citrine, rose quartz) I've been practising on a few other sapphires that were with the machine when purchased. They are mostly very small so I cut a couple of faceted cabachons and this one which was much larger but with 2 (at least) large inclusions.
Cheers.
Badge.