Latest projects

[Eu_citzen]

Oregon sunstone, 1.58 cts I think it was.


And here's a small jewellery project my old man and I did. I cut the stone, a light coloured amethyst.


A SRB in a smokey quartz, self collected.


And a re-cut of a colour shifting garnet. The white balance is offset on purpose to show the shift in colour on the second picture.

 

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[Cariboo5]

Excellent....garnet sure looks nice...

 

[Eu_citzen]

They do! Many think garnets are "cheap" gems, not all are. A underestimated group of minerals.

 

[curious kat]

Those are very pretty EU...thanks for sharing them with us!

 

[MrLee]

Very nice EU.

 

[mamabear]

beautiful work! where did you dig your smokey quartz? & I have always wanted to dig at the sunstone site. The finds have been exquisite

 

[JohnnyFlake]

Beautiful work my friend!

What set up do you use to cut your stones? Can you show a pic of same?

 

[Eu_citzen]

beautiful work! where did you dig your smokey quartz? & I have always wanted to dig at the sunstone site. The finds have been exquisite

I found this piece at Jokkmokk, northern Sweden. A couple of years ago now.

Thanks Johnny, I use a Raytech Shaw with Gearloose laps. (batt, mainly)

The machine:


And the hand piece: (you can see a stone glued to a dopstick on the left part of the hand piece)

 

[JohnnyFlake]

I found this piece at Jokkmokk, northern Sweden. A couple of years ago now.

Thanks Johnny, I use a Raytech Shaw with Gearloose laps. (batt, mainly)

The machine:


And the hand piece: (you can see a stone glued to a dopstick on the left part of the hand piece)

WOW!, That is a very nice set up. I'd like to get, kind of a starter set up and see what I can do, and if it's for me. Problem is, I have no idea on how to put together a starter set up.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Well, Johnny, I'll try to summarize this then.

First of all you obviously need a machine. Get the best you can afford - I didn't and it caused a lot of frustration. (and a few hours in the workshop)
Many consider Ultra Tec and Facetron as excellent, to give you a few pointers. I haven't tried them.

In addition to the machine you need a loupe, 10x triplet corrected and achromatic. Or in other words, don't get some chinese crap.
Bausch and Lomb, Gemoro are a few good loupes. The chinese (OFTEN) have poor depth of focus - meaning a lot tends to be blurry.
Below is what a loupe looks like.


You need dopsticks, the rocks you cut are attached to these during cutting. What dopsticks you get depends on the machine.
Sometimes there is a bunch included. Dopsticks from my machine:


Then of course you need laps. Laps is what do the cutting, basically they replace large scratched with substantially smaller ones until you can't see them anymore. (there's more to this - but just a quickie here)

When looking for laps you need to know if you can use 6" or 8" laps on your machine.
You need 3-4 laps.
360 for roughly grinding the rock into shape. (often used for "pre-forming")
600 for main cutting, everything is now moved close to where it should be)
1200 or 3000 for pre-polish
Then you need one or two polishing laps.

Google for Gearloose or batt lap, I use almost exclusively his laps myself. You can get advice from him to.

Here are a few laps:


The last and often most challenging thing is to find good rough, like those below:


I hope that gives you an overview!
What exactly you need in the end depends on what you get with the machine. Sometimes a few laps are also included.

 

[TJE]

Wow! Great info/pics Eu c, that's gotta be some tedious work you do!..Very nice!

 

[JohnnyFlake]

Well, Johnny, I'll try to summarize this then.

First of all you obviously need a machine. Get the best you can afford - I didn't and it caused a lot of frustration. (and a few hours in the workshop)
Many consider Ultra Tec and Facetron as excellent, to give you a few pointers. I haven't tried them.

In addition to the machine you need a loupe, 10x triplet corrected and achromatic. Or in other words, don't get some chinese crap.
Bausch and Lomb, Gemoro are a few good loupes. The chinese (OFTEN) have poor depth of focus - meaning a lot tends to be blurry.
Below is what a loupe looks like.


You need dopsticks, the rocks you cut are attached to these during cutting. What dopsticks you get depends on the machine.
Sometimes there is a bunch included. Dopsticks from my machine:


Then of course you need laps. Laps is what do the cutting, basically they replace large scratched with substantially smaller ones until you can't see them anymore. (there's more to this - but just a quickie here)

When looking for laps you need to know if you can use 6" or 8" laps on your machine.
You need 3-4 laps.
360 for roughly grinding the rock into shape. (often used for "pre-forming")
600 for main cutting, everything is now moved close to where it should be)
1200 or 3000 for pre-polish
Then you need one or two polishing laps.

Google for Gearloose or batt lap, I use almost exclusively his laps myself. You can get advice from him to.

Here are a few laps:


The last and often most challenging thing is to find good rough, like those below:


I hope that gives you an overview!
What exactly you need in the end depends on what you get with the machine. Sometimes a few laps are also included.

WOW!

That is super good information. Thank You!!!

Now I have the info I need to do some research and window shopping and maybe put together a beginner setup. Off the top of your head, about how much will it cost to get started with moderate priced equipment?

 

[Eu_citzen]

Johnny:
New Faceting machine about 2500$
4 laps* (360, 600, 3K and a polish lap) 300-400$
Dops Depends on Machine

*There are times when you can rely on only 3 laps, but I advise against it because as a newbie it's likely you'll damage a lap before you get used to cutting.
A whole lap has more surface area to cut on, so damaging one section isn't the end of the world.

Machines that are sold with more parts can tend to run up to 3000$, but usually come with a bunch of dops and other useful stuff.
If it's cheaper? I don't know. You'll have to do the math.

Many do by the way advise against buying used. because you don't know how they've been used (or misused).
The wear and tear on a misused machine can drive you nuts, I speak from experience.

The prices of rough varies greatly, but I recommend garnets for practice. Easy to polish and cut, usually cheap.
I know a reliable source of rough, PM me and I can send his e-mail.

 

[Eu_citzen]

I feel the need to add another thing. if there is a lapidary club in the area there is usually the possibility to join and try cutting, faceting and such.
It's a lot of money if you want to see if it's for you should you choose to buy a machine. (although, yes, it can pay for itself by selling cut gems)

 

[JohnnyFlake]

I feel the need to add another thing. if there is a lapidary club in the area there is usually the possibility to join and try cutting, faceting and such.
It's a lot of money if you want to see if it's for you should you choose to buy a machine. (although, yes, it can pay for itself by selling cut gems)

Thanks for both of your last posts. Again, very good information for me to digest. I'll need to do some window shopping and get an idea of what's out there. I have not been able to locate a club in my area yet, but I have only made a half ass effort. I'll do more Google checks.

 

[Eu_citzen]

I had the same problem. Nothing like that close by.

If that doesn't bring it the last resort before investing in your own machine is to find a faceter close by. They often have websites you can find.
If you ask kindly you may join them for a day or so. I've hear some that got a apprentice style relationship that way.

A faceting machine, otherwise, is usually quite price stable. They sell quick and fairly easy in my experience.

 

[JohnnyFlake]

I had the same problem. Nothing like that close by.

If that doesn't bring it the last resort before investing in your own machine is to find a faceter close by. They often have websites you can find.
If you ask kindly you may join them for a day or so. I've hear some that got a apprentice style relationship that way.

A faceting machine, otherwise, is usually quite price stable. They sell quick and fairly easy in my experience.

Thanks again!

 

[Eu_citzen]

No problem.