Linna had posted some pics of some beautiful looking Wonderstone.

We started talking a bit on Facebook. I had commented about one and only polishing experience, and had mentioned how a member of my forum had success with a Holy Cow and vinegar mix for polishine this particular mineral. Linna then asked if I would mind doing a little experiment for her and compare a final polish using tin oxide on one cab, and the Holy Cow/vinegar mix on another so she might be able to share how to potentially aquire a nice polish on what is normaly a difficult material.

Turned out to be a neat experiment and really changed my perception on purchasing more Wonderstone for future cabbing !

Of course shared the outcome within a thread on the forum too. Here are a few comparison pics. The shield cab is a tin oxide polish verses the oval that I used the Holy Cow/vinegar mixture. Which by the way is mixed the same as the oxide. Sort of creamy… I do use a synthetic leather instead of cow or elk hide for my polishing. Same here..

Linna wrote a great little article about our little Wonderstone polishing experiment as well..

As of this blog entry I am pretty sure that Stone Age Industries is still offering a few remaining slabs of this Wonderstone. It is worth noting that I noticed these slabs were quite a bit higher quality than the material I had previously worked. Much more dense than the more porous material I have seen.  Even just using the oxide polish, the end result was much better with these particular slabs of theirs.

I was left with enough remaining material from these two slabs that pretty excited about cabbing more for customer jewelry designs as well as my own jewelry !

You can contact Linna at Stone Age Industries for info about available slabs.

Of course if you would like cabbing info from me using this Wonderstone, feel free to contact me as well !

Thanks for stopping in !

As always, what works best for me can be different for someone else. So please critique, add too, point out, or anything else that you find works for you so it can be added here for others to take in.

A lot of this really applies to most any cabbing.

One of the first things I like to take the rough edge off the perimeter of the preform.. I take it down through the 400 diamond bonded wheel. I don’t want to be grinding on it later after I have my doming complete because it will result in changing the girdle height. So all I really want to have to do is touch it up with the silicon carbide stages.

Ok here we go…. ! Smiley

This first clip shows the grinding down of a bevel. Not a finish bevel. A bevel that will determine the girdle height and also the outside/lowest part of the low dome. Depending on the size of the cab or rather the surface area will depend on how little you will need to bevel. You can get away with a lot less of a bevel because no need for as much doming. A larger surface area will require more.. Make sense ??

No need to actually go though any additional beveling steps for the corners. The bevel from doing the sides will join nicely at the corners.

Here are a couple of pics showing the results. I leave the corners sharp cornered until the very end of the cabbing. Then I will round them off. If for some reason I want the cab to wind up with sharp corners, then I have to pay extra close attention to them as shown a bit later.

This next clip try’s to show how to begin getting the contour of the dome uniform across the entire surface.

A while back someone mentioned how they listened to the grinding. As what ever grit your working progressively removes bumps and ridges the grinding sound will subside into a smooth almost quiet grinding action. Meaning the surface is uniform so to speak with the flat surface of the grinding wheel. So I work each wheel until I can go around the entire surface of the stone to the point where there is really no grinding going on. Hard to explain. Just think about it while your working the surface of the cab. It will come to you !

I noticed that it appears in the clip that I am pressing harder than I actually am.. I am hardly pressing at all and the wheels are running a lot faster than these videos depict.. Just a video thing I guess..

I have come off the initial 80 grit and this step is on the 220, then moving on to a somewhat worn 220.

Again, mostly working the outer part of the surface of the cab and spending little time hitting the inner part or highest part of the dome. Don’t want to grind down what little dome we are working to have in the end. Although I do have to spend a bit of time on the center just so as to include it in the grit processes. Most of the grinding is needed around the outer part of the cab. That is where the ridges were left which is covered more in the clip just following this next one below.

I notice too that my camera crew did not do a great job of showing a lot of the cabbing action.. Hopefully you will get the idea.

This next clip starts out going through the same process except on a 400 grit. Again, listening to the sound of the grinding.. Just like any other progressive grinding or sanding steps.. Need to work it until the previous abrasives grit marks are removed. Pressing fairly lightly.The pic below shows a close up of the problem I run into on the corners.. The accidental excess grinding on them.

This next one shows how sometimes I have to go back over the girdle so as to keep it uniform. Sometimes as a result of going through the grinding process the girdle will become thicker in the center and have to re-bevel and then smooth out the surface a bit. Again.. A bit hard to explain.. Sorry. !

Next I move on to some silicon carbide papers. I start off on the 80 with this agate. Running up through the 220, 400, 600 and finally a worn 600 just like any other hard mineral cab. Other softer minerals, I may skip the 80 and start off with the 220.I listen to the sanding just like I do the grinding..

You can see I have not tried Old Hickory’s belt slipping trick yet.. !

This next one shows rounding the corners.

Finally…, Lets try beveling ! Something commonly seen on a flat or very low domed cab.

After going through all the silicon carbide grits for the bevel and girdle, here are the results !

Be sure to add any suggestions for me here or visit the forum thread and share with us there.

Thanks for stopping in and reading this blog entry !

Here is Bobs Tutorial and of course all credit for this blog entry goes to Bob. He was kind enough to let me add it here to my blog. It is really extremely interesting and the technique he uses with glass and the various tumbling grits is new, unique and not something I have ever seen before.

This is a piece of Woodward Ranch black plume. Often this material has fantastic plumes but it is so dense and black that the plumes don’t show up unless you cut it real thin. If it is thin enough to show the plumes then it is too thin to stand alone as a cab. I started by slabbing is at about 1/16″ thick. I then flattened a slab of translucent light grey agate. Next I flattened the Plume Agate and glued it to the translucent Agate. After the glue set I then ground it on the grinding wheel until it was maybe 1/32″ thick. I then hand lapped it on a piece of flat glass using 220 grit tumbling grit and water. I kept going until he got the plumes that I wanted to show up. Then glued it to a flattened slab of clear Synthetic Quartz. This is what the “sandwich” looks like from the side. The translucent Agate is on the left, the Plume in the middle and the clear Quartz on the right. The two images to the right show looking from the back and front.

At this point I cabbed the “sandwich” , polishing both the front and back.
And now the detail:
1. Use a fairly new piece of flat glass. After you have ground a few slabs on it the center will become dished. I use a piece about 6″ square. Put a pinch of 220 grit abrasive on the glass, wet it slightly and start moving your slab around in figure 8 circles. Keep grinding while adding additional pinches of grit and water as the grit wears down. Stop once in a while, rinse the slab off and dry it. If you have an even frosty appearance with no evidence of saw or grinding marks you are ready to go to the next grit. On a 2″ diameter slab this coarse grind should take about 15 minutes.
2. Rinse the glass thoroughly. Go to the 400 grit step and repeat the grinding activity of moving in a figure 8 pattern until the 220 grit pits are looking much smaller.
3. Repeat the above step with 600 grit.
4. Clean everything up (it gets a bit messy). Set this slab aside and repeat the above steps with the slab that you are going to glue the first one to.
5. Wash the slabs in hot soapy water, rinse them in hot clean water and Don’t touch the surfaces to be glued with your fingers. Using a clean paper towel, wipe both pieces with Denatured Alcohol.
6. Place both pieces on a small paper plate under your “gooseneck” lamp with a 100 watt bulb. Let them heat for about 10 minutes. On a small piece of WHITE paper, mix the two parts of the Epoxy 330 by swirling it together with a tooth pick. Don’t “whip” it together because it will introduce bubbles. From here on bubbles are your enemy! Mix it until you can’t see any swirl patterns in the Epoxy. Mix for one minute more. Slide the piece of paper under the lamp and heat it for about 3 or 4 minutes until the Epoxy mixture becomes rather liquid. The bubbles should have dissipated by this time.
6. This is an important step! Pick up one of the slabs by the edges and scoop some of the adhesive onto it. Spread the Epoxy slowly and carefully trying not to introduce bubbles. Lay it aside and do the same to the other slab. Make sure you are spreading the Epoxy on the prepared sides of the slabs!
7. The most important step! Lay the two slabs together by touching the edges in a “V” and move them together as you squish the Epoxy to the side away from the “V”. This way you are not trapping a big bubble between the slabs. Grip the two slabs betwen the fingers on one hand and slowly apply pressure as you move the pieces a slight amount against each other. Your objective is to squeeze the excess Epoxy and any possibly entrapped bubbles out from between the slabs. When you feel the slabs dragging slightly against each other stop moving them and hold the newly asembled “sandwich” at a steep angle to the bulb in the lamp and look for any entrapped bubbles. If you see any go back to squeezing and moving the sabs to get the bubble worked out to the side.
8. Place the “sandwich” back under the lamp and continue heating for about 30 minutes. Turn the lamp off and go to bed. You’ve worked hard so far and you need a good nights rest!
9. Wake up refreshed and grind or sand the prepared color (plume or whatever) layer down to the desired pattern. Go through the three grits and set this “sandwich” aside. Prepare the final slab surface by going through the above three grinding steps.
10. Glue the two slabs together as above. When the Epoxy is set up hard cab as usual.
A warning! Don’t use 5 minute Epoxy! You don’t have enough working time before it starts to set up!

Here are a couple more pictures showing another example of a very thin slice of Dendritic Agate with a clear backing. Then a side view of the same.

Thanks again to Bob for letting me post this. If you stumbled upon this entry and would like to learn more by following along in the discussion, your certainly welcome to stop by !

Return to main blog page.

This mostly Azurite with druzy mixed with a little Malachite rough I purchased at a local fair. I had been befriending the owner who together with his wife spend the summer setting up their jewelry booth throughout the Pacific Northwest.

He has been rock hounding and cabbing for several years and had brought a few pieces of this Azurite with druzy rough with him this trip.

I had been looking for some druzy material for a customer. One thing for sure. When trying to shop for “druzy”, ya sure don’t want to search the internet using that term. Everyone wants an arm and a leg for decent druzy.

If you spend the time shopping rough, and patiently look closely at certain mineral types, you can find people selling various rough with druzy. They are not selling it with the intent of labeling it “druzy”. It’s the only way that I have found to stumble upon druzy at reasonable prices.

Here is a pic of a piece that was about four inches round. Just for fun, here is a link to a thread within the fourm about this and some other interesting and unique druzy minerals as well.

Any way here are a couple of pics prior to slabbing while trying to also cut out the areas of druzy.

After cutting out the primo areas of druzy and a few nice slabs, began to really start playing !

When we first started talking about druzy on the forum, I began hunting for ideas on shaping cabochons in a way that would let me blend the druzy into the finished cab. Something I was not at all familiar with until I began searching the internet for “druzy” topics and gemstone sites.

As with the druzy rough, the price of a nice cabochon with exposed druzy are rather pricey as well. It’s just my two cents worth, but many seemed overpriced.

Some of the druzy areas had sort of a dirty appearance to it. I am still trying to find out if there is some type of chemical that will remove it. Although I am not entirely sure that beneath the stained area are nice clean druzy crystals, or if what I see here on this cab is just all there is and nothing more.

One other thing I ran into right off the bat was dealing with a lot of porosity. As a result I began experimenting with Opticon, and also some epoxies to fill these pitted areas. I would have to coat the entire surface of the stone and then completely sand that all off without over sanding resulting in cutting right on through the filled pits. Very difficult to do with this soft Azurite mineral.

Here are a couple of pics where you can see the coatings and the attempts to sand them clean. None of them turned out at all. That really narrowed down the amount of quality cabs that were yielded from the entire piece of rough. A lot of the rough was just not working out for cabbing.

Here is probably the best of the Azurite with druzy cabochons that turned out well enough that I was comfortable selling to a customer.

The next thing to try is to accent other minerals with the druzy areas cut from the original piece of rough. Similar to this Imperial Stichtite with the Zoisite crystal accents.

I just cut this high grad Sodolite cab with the same intent. I think may well do the same with it, except use the Azurite druzy in place of the Zoisite crystals in the above set.

I have some of the Azurite druzy areas left over. So if something like this is interesting enough that you would like information about how to have me cut you a gemstone, feel free to contact me for details.

Hope you enjoyed. Be sure to leave any comments. I would enjoy talking more about this or your experiences with similar attempts at these types of minerals and druzies.

I decided to get right to it and try making some necklace and bracelet sets. Since I had a request for a set made from some fossil coral, it seemed like a great place to get started!

I started of of course by cutting some up into slabs. I knew that if I was going to make a nice set, it would have to be nicely matched. So using slabs cut back to back from the same piece of rough, I laid them out and began to cut out pieces in an order that would result in matching the right side of the center piece to the left side of the center piece/pendant.

Here is the results for the first bracelet set prior to drilling and of course prior to shaping so as to be able to drill into a flat surface.

Then moving on to the necklace piece. The request was to make a set like this one, except with drilled holes.
So the process was the same up to when it came time to figure out exactly what angle to drill the holes so that the tooth like stones would hang properly.

After asking for some suggestions, it was agreed to drill at an angle shown on the right set of stones.

So for now, until the vise I ordered shows up, which I hope is Monday, I have things to a point for both the bracelet and necklace sets where I will be ready to drill.

Will make another blog entry as things progress !

Of course if your new to my blog and have not visited our Lapidary / Gemstone Community Forum, you can follow along there too!

Believe me.. I remember all to well. Bought my first combo unit. A Highland Park. It came with one course 80 , and 400 grit diamond sintered wheels. Then on the end of the unit I can attach either a flat metal disc with felt padding and a leather pad over the top. Then I have two other flat rubber padded discs that I can place silicon papers on. I have to use a spray glue that comes in an spray can. I found myself using a 400 grit on one, and a 600 grit on the second.

I also decided to bring home a double sided arbor that I placed expando type wheels on. This let me have the ability to have another 80 and 220 grit silicon carbide papers as well.

Here is my start up equipment, and I still use them every day.

The basic idea was to the best of my ability have some sort of progression of grits and work them to the best of my ability with this limited equipment that I was limited to because of cost.

This combination worked excellent through my first year of cabbing. Truth is I have added a few additional arbor type set ups. The only real reason is for convenience. I do not do anything any differently in regards to progressions between grits now than when I first started except that now with the additional arbors, I can move easily between a greater variety of papers abrasives.

If you can not invest in an additional arbor as I was able too, then you will simply need to spend a little more time removing and replacing various grits of paper out on the one or two wheels that came with your combo cabochon trim saw unit.

We have had several folks join the forum who are in the beginning stages of setting up shop. Like yourselves, I remember all too well having brought my new toys home, preparing a work area, and bolting the equipment to a workbench. I was eager to get started, but just had limited knowledge about how to cab.

One thing you will find, is that you will be working differently with various minerals. I would like to share the most basic steps with a couple of most basic minerals based on hardness.

Again……. this is very basic and there are a great many types of minerals varying in hardness on MOHS scale of hardness from one to ten. Ten being the hardest.

I thought would use a basic Jasper as well as a run of the mill agate for the following guide.

The jasper being about a 5 in hardness and the agate upwards of about an eight. The difference and reason I decided to use the two is because as an example, an 80 grit will leave heavier scratches or a courser surface on a Jasper than will it on an Agate.

Bypassing the entire process of cutting out your preform, and shaping it we are going to get right into the initial grinding. Although, it is important to note the importance of creating at least a slight dome to the surface of your cab. Otherwise you will not be able to polish the cab completely. A completely flat cab will not polish at the center of it’s surface.

Here are the surfaces of both the Jasper and Agate right off a 80 grit diamond sintered wheel. Your initial course grinding tool may be any number of things. From carborundum, diamond, sintered diamond, or maybe your limited to silicon carbide. No matter…..

The surface is going to be rough and will show lines created by the heavy, course grit. One thing to remember as you proceed through the stages of grinding and sanding as well, is that there is no need to press hard against your wheels or paper. Your just going to wear your wheels out sooner and replace your paper out every other day. You will find yourself spending a lot of wasted money on paper belts that should have lasted a long time.

Let each and every grit grind as it will with hardly any pressure applied. I do not work with diamond paper. I am told this is especially true with it though. Other wise a person will spend about 50 bucks a belt real fast if pressure is applied instead of just letting the diamond cut at it’s own pace. Pressure makes absolutely no difference at all.

Now take a close look at your cab prior to moving on to your next grit. I took the agate cab to a 220 grit silicon carbide belt, and the jasper to a 400. The jasper is softer and find that as with a lot of minerals we can skip a grit sometimes. I do not want to remove any more material than I have too.

Work it your stone nice and easy……

View video one for a short glimpse of the Agate on a 220 grit, and view the second video for a glimpse of the Jasper on a 400 grit.

Here is as good a couple of pics of the surfaces for both the agate after being sanded on the 220 and the Jasper off the 400.

You can already feel the difference with your fingers not to mention see the difference as well. It is a dramatic difference. Make it a habit prior to moving on to your next finer paper to inspect closely for any scratches that stand out. Scratches that are obvious and stand out over the course surface as a whole. The surface of the cab should be consistent. If you see a scratch that stands out, continue with the grit you just finished with until you have achieved a surface without any irregular scratches.

Move on the your next finer grits. I moved on to a 400 for the Agate and and a 600 for the Jasper.

A video if you would like to see a glimpse.

Here are the surfaces once the Agate was removed from the 400 and the Jasper off the 600. Again, look closely for abnormal scratches, and any pitting that may show themselves.

You can if you like, take the Agate to the next finer 600 grit paper if you like. I did not find it necessary. But this was just me. Everyone sorta works a mineral a little differently I think. Lots of variables.

I found that the 400 was fine and I was pleased with the surface of the Jasper after it’s round with the 600.

Now I want to do a real fine paper combined with some tin oxide paste. You can use this step like I am showing on a circular wheel or you can do the same with a flat disc that we talked about earlier included with most combination cabbing machines.

This video gives a glimpse of me using a somewhat worn 600 grit paper with the oxide paste. I took the Agate and Jasper through this step. The final sanding step to polishing.

I spent quite a bit of time on this step. More so with the Agate than the Jasper. Again, only because the Agate is softer.

Here are the two stones after some time on this step. The Agate is a bit easier to see the changes in. Only because of the quality of the pictures. Hard to show like I would like to have been able too.

Now we are ready to hit the polishing pad. I have talked before about the use of building up friction while polishing in order to create heat so as to sorta melt the oxides into the stone. This can result in a great shine.

For this tutorial, I would like to have you disregard that theory, and consider working with it as you become more comfortable with the polishing process. There are considerations like cracking of your cab due to the heat.

Continuing with the basics, we will treat the oxide polish just like any other abrasive step.

Take a look at this video clip. It shows the application of the oxide paste to a leather pad. Once I applied the paste as shown in the clip, I leave the wheel running long enough to dry out the paste on the leather polishing pad.

What this does is turn the polishing step into more of an abrasive step. It is dry not wet. Polishing with your oxide as a wet paste on the pad has it’s place too. For this short guide, I am using it dry.

What I am going to do is continue on through the final phase, the polishing phase, but I am using the paste in the same way as I did any other step prior. Letting the abrasive polish in this case in accordance to it’s own grit. Not pressing hard. Letting the oxide polish as it will naturally in accordance to the oxides grit ability. Nice and easy……

Here is a short video clip showing this step. Nice an easy.. Gradually pressing just a little more. Not a lot. Pressing just a little more, but not enough to let the stone develop any heat. Another short video showing the same.

For what it’s worth, these two clips give the impression that the polishing pad is moving sort of slow. In fact it is moving rather fast. I find better results with a faster moving pad than a slow one. I don’t know why the video gives the impression it moves so slow, but I would guess that in fact it moves about twice as fast as it appears in the clips.

Finally, we can see a pretty nice finish on the two cabs we started with. Neither of these have been beveled or had the edges rounded. This short tutorial was just to show basic grinding, sanding and polishing. Another blog entry will be along shortly showing how to complete these cabs in preparation for your bezel and or metal clay type settings.

The truth is that there are variations of these steps. You can find yourself using a worn 400 grit belt instead of a new 600 grit belt as an example. There are many variations, but the end result and the basic process is the same. That is to work through a series of different abrasives that will bring your cabochon to a desired state that you believe will allow you to move from sanding to polishing. Remember too that it is not uncommon to realize that you have to repeat a step. This is discovered as you spend more time sanding. It is a learning process. Just keep at it and have fun.

If you would like to see something specific in the form of a tutorial or guide, please feel free to request it.

Hope you enjoyed this!

All of the cabochons that this person makes are glass and they come from two main processes. The first process she usees for cabochons is lampwork (or torch work). These are made in a very similar process to the beads that I also create and sell. Flameworked cabochons allow for very unique colorations and designs with details that straight fused pieces cannot easily capture. Often, once a piece has been created in the flame and kiln annealed and she will sometimes slump it to a flatter profile, but not always! Some cabs encase in clear so they look like mini paperweights.

The second type of cabochons that she makes are straight fused cabs. These pieces start life as sheet glass and dichroic which she carefully layers directly into a cold kiln. The pieces are then super heated so the glass sheets become molten and reform into a new, patterned piece. This is the process she most often follow when using dichroic glass. Once fired the new pieces may be complete or may be cut up into smaller components and then firepolished for a nice finish. More……..