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 !

I know of one such designer. He is a valued member of my Lapidary forum. Extremely knowledgeable in all aspects of jewelry design.
Michael Johnson of Cosmic Folklore Studios goes well above and beyond run of the mill jewelry designers.

Just like when a designer takes the time to work with a lapidary on a regular basis for unique and unusual gemstones, folks who are truly shopping for interesting and unique jewelry designs also know the importance of looking beyond their immediate community. It is the only way we can own the most interesting of handmade jewelry.

Michael teaches and has a large following of students who attend his valued silversmithing / metalsmithing classes at his studio in Helena Alabama.

I watch Michael’s store several times a week in anticipation of seeing newly added designs within Cosmic Folklore Studios. He enjoys creating pendants, necklaces, rings, earrings, bracelets, and many other interesting pieces.

Michael will tell that it is the Lapidary/gemstone cutter who contributes so much to beautiful jewelry designs. Yes, we do our part, but in the end it is the designer who brings everything together. That is what I like so much about Michael’s jewelry designs. His ability to take unique gemstones and match them up with a variety of metalsmith and silversmithing mediums that result in absolutely stunning pieces.

Maybe you already have a unique gemstone and have a design idea for a piece of jewelry. Or maybe you have an idea for both a type of gemstone mineral and jewelry design, then contact Michael….

I am going to borrow a statement that Michael made about Lapidaries in a recent blog post. As it applies exactly the same when choosing a jewelry designer as well.

“Yes, it may cost more, but it is funny how some people strive to buy the cheapest for the ingredients for their art, when they would never just buy the cheapest car on the lot, the cheapest house in the neighborhood, or the cheapest shoes on the rack.  Some things are just worth the extra it takes to get quality and uniqueness”.

Let me tease you just a bit with a couple of his recent pieces..

Need I say more !

As always, thank you for stopping in and letting me share..

One thing about buying the expensive Orb type Ocean Jasper is that it is hard to find at an affordable price without pitting or vugs. The Ocean Wave Jasper seems to come nice and solid.. Great cabbing material.

One thing I did when shopping for this was knowing I wanted to be able and get as many of the different colored bands that are offered on the slab also within a cabbing area. The dimensions between the colored bands on these will allow me to get three nice colors on a perfect sized cabochon.

If you can not live without this one, you can see it here in store.

Of course if you would like to have one cut for a custom piece of jewelry your designing, just contact me !

Thanks for stopping in and reading !

I just received this pictorial guide to over 150 types of agates and jasper.

“There are many excellent books currently on the market describing banded agates, but there are few with an emphasis on the other structural varieties. There are virtually no current books with images and descriptions of the wide array of fine jaspers presently available. This book tries to fill that void with 240 pages and over 1000 photos and diagrams describing the structural features of both Agates and Jaspers.

It provides an introduction to their genesis, details of their structural characteristics, and a multitude of macro and micro photographs. It’s a stating-point for some of the current theories of their formation, and contains references to more in-depth studies.

No other variety of material offers so many combinations of patterns and spectral colors. Sit back and now an enjoy the complexity and beauty locked within these stones.” (Taken from the rear cover)

I am really enjoying this excellent book, and just wanted to share it here..

Can be ordered via www.theimage.com or www.theimagebooks.com

Wanted to share a really neat tutorial on how to set a square gemstone cabochon by one of our forum members, Bob of Bobs Premium Cabs shared with us.

Bezel setting a stone with sharp corners is somewhat more difficult than an oval because if it isn’t done properly the excess metal puckers at the corners.
Bezel setting is often called a “rub” over setting. This is because some people use a burnisher to “rub” the bezel “over” the stone. It is quite difficult to do this because you can’t get enough pressure especially in the corners to fully push the bezel over the stone. Because the surface of the burnisher is polished it also makes it more difficult to control the burnisher.
There is a bezel pusher that has a round wood ball handle with a small square metal rod to push the bezel over. It has such a small surface that it introduces dents and creases in the bezel.
My favorite tool is a bezel rocker. It is a wood handle with a metal blade. See full tutorial here……

The very first example for me was black Tourmaline in quartz.

Then as a result of choosing a rutile Quartz for this cabochon contest this Gold Titainium Rutile in Quartz is only my second experience with rutile minerals. Here is a pic of the piece I sliced off the rough and the finished cab I got from it. Very hard to work with. With this Titainium the rutile ran not only up and down, but also from front to back. Difficult to orientate and think ahead about the final cab shape and utilize the rutile in the very best way possible.

This was a lot of fun and in the end very rewarding. Very pleased with how this Gold Titainium turned out. I am actually very motivated to do more rutile minerals. Although what I realize now that I am shopping for more is that quality rutile minerals of any kind are very expensive. The above black Tourmaline in Quartz as an example is next to impossible to find with any good concentration of rutile. Same with the Gold Titainium. Just can’t find nice material without sacrificing my first born.

I have just recently started to try my hand at silver soldering. Now I catch myself putting some stones aside instead of selling them thinking that sooner or later my soldering and overall designs will be better. So although I did sell all the black Tourmaline cabs from what little rough I had, I am keeping this Gold Titainium one for a future piece.

Actually as long as your here reading this blog entry, if you have or know of someone offering “reasonable” prices on material like this I would sure appreciate knowing about it.  Also more than willing to barter. If you have some that you would like cabbed, would be happy to do it for you in exchange for some of the same!

Thanks for stopping by and reading this entry.

I wanted to try another like 1Rockhounds Biggs Jasper piece with the bezel tape on the outside of the backing. Except I tried another attempt at using flattened wire for the backing again instead of cut out sheet backing.

The order of the images are out of order, but the step are correct.. Hope not too confusing..

Step One Image B shows how I fit the shaped wire to the inside of the stones perimeter. Works out once the wire is flattened out as it spreads.
Any smaller a gauge and I realized that needed a little more flattened surface area to be able and have enough extra room to play with when fitting it to the stones size.

Step Two Image A shows the 12 gauge round wire slightly flattened.

Step Three Image D shows the wire flattened and the perimeter filed to the match the stones outer edge.

Step Four Image F shows the flattened wire ends soldered together.

Step Five Image G and H shows it cleaned up a bit and additional filing to the inside of the flattened wire so it is somewhat uniform in shape on the inside.

Step Six Image I shows the bezel tape shaped to the outside of the flattened wire backing with the ends soldered together. It only took me three tries to get this part right ! Also important to file down any excess solder on the inside of the bezel tap joint. Otherwise will have problems when trying to solder it to the outside of the backing.

Initially I use a fairly stiff wire bristle wheel followed up with the 3M bristle discs. These discs work well..

Step 7 Image K.. I like to use silver solder paste for filling the space between the bezel tape and backing. Just seems to work nicely. I am sure any other solder would work just fine.

Step 8 Image L is from the back after soldering the tape to the backing. One problem I had was the flattened wire ends came apart and became un-aligned (lower right of image L). I tried to re-heat and press back in place but it would not budge. Stuck with it as it is.. It also resulted in not having a completely nice flat backing after sanding the whole thing on a flat surface.

Images M and N are after I used bezel pusher followed up with a burnishing tool to press the tape against the stone.

This is where things went further South on me too. As the bezel pusher created little indentations that I could not smooth out with the burnishing tool. Next time will pass on using the bezel pushing tool and just use the burnishing tool.

This was because I did not fit the outside of the backing “perfectly” to the outside of the stone. The result was extra gap that forced me to push the bezel tape further than would have been necessary if it was fit properly to begin with.

On this particular setting I am going to metal glue a bail to the top back once I can order some from Rio. Normally I would solder the bail on, but became impatient and went ahead and set the stone today. Not something will be getting in the habit of doing in the future… Just got in a hurry to see how it was going to look and knew I could not order any bails for a while.

Had been making some with fair success, but going to start spending a few extra dollars on some nicely finished ones from now on..

The end results show I need more practice !!

Thanks for reading and feel free to share any of your own soldering trials, tribulations or even successes with me !

That has changed. Another recent evaluation shows that I am going to loose some where between 20 and 30% of monthly income.

What was once a casual and non stress business/hobby now has to be picked up a notch !

Where I once was not quite as concerned about expenses and inventory, I now have to pay much more attention to even the minor details. I use to not be quite as concerned about what the competition was up too, now it is key to the difference between a potential sale and a sale.

I am very grateful that I have a good online presence. So it’s not like I have to build that from scratch.

Pricing is going probably be the biggest issue. I am pretty sure all will be well. It’s just the realization that I have to treat this much more like a business, and really concentrate on things. The online tools are there…

Realizing my own personal changes as a result of stock market issues, and or just the overall recession that we are all finding ourselves dealing with just what other consideration are important.

What about the jewelry designer experiencing similar situations. Cutting costs and expenses. Making every penny count.

What that in itself means to someone like myself who supplies them. It feels like a potential chain effect. Designers are going to be looking for the very best pricing and also the very best quality to go with it.

I also have just started to try my hand at designing my own line of jewelry. My last online order for silver and misc supplies made me pay close attention to what I was buying. What do I absolutely need, what can I make due with a little less of, etc…  So I am getting a taste of what a professional jewelry designer might be experiencing in these tougher times.

I feel that what was a high end cabochon will have to come down in price to be competitive and affordable to designers who are in the same boat as I am.

They are not going to want to cut corners on stone quality. So I am expecting some serious price reduction to make the sales to them.

Truth is, I am ok with that. As a cutter, there is room to reduce pricing on even the highest end cabochons and still profit.

Not sit on gemstones because my ego insists that it is worth something more. I would rather sell those stones and make a little less.

As a cutter, and or designer, are you finding the recession effecting you in similar ways. If so what kind of change are you presently or do you foresee making to be competitive and still profitable for your business.

I would very much like to hear your expectations as a designer who is feeling the pinch as a result of the markets, job loss, and other things that are a result of the recession that our Country is in and how it may be effecting your online business activities.

Maybe your like myself. Finding yourself in need of taking what was more of an online past time or business/hobby into a more serious online business to supplement your income.  Maybe even actually in hopes of  turning it into a serious and primary source of income.

What can a cutter like myself do to help you make your jewelry more competitive to your customers in these difficult times when people are thinking twice about spending their extra money on jewelry.

There are options, including possibly buying in quantity and obtaining discounts that way. Dealing with a single lapidary shop like myself can and will result in substantial discounts. Repeat customers are of great value. We are likely to offer discounts based on repeat business. Purchasing rough yourself and sending it to my shop is another way to save towards gemstone purchases. Bartering has always been highly recommended method of two businesses getting what each needs and can both profit from in the short term.

Thanks for stopping in and reading !

“Undercutting” occurs when softer grains in the rock grind down faster than the harder grains and you end up with a pock-marked effect – some people call it an “orange peel effect. Look at the way the peel on an orange has hollows in it. Picture the hollows as spots where softer grains ground down faster than the surrounding harder grains. Undercutting happens when you have a lapidary material that consists of more than two minerals where there is a significant difference in hardness or the rate that the material will be removed varies significantly because of the differences in hardness within the mineral. It is the structural characteristics that make certain minerals susceptible to “undercutting” and an “orange peel” surface effect.

The effect is more pronounced when using loose grits because the grits can move about, with both individual grains of grit able to move into attitudes where they have “high spots” that grind into the soft grains of the material, and the grains can pile up into little clumps that also sit higher than the surrounding grains – doing their cutting deeper into the soft grains of the stone being worked. Grinding wheels can have similar difficulties because they tend to wear down unevenly – leaving some high spots and/or grains that will undercut the softer materials in a stone. Using sandpaper reduces the effect significantly because all the grains are glued onto the backing in a relatively level fashion – not much chance for grains of grit to end up sticking up higher, or for clumps of them to form and grind deeper into the stone. But as sandpaper wears you can end up with loose grits on it that will cause undercutting, so it is probably best to change the paper at the first signs of trouble – and not use old, worn sheets at all for any material that is prone to undercutting.

The best way to avoid undercutting in materials prone to this is to use sandpaper instead of loose grits or grindstones. And it may still take you a while to come up with the best combination of sanding grits and polish to get the best results: Not all sandpaper is created equal.

Hard felt polishing surfaces are especially recommended for opal, agate and other materials.

Remember too that no degree of polishing will correct a stone which undercut during sanding.

What about possible solutions?

A preform cutting and grinding guide assembly can be used in conjunction with Graves and Diamond Pacific cabochon machines. The Graves grinding or cutting guide assembly can be integral or attached to a cabbing machine.

The reason I mention this particular tool, is because of of “cams”, undercutting is eliminated because the cab is forced to shape to the contour of the cam. The softer mineral compositions in the stone can not undercut the harder compositions, and the harder compositions also have to conform to the shape of the cams. These cams can be home made into any shape to match desired cabochon preforms from any semi-precious mineral that you expect undercutting issues with. Not to mention of course any other semi-precious material as well.

Here is the limitations though.. It is strictly for preforming. It does not solve dealing with surface undercutting.

Preformer Attachment:

Made by the Graves Company. Take the guess work out of shaping and sizing cabochons and faceted stones. Simply assemble the proper cam, turn the handwheel and the preformer will guide the grinding of the stone to the precise size and shape of the cam. Easily adapts to most grinding and faceting machines. For special sizes or shapes, machined metal or nylon cams can be made in your own workshop.

Here is one of a couple of actual semi-cabbing machines that will deal completely with undercutting for the entire cabochon.

A Colbaugh Semi Cabbing unit. It provides me complete semi-cab forming opportunities. It too incorporates the use of cams ( shown below in first pic ) that allow me to overcome potential undercutting of any semi-precious cabochons.

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Another similar unit is the Addexton Semi Cabbing unit. Similar operating procedures as the Colbaugh unit.

I brought these two units up only to offer possible solutions to dealing with semi-precious minerals where undercutting is an issue. Not meant to promote by any means.

One of the many minerals I have ran across where undercutting was unavoidable, as an example was this Azurite/Malachite with Quartz. It matters not what ya try to do, the Azurite/Malachite undercuts the Quartz. For myself it has been these Quartz and or Gem Silica mixed minerals that I have had most all my undercutting problems with.

You can see a finished cab here cut from the slab clearly showing the Quartz and or Gem Silica. The semi-cabbing machine deals well with the combination of the softer Azurite/Malachite prone to undercutting the much harder Quartz veins, leaving a nice smooth surface.

I have searched high and low online and have yet come across a technique that will aid and or overcome undercutting when working similar materials freehand on a cabbing machine.

One mineral I did run into with undercutting suggestions was for the different types of Jade.

The fibrous texture of jade and variation of hardness are the reasons for its reputation as a problem. Apparently some Jade can be sanded dry and works up beautifully. Other material in its final sanding begins to undercut. When this happens, it is suggested to stop immediately and try a new approach. First, a final sanding on a new piece of 600 cloth. Many times this will correct the difficulty and after a few moments the cabochon will be smooth, free of under-cut or peel, and appear almost polished.

Feel free to comment on minerals that have proven difficult for you to work, and undercut on you.

Also…… Please leave tips and tricks comments that you suggest to overcome undercutting while cabbing freehand.

One of my recent pieces started out so well…… I was smiling through the entire process of shaping and soldering the three step bezels for this three piece necklace.

Then came the last two solders for the little bails on the top of the two hanging pieces. That is when disaster set in ! After three or four attempts the metal became so oxidized that they became unusable.

Both of the bails kept falling off, and had to re-heat and try again.

On the last attempt on one piece, it was such a disaster, that I melted part of the bezel !

Your first question to me is probably asking if I used one of the 3rd arms with clamps. That was in fact the root of the disaster. I was trying to hold them in place with a pair of pliers in one hand and the torch in the other. I had overheated the clips on a previous project so they lost the springy ability to clamp.

I was impatient and, well….. the results show it !

I do not have enough of the same matching step bezel to give it another whirl yet. Next Rio order !

Just felt like sharing my recent disaster. Hopefully I can return with a positive update once I get some more bezel tape !

Thanks for reading. Maybe you have a similar soldering disaster to share ?

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