Summer Project Complete

 Every spring I set out with a goal to finish enough rough rock to allow me to replace the cabochons and guitar picks I have sold through the summer in the shop and on line and this year I set out with high expectations because I had beautiful agate and jasper to work with.

I set my Cab King up so that I can use the coarse wheels on the left and also access the trim saw to cut shapes etc..

This actually makes the first stage of rough shaping go much faster. The plan is to take all pieces (this year about 60) through this phase and then remove the trim saw attachment (great saw by the way) and put back the three finishing wheels and polishing pad. And the plan was going perfectly until my sciatic nerve started to really act up and I couldn't stand up long enough to use the machine. So here I was with 60+ unfinished cabs and cold weather approaching. I needed a plan "B".

My wife Vickie (A.K.A. The Real Artist) knows how to use our Lot-O-Tumbler so we decided to finish them with it. The first problem was coming up with a big enough load and we did that by adding smaller, round, polished silicate stones. We sort of picked up where the wheels had left off by going with 600 grit and using more than usual to take into account the larger surface area of the smaller rocks. Normally I go one day on this grit but this time we went two. Vickie then moved on to 1000 grit silicone carbide pre polish and then to tin oxide polish. In both steps we added more grit and went two days. Finally, she did a burnishing cycle with Ivory Soap and again, we used more than normal.

The results were more than acceptable and there was virtually no breakage or damage. Here's how the total load looked.

And here's how it looked when all the round and small stones had been removed.

Now that I look at it, there were probably more than 60 pieces. But I ended up with some great cabochons,

and awesome guitar picks!

Would I go this route again in the future? Probably not simply because I love the process and I think the Cab King finishing wheels do a slightly better job. Also, you can't finish pieces that have crystal druzy pockets this way. But this process had it's advantages. First, it was faster and second it saved the wear on the finishing wheels but most importantly it gave us a way to finish the job with me out of commission!

Shop Update and Opening

Hi all. We have been given permission to open and our province has decided to let some travelers cross the NS border so on the off chance we might encounter a tourist, we're open!

Right now, most of the action is centered on my shop- The Lap of Lapidary- where I am getting around to cutting some of the finds brought to me by "She With The Agate Eye". And I have to say there is some pretty cool stuff!

The last one is a real mystery. I don't know if the outer "shell" is a weathering effect or not but it's all silicate. If anyone has suggestions, let me know!

So now I am defining shapes and using the trim saw attachment on the Cab King.

There will be some beautiful cabochons if I can get it done without any disasters. I'll keep you posted.

And if you are in the neighbourhood, drop by. My "free tumbled rock" box is overflowing!

Cheers!

My Summer Lapidary Project

 I am blessed to live in an area where there is beautiful rock- agate, jasper, amethyst, carnelian, petrified wood- you name it and "She With The Agate Eye" will find it!

Because of Covid, this summer promises to be pretty quiet tourist wise so I felt it was a good time to work with some of my "inventory", a small fraction of which is shown here in my hi-tech plastic bag rapid retrieval system.

So my goal for this summer is to produce at least 100 top quality cabochons!

The first step was to fire up the Hi-Tech 10 inch slab saw (as shown here - mine ain't quite as clean!) It's a win/win as after I have done a bunch, Vickie cleans out the sludge and uses it to make pigment for her (real) art. She even sells the stuff!

I am cutting slabs and slices and then after a close examination of the rock, choosing the best possible shapes and sizes to maximize colour and patterning. They then look something like this.

Then I install the trim saw attachment on my Cab King. Honestly, I now do this in under 5 minutes- start to finish.

I love this saw for several reasons. First, it is an excellent trim saw and the Cab King blade is REALLY good. Secondly it is easy to clean. And lastly, putting the saw on the right I can still use the coarse grinding wheels at the same time I'm using the saw. Now don't get the idea that I'm good enough to cut and grind simultaneously but sometimes it is handy to move from the saw to the wheels and back.

So then I end up with a bunch of what are called "pre-forms". By the way, notice the extensive use of plastic meat trays!

As you can see, I make lots of small cuts to minimize the amount of rock I have to grind away thus saving wear on my coarse wheels.

Sometimes, if a rock is really small, I'll attach it to wood blocks to make it easier to handle and I find that, with a little practice, you can cut thicker slabs in two when you want thin slices for earrings etc.. I use double sided Gorilla Tape but it's not really vital.

So the project has begun and I'll update you on my progress and try to show as many pics of the finished product as I can.

Hopefully, at some point, Covid is in the rear view mirror and you can come and visit in person but in the meantime, if you see anything you like in our shop (www.seawallemporium.com) or on the blog, just let me know.

Cutting Perimeter Grooves in Petrified Wood Cabochons

I am now well into my petrified wood project. Just to recap, I started with several beautiful slabs of petrified wood and used a magic marker to define shapes.

I then cut them out and finished them on my new Cab King. The results were pretty spectacular.

Recently I was contacted by someone who wanted to buy these three.

So today, they had to have grooves cut around the perimeter to prepare for wire wrapping. I prefer this technique when stones have a lot of patterning or colour shifts so the wrapping doesn't "compete". I have included this video to show the process. Hope you enjoy it.

In my next post, I'll include a video on my process for wrapping with a groove cut.

Enjoy!

Petrified Wood Project Update

In my previous post I showed the slabs of petrified wood with the shapes I had defined using a marker. I have a combination of pendants, ear rings and a couple of rings.

It took me two days to rough cut all the shapes using a Cab King trim saw and my Hi-Tech 10 inch saw with a thin blade to accommodate some of the larger pieces. I was really pleased with the results since I started with 55 shapes and only lost two due to shattering along fractures. Here's how they looked then.

This morning I switched out the trim saw attachment for the right hand wheels on my Cab King and got busy grinding off all the excess material using my coarse (80 grit) wheel. I was amazed at how fast it went and now they look like this.

So now I am ready for the next step where I will use my 220 grit wheel to do the final smoothing around the perimeter and grind off rock on top to produce "domes" that will allow the rocks to polish. This is a much slower process but it is worth it to get stones that are well shaped because any flaws introduced now can't be undone down the road.

I continue to be really impressed with my Cab King, especially the water delivery system and removal system. And it is really easy to convert back and forth to the trim saw.

Stay tuned for the next step in this rather large project!

Cheers!

Big Cab King News!

Since I moved to Nova Scotia, I have been using some very old equipment. How old, you ask? Well, one of my 10 inch saws and my grinding/ polishing arbor were made by a company that went out of business in the late 1960's!

Over the winter, I did a lot of research on what are called "cabbing machines". These are used to grind and polish rocks in order to make jewelry with them. There are many options available but my research tells me that the best machine for quality of build and value for money is the Cab King. Since most of my readers would not be interested in the details, I won't post them here but if you read this and are interested, I would be happy to answer any questions.

Here is the Cab King machine.

It has 6 wheels and two more pads on the ends and what makes it even better is that it can convert to a rock saw using the same motor. I bought that attachment as well.

I can't wait to show you pics of what I can do with it!

So now I have to find some buyers for a few of my machines I no longer need but that should not be a big problem as this hobby is really hot right now.

If you are in the area post Coronavirus, stop by and I'll show you how it works!