Made with and angle grinder; diamond blade, masonary disk and polishing pads, chisel / hammer. Learned 11000rpm is too fast for resin polishing pads, they become shrapnel when they catch an edge. Also learned my hands don't function after a significant amount of vibration.

This is my first attempt at proper jewelry. It was a request by my cousin’s youngest daughter who is an absolute delight. She self collected and picked out the design. I was almost done when … (see photo).

I am really disappointed.

It is durable but not as hard as quartz. Though I have specimens with quartz veins running through

I have not posted a cabochon here in a while, this cab has a lovely translucent brown pool of chalcedony with mossy features, light goes right through the cab in places. The rough material was purchased from SRL Gemstone (Instagram srlgemstone).

Cut is a bog-standard progression of 80-220 hard, 280-600-1200-3000 soft and Linde-A on leather finish. Size is 24 mm by 24 mm with a 3 mm slightly inclined girdle and a medium dome.
Love, light and peace,
Theo.

Today I went to a class to learn how to make cabs! Shoutout to Mani at the DIY cave in Bend for being a great teacher. I can't wait to make more now with the rocks I find! This one is made of Turkish agate. The guy said he used to be one of the biggest dealer of the stuff back in the day! Super sweet material.

I'm just starting to get more into this as a hobby and wondering what equipment is worth investing in?

I've basically gone from cheepo rock tumblers and hammers, to a tile saw now to cut open stuff that looks interesting.

I'm interested in ways to polish up larger stones and slices, and also something better to cut things with other than a tile saw. But there's so many different options I'm a little overwhelmed.

Polishing day successful 😉 Natural phantom quartz

Not a jasper guy but had to catch these at the auction.

Looking for any tips on working with this material, specifically tumbling. It seems very crumbly and prone to undercutting.

Has anyone had experience setting something like that up? I.E. grants, and creating the structure. I would love some ideas of where to start.

Approximately how long should it take to drill holes through 1/4” rocks that are 7ish on the Mohs scale? I’ve started trying to drill 3mm in some of my tumbled rejects to make a necklace for one of my kids and it is sloooooooooow going. I’m spending 1.5 - 2 hours per rock. YouTube would lead me to believe I should be spending 15ish minutes per rock. I’m currently using a Dremel tool in a drill press at 10,000 rpms, Dremel hollow and spherical diamond bits and the rock submerged. Is this a reasonable amount of time of is there something wrong with my process. I’m pumping every 5 seconds to keep things cool and new bits don’t seem to speed things up so I don’t believe I’ve burned up the bits. I also believe I’m using light pressure but it’s possible I’m not light enough.

If there is something wrong with my process do you have any suggestions on how I can improve or did I start a much longer project than I had anticipated? Thanks for any advice you may have!

Just an ordinary-looking coconut geode… until the saw got ahold of it! 🤯 That dark blue banding tucked inside is downright ridiculous. This is why I never get tired of cutting rocks. You’re always one cut away from your next favorite! 💎💦

Would you have guessed THAT was hiding in there?! 👀

Today's polished results for Pairs set for Earrings and heart shape

I had some lapis rough I bought in chile when travelling for work. I'm starting to get a bit more confident with lapidary work so I finally decided to make the stone.

I'll try to find a jeweller to have it set in a ring before Christmas. That'll be a nice present I think.

The stone isn't 100% perfect but I'm still pretty proud, and I managed to make the dimensions quite close to 16x12mm.

Advertised as free landscaping rock. Is that a limb sticking out?

Finished this one today. What would some pay for something like this? I think this is one of the lower end ones i have