Phil, I know a guy down here in Belen with a 14" drop saw.

Stop by and say Hello.   

That was very nice of you Mark.

Most rock people are great!

I love the amazonite the most, the rest are very nice too. Great job.

Thats some nice green cabs.

I cut the preform on a 10" saw. Then go 120, 220, 400, 1200, 3000, 8000 then 50,000 paste or zam. The final just depends on the stone. Zam is great for picasso marble and ricolite but it will make an agate dull looking. The diamond paste will make the agates pop.

They are around 45mm some larger some smaller.

That oval picasso is pretty big.

Here is the rough piece.



The slab



Preform



The cab





Leopard skin jasper

These are all ready for final polish. Some will get 50,000 diamond paste on elk hide, some softer stones will get zam, some will get cerium oxide. With all these different stones I have learned that they take better polished with different types of polish.

This is how I warm up my wax, when its ready I put the stones in on a piece of marble tile to heat them up. I learned not to use brown wax the stones kept falling off. Green is my choice.





And after a long weekend, I almost have enough to fill two more display cases.









Picasso Marble
Ricolite
Honey Onyx
Blue Amazonite
Peach Aventurine
Green Aventurine
Jade
Yellow Opalite
Sodalite
Leopard Skin Jasper
Green Tree Agate
Russian Unakite
Lemon Chrysoprase
Lapis Lace Onyx

Should make a nice selection for the gem show.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Jason

The grinder takes them to 8000 then I polish with 50,000 grit on a elk hide lap. For the softer stones I buff them with ZAM and it makes them sparlke. I just bought that grinder a couple months ago for $300 the hard 120 grit wheel was $120 from Jade Carver. The 5 expandos about $250, the 3 diamond belts on right were $150 and the 2 Diamond belts on the left were $50. Just over $1000 for this set up but its all diamond and they are all 2 1/2" wide. I love that grinder.

Forgot the lemon chrysoprase






Big tumbler in the back was part of it.

The 6" I put together myself and have had it for a few months.

I try to make a assortment of colors, shapes and sizes. These are for our booth at the Albuquerque Gem and Mineral show in a couple weeks.
This is 2 weekends of cab making with about 10 being made the weekend before. I use my 6" grinder with all 2 1/2" wide diamond belts and wheels.





























This is Ricolite, cut with the banding.





Hope you like pictures..

Jason

I have been working on this for quite some time and finaly own this collection these people have had since the 70's. With the collection I got a brand new gem drill, 8" star diamond polishing unit, 45 pound tumbler, 25 pound tumbler, 15" vib flat lap, 8" lap polisher. and tons more items.


































































Like I said picture heavy. Thats not all of it either.

Yes it has been busy. I have thunder eggs and geods in the flat lap, slab saw running and grinder running. I hope I make enough to pay the electric bill, I am sure its going to be a little higher.

Steve, make sure you stop by to see us.

Jason

Thought I would share this picture of the cabs I made this weekend. I am hoping to have 150 cabs for the gem show in 3 weeks.