DIY rules and it looks like you are one of the rulers. It would be great if you would move next door so we could cobblerate/collaborate.

Thanks for taking the time to show your work.
Jim

A stone drillers dream machine for sure. WOW
Jim

You always make extraordinarily beautiful cabs but this is the first one that I would put a name to. "The Dancer" is how my brain sees it and for me this is your best one ever.
Jim

Now that is a great trip report. Thanks for taking the time to write and post it.
Jim

Well, we do have one thing in common, carbon paper since I am a schmuck at drawing I have no choice. And no, that does not mean you are a schmuck. hahaha Abstracts, no problem but if it has any kind of pattern I have to find something to trace.

I am going to be looking forward to seeing how that stuff polishes. I have only polished black jade on the flat with a machine so this will be interesting but someone that will hand sand an agate to shine should have no problem with this.

Always a pleasure Kurt.
Jim

For a long time I used my drill press with a burr but it is difficult to find burrs the right thickness. I now have a jig for my flex shaft and use diamond cutting wheels to cut the groove. I have a clamping system so I can set the distance from the back of the cab and use a permanent marker to mark the cutting wheel so I get a good consistent depth. I do this dry with my shop vac hose positioned right up to the cutting wheel to eliminate dust.

My new system works pretty good but I like what you have going on with the trim saw. My problem there is when I converted my trim saw from six inch to seven inch I now have a much thicker seven inch blade and the six inch blade is too thin. May have to use some john time to see if my brain can come up with a way to do what you are doing because it looks much faster than anything I have used.

Thanks for the post.
Jim

I use a cut off rectangular cat litter bucket and there was a pretty long learning curve and clamp search that went with it. I like your idea of gluing down the brick.

Great tutorial.
Jim

Very pretty Kurt. There is a (I think it is called) Bull Mountain tube agate that is similar but I have some that looks exactly like the first photo but like you I have no idea where it came from other than behind an old abandoned rock shop. I guess you could call it abandoned rock shop tube agate.
Jim

I would have to do some digging but it seems to me like orthoclase (sp) is black and white but my memory, ......... well you know. At least some of you know anyway and my book is in a really difficult place to get to.
Jim

Just did a search and here is a link to black orthoclase and it is with white ????? Maybe they both are.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Black+Orthoclase&FORM=IRTRRL

Really beautiful Mick. The little accent fins at the bottom really help make it a fish.
Jim

Very true especially for someone like me that is a crappy salesman. I hate it so most of my stuff is given away or stuck away in boxes so the kids and grand kids can fight over them.

Knives I do not make. I do not have your skills or your tools and I have no desire to make things that have to be that precise. With a knife you can not say "ah, that's good enough" and get away with it.
Jim

Gorgeous pendants. Personally I like these better than the knives.
Jim

I was going to take a ring that I have to a jeweler and have him take out the smoky quartz stone then mount the largest Welo opal I have. Couldn't stand it so I mounted it myself. Easy peasy but I was pretty nervous about breaking the opal. It is amazing that I cut and polished an opal without realizing that I had a ring that it would fit into almost perfectly.

Here is what I ended up with. I took about 40 photos trying to get the colors but did not have a lot of luck. The stone is not quite as hazy looking in hand. Difficult stone to photograph.







Thanks for lookin. Hope you like it as much as I do.
Jim

The home page is not working Amanda. @enchantra
Jim

Awesome. I think that will classify you as a good parent and you should be proud of that fact. Too many people do not take the time.
Jim