Wow.  We're right at the three century mark for combined experience already.

I'll throw this into the mix.  It's from the first piece of Olympic Poppy Jasper I cut, and I kind of liked the "fireworks from a lightning bolt".  I have to say this is really fun material to work.

The slab



The preform



And the finished cab



Don't think its up there with the other entries this month, but, what the heck, it's now or never for this one.

I am constantly impressed with this forum and its members.  Complicated and simple questions are answered with the same professional and polite attitude.  The quality of workmanship presented is an inspiration to all.  There is very obviously a great deal of experience gathered here, and I for one am curious as to the total years of experience represented.  If you would care to share, and there are no objections, I would volunteer to tabulate the totals.
I'm a relative newbie, with about 5 years actual experience spread over 40 years.

Wow! Fast responses fellows.  And a simple solution.  I was obviously over-thinking this little problem

I have a few pieces with nice pockets of druzy that I would like to incorporate in the finished cab.  Usually I work with dop sticks and green dop wax to keep my fat fingers away from the wheels.
I'm looking for suggestions on ways to:
1.  Keep the wax from getting into the druzy, or
2.  Methods for removing wax from the pockets when I mess up.

Thanks for any advice.

Thanks for the assistance.  I have a couple of leads, but they're vague right now.  This is not a 'have to have it now' thing, so I'll keep looking.

This may be a pipe dream, but I am seriously considering a 16 or 18 slab saw.  I have a 10" slab/trim saw which works just fine, but limits the size of rough I can cut.  I'm not a commercial operation, so the only real justification is I want one (and within some limits, can afford one).  I'm in SE Texas, and this seems to be a lapidary equipment wasteland insofar as vendors, ebay or craiglist.
New is fine, but I'm wondering if there might be some good used (not abused) out there that I could check into.  I would also appreciate any opinions on brands, both pro and con.

Lots of sunshine today.  After a long spell of below average temps and cloudy days, I was able to sit in my lawn chair at the barn door, listen to the hum of the slab saw, and just soak up the rays.  Got a little break from 'caregiver' duty (wife had hip replacement a few weeks ago, but was feeling good enough to go on a trip with the daughter to the Museum of Fine Arts), so I had the day pretty much to myself.  New leaves on the trees, buds on the dogwood, spring at last?  Life is good.

One thing I have found helpful in drilling stones that are not square is a small clamp.  This is made from two pieces of hardwood and a couple of stainless screws and wingnuts,

Thanks for posting about this show.  I'm planning on heading that way this weekend.

Good job!
I agree that the size of the hole depends on the stone and the application.  For jump rings or pinch bails, the smaller holes seem more appropriate.  For cording, larger holes seem better.
Below, the two on the left with pinch bails are 2mm, while the corded pendants on the right are 4mm.  Just have to figure out what you want the finished product to be.

Thank you all.  It really was a fun piece to work with.

This is from a small piece that Don (sealdaddy) included in a goody box he brought me.
I'd sort of hit a low in enthusiasm for cabbing, but working this piece seems to be getting me back in the mood.



Thanks for looking.

Oh man!  There's a piece of that in the goody box you brought me.  Gotta work that one up.

The box was pretty beat up, and had a tear repaired.  The rocks came through fine (just a few small chips loose in the bottom).  I have to assume they were all in there.
As for the "rules", I think this was an instance of CYA.  The package was scanned as out for delivery on Saturday, but I suspect it either never got loaded, or was overlooked by the delivery person.  Since they won't admit to a mistake, their solution was to declare it non-conforming and send it back.  But when I went in to the PO, they handed it over without question. and scanned it as "Delivered".