Thank you so much for making this! I got into lapidary in high school because my geology teacher had us make some cabochons for a small assignment. I loved it and wanted to pursue it as a full blown hobby, but there's a surprising lack of quality information about it on the internet. Just from this video, I learned exactly what equipment I need and can use to get started. Many places I looked told me that I needed a lot more than I could afford, but seeing you use just the small lortone cab machine and a cab king to create something so beautiful is very reassuring.
Haha no worries. The Lortone was actually my original machine and I upgraded to the Cabking, but I have to say that the Lortone is a great place to start and it has everything you need because it has an expanding drum wheel you can just change the belt each time you need another grit and having a trim saw on the other side is great. In total the unit has a trim saw, hard diamond wheel for pre-forming, an expanding drum for pre-polishing and an end pad for the final polish. It takes a bit more time as you have to change the belts each time but it is a really good starting point for beginners :)
Lawson Gems I see! Believe it or not, the lortone machine is the same kind we used in my geology class! I think I'm dead set on that one for sure! Are there any websites you could recommend that sell the belts? My email is trevorghardwick@gmail.com if it would be easier to communicate that way.
+Trevor Hardwick Glad you liked the video, lapidary is a great hobby. I also usually suggest trying to hit up a local lapidary club as they usually super keen to get new members and pass on their knowledge :) . As for the belts, I either use my local lapidary supply store or gem fairs, otherwise jump on to www.aussiesapphire.com.au and they have pretty much every you could ever possibly want.
+moodylicious For the belts, I either use my local lapidary supply store or gem fairs, otherwise jump on to www.aussiesapphire.com.au and they have pretty much every you could ever possibly want :)
very nice job and here is a tip i learned from my lapidary teacher. When removing dop wax if you freeze the stone with the dop stick still attached the dop wax will break off the stone very easily and make clean up a little easier.
I can't tell you how many times I watched this video..and now that I have mybown cab King, I always recommend ppl watch this..squares are so much easier to start with..it's been 5yrs now..so I've moved on to free form cabbing..but I still love ur video...lol..I watched it 100 times trying to learn to cab!
I love this video so much. Literally when this video came out I was looking on how to shape gems and get so overwhelmed with the processes, machines, and pricing. Fast forward to today I know started my own jewelry business and lapidary. Still new but man I remember feeling hopeless, and it's so cool to watch this video now. Thank you for the introduction to lapidary 👍🏼
Love the simplicity of this tutorial... a nice tip for you: you can separate the stone from the dop stick by putting it in the freezer ... once the wax is frozen the stone either falls off or can easily be snapped off... then you can "remove" the excess wax from the dop stick by using a pair of textured pliers which breaks it into chips to be melted again. ^_^
I've seen both your videos and I wanted to comment what good videos they are. Not only you know what you are doing technically, but your tutirials are extremely clear, easy to understand, very good audio, steady camera, perfectly edited from showing general views and pinpointing details so one can really follow exactly what you are doing and what your results are. These are some of the best tutorials I have seen on youtube from a video, editing and audio perspective, and I have seen quite a few of all sorts of different topics. I have subscribed and hope to see more videos as I am interested in integrating stones and unexpensive gemstones into my foundry hobby. Thanks.
Hi thanks for your support. I'm glad the videos look well put together, I had to teach myself everything from filming techniques to the ins and outs of editing with adobe premier (which was a bit of a steep learning curve haha), but it has all been an interesting journey and I will definitely try to keep up with putting out more videos :)
+Louise Bellamy (Lulu-Belle) It's a great hobby to get into and whats more, it's very easy to learn. If you have the the cash, take a look at the Lortone Combo Unit, it combines a trim saw (the on in the video) and an expanding drum cabbing unit. It takes a little longer but it is a great space saver and perfect for beginners (this was what I started on)
@@Lawsongems about how much does it take for the start up equipment. I'm from Nigeria and hv always loved stone polishing. I hv my PhD in Economic Geology and Geochemistry
@@Lawsongems about how much does it take for the start up equipment. I'm from Nigeria and hv always loved stone polishing. I hv my PhD in Economic Geology and Geochemistry
Great video! Good tip on using a spray bottle with water to clean coarser grit off before moving on to the next wheel. It makes sense to avoid cross contamination for the cabochon and extends the life of the wheels. Thanks for sharing!
That's some really nice material, I like how blue tiger eye looks, but this looks even better. been cabbing stones on my Diamond Pacific Genie machine for about eight years now and love it. Great job, and btw, I have found it easier to remove the stone from the dop by putting it in the freezer for a few minutes, then it comes off without much wax attached.👍
Thank you so much for the video! It is hard to find people that work on the cabking doing videos! We are newbies and yours is the first video that actually helps! Maybe a video on how to get out scratches, We have a hard time with that
Hi Vickie, Glad you liked the video, I have just posted another tutorial on using basic materials for cutting, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Nd6_wIczcMk.html . This may help with getting out scratches as long as it is for softer material (up to around hardness 6)
Thank you so much! I love your website and work that you do! It so refreshing to see that there are people like you helping out villages and the disabled. Being disabled myself it is very inspiring. Making jewelry and cabbing is so peaceful and a blessing!!. Thank you!! Vickie
I am so confused! I just received a Cab King machine as a gift and I have no idea how to use it. I searched for days for a good tutorial and then I found yours. Now I have the confidence to go try it. I enjoyed the step by step process on moving from one wheel to the next and now I know what those little sticks are for. Plus now I need to get some dopping wax too.
I've just subscribed to your channel. Thanks for a great tutorial! Beautiful cab! The method I use to remove the stone from the stick involves putting my piece in the freezer for a couple of minutes. After a few minutes, the two can be gently separated easily, with no mess. Then, you can recycle the wax for your next cab. :)
That's a beautiful stone, loved the shape you went with, it almost looks like landscape art, beach, water and sky. I enjoyed the step by step tutorial, nice calm tidy work space. Thank you, I subscribed 👍🏼🇳🇿😁
yes ofc, how to facet / cut fluorite would be awesome ; another amazing one would be how to polish Boulder Opal without machinery ?? !!! or videos that relate to polishing / bringing out the beauty of crystals without the need of high tech machinery , using sandpaper method i guess ? :)
That's an interesting one, but funnily enough you've picked a good mineral to be able to work without much equipment. Fluorite only has a hardness of 4 which would make it a lot easier to work by hand (though this does mean that any finish on the polish will be harder to maintain). I cant say I have tried this before, but I will have a play around with the idea and make a video of I come up with. What could be fun would be to re-polish the natural faces of an octohedral fluorite crystal seeing as, due to their low hardness, they are often dull and worn.
What can I say, you have the Lawson name, I share this with you and I also have a RU-vid channel as well. Great video and you also got a new subscriber. Coins and Gems seem to go together in a funny way. Good luck and I'll be watching from time to time.
Very interesting my friend! I wish i had?the money to invest in all the machines and equipment so i could do this myself. It looks so amazing. You Are awesome!
Thanks mate.... your education has really helped me out today :-) ( I live over the other side of Australia in New South Wales with my wife Donna, we are both interested in this Topic along with my other Artistic Talents & hope to make a small income from it while doing our Road-trips around this Beautiful Country of ours. May 1 day we might even meet you) Until then, take care of yourself. Nick & Donna
Haha no worries! Your always welcome to pop into the shop if your ever in Brisbane, I have all the gear in the video plus more set up in the window for people to watch as I work and I'm always happy to chat. You can find the shop on the Gallery Level of the Brisbane Arcade, 160 Queen St Brisbane.
Thank you for this great video! I really want to learn all about this. Where or How do I begin? What are the names of the equipment I will need? Can you recommend a good book that teaches as well?
I've been extremely interested with learning to identify, find cut, sand, and at awe with seeing the finishing work.Im curious on the tools you were giving to the stone cutters in madigascar? I'm definitely impressed with your tigereye piece and your 3step stone ( just wish ya would have spent more time showing the finish work) although I could stare at them for awhile! 😀 I spend alot of time with raw materials and want to go deeper into the rabbit hole of gemology. Thank you for your guidance. 🙏
I have my first rough Tigers Eye and a simple 7" diamond wet trim saw made for tile. This stuff is so hard to slab. Do you have a suggestions on blade type/brand? I bought a diamond mason blade for my circular saw and it is still a beast!! Any help is appreciated. Great work by the way.
Thanks so much for sharing your expertise! The stone is gorgeous. Did you use a lap as the first step to making the bottom even on the bottom? Can you estimate the finished size in mm of this beautiful stone?
This piece was actually a slab I purchased, you can get these from lapidary clubs or fairs/shops or if you have a trim saw you can do it your self. This piece would be around the 15mm mark from memory :)
Great tutorial! I just went on a amethyst mining trip, and I have a lot of materials and I would love to make cabochons with them. Would you be able to do a tutorials on oval cabochons?
Hi Angela, this basic technique will work with most shapes, you would simply mark an oval shape on to your slab of stone (instead of just straight edges) and cut to that shape :)
Hi Marie, to be honest I have't really used it much over the years as I have found it a little under-powered for what I have tried, for now I mainly use it for my tin oxide polishing pad haha! But essentially it is a smaller version of what you would call a "flat lap", you should be able to search for info on this and have more luck than using the brand name perhaps :)
Hi here is the link to where I got mine (though they have gone up a fair bit in price since I purchased mine quite a few years ago, though they might be cheaper if you can purchase locally depending on where you are living) www.aussiesapphire.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=290&products_id=1704&zenid=f1091706cd9c4e1c63ad0e62920e42bf
Nicely done and clean. Well-done. So I have a question. Please are there portable sets of all those cutting and polishing machines? Or is there anyone that is multi purpose, like for both cutting and grinding? If so, can you pls give me the names or a link to find them. Thank you
There isn't really any proper portable full kit that I have seen. The best you could probably do would be to get a hand cranked arbor (the bit that spins the wheels) and then interchange the wheels (and blade) which could be made more efficient by using an expanding drum wheel on which you just put a new polishing belt onto rather than changing the wheel. So you would need: - the arbor - a saw blade and case to put over the blade to cover most of it and use a platform - a hard diamond wheel for preforming - an expanding drum wheel - a set of grinding/polishing belts - a felt pad and final polish compound - a water source the website www.aussiesapphire.com.au has most of this except for the hand cranked arbor and the saw platform (though you may be able to adapt something from another saw)
