This is really helpful, my gem and mineral club wants me to enter show competitions next year and its all about the final polish from what ive been reading
That is so awesome you should definitely do it I would also love to see your finishes well there’s almost nothing in this world I admire more than fine polish on a stone :)
Fabulous episode. I would kill for a Genie, Titan, or Pixie machine. Each time I see your episodes using this type of machine, I drool. My goal has always been to get one but life happens and I’m stuck with my flat lap. This episode would be so helpful to anyone just starting out. My turquoise is polished using the exact method you talked about. Charged and clean. Outstanding polishing pads from Diamond Pacific. This company seems to be the best there is out there. And the rock yard is a bonus! Wish I lived closer than the Midwest 😮 Dave, as always, you are the man. ❤ I hope you and Sandy are doing well and my heart and thoughts are still with you two. If possible, give Sandy a big hug from me and let her know that I’m sending her love this Christmas season. ❤ Stay Crystal 💫 Mari 🫶
Thank you for this video. I love agates and jaspers as they really do take the best polish. I had to save this video for future reference. Thanks again and God Bless
Priceless information shared in this video. I am definitely going to print out those lists, and stick them above my bench. I have some leather strops that were meant for honing my knives, but are going to be re-purposed for polishing rocks. Thank you Dave! Now, I just need to get some real polishing compounds, instead of using my mystery red, white & green knife sharpening compound sticks.
@@lapidarydave for real?! That would be so nice. I don't even know what my compounds are made of. I just know they're meant for polishing. Thank you so much.
Tin Oxide is my go to polish for tumbling and on my genie for most stones besides the copper based ones like malachite and chrysocolla plus turquoise. The only thing I would add to what you did is I would never dunk the cab into the tray water before going to polish. The tray water will have contaminates in it that you do not want on the polishing pad.
What is your plan for that typed up list? If you're looking for a host for it I do host guest written articles on my website and then it can have a permit home online that will never get taken down. It would be really interesting to take a single compound like tin oxide and try it all of the different types of pads like felt, cork, leather, carpet, or wood...etc. and see how that effects the polish.
it would be awesome to have a list up online for everyone and to see what tin can do on different polishing pads i hear from a lot of people that they tried tin if nothing else works and that it works on a wide variety of things I love to know more about it
Nice tutorial bro . I am having issues getting cerium out of imperfections in agate faces after polishing . Like in pits or pores etc . I have been using a dry cleaning gun with limited success and ultra sonic with not much success .
Only thing you didn't mention is on stones like opal and some like material you need to recharge because it keeps the heat down also. You did kind of touch on by keeping wet but just the reasoning behind it.
Your videos of rock shows and wandering around while talking to people was pretty cool but this video is really informative. I got my start with diamond impregnated pieces on a dremel. After I burnt out my second motor, i moved to a foredom xt flex shaft… Now i am trying to decide what cabbing machine to make or buy. Diamond Pacific looks like it’s high on my list
there are a lot of other channels with videos non how to start cuttimg cabochons :) I never made a video on that topic since there’s so many other people who have better videos then I can make
I have yet to deviate from diamond paste since my primary work is faceting. For cabs I used smooth leather scored with sandpaper, and after adding paste, sprayed with dimethyl silicone (available at parts stores or Walmart) to preserve the abrasive and also act as a lubricant. I also do the same with lexan but dress much more aggressively with a diamond coated angle grinding wheel while the lap is spinning to create a radial pattern. An occasional followup spray during use makes stone practically melt, especially right after application. It seems to increase surface tension, basically sucking the stone onto the wheel while the silicone is still wet. I'm curious about oxide abrasives and the many testimonials, my guess is the hardness is just slightly higher than the stone being worked so scratches are removed faster at lower grits, that and maybe cost is also a consideration. I'd love to see a video explaining exactly why certain oxides are superior to diamond since many videos praise oxides but the technical reasons why they are preferred to diamond are never really covered. This was a really good instructional video on different pads and abrasives!
Dude that was some awesome information I really wanna give that a shot and I would also love to see a video about oxides over diamond unfortunately I could never do a video like that any justice if you find one let me know :) Maybe a genius like the dude from currently rock hounding could make a video like that
@@lapidarydave Stone cutting forums and videos from you and others are where I learned everything I know about lapidary art. Currently Rockhounding definitely has a scientific approach to his work, he might be willing to make a video on the subject. I saw Justin Prim on one of his recent videos, you might try contacting him to arrange a collaboration video since he is in currently SoCal to the best of my knowledge. The crossover videos are really fun to watch!
It's a question of cost imo as much as anything. Using diamond everywhere can be expensive. Imo there are tricks and methods. Too much for this RU-vid post lol
Hi Dave Very interesting video mate and like the gem shows you attend. I cut opal of all types here in Queensland. I've a new aquired interest in Fire Agate and your advise is essential and I've some dedicated wheels ready for this. So I'll be watching it's the polishing your right where it never ends! I use cerium oxide with leather wheel for black opal and white opal. I use tin oxide on a leather wheel for iron stone boulder opal . Tin oxide is great for stubborn stones that are difficult to polish. In the iron stone matrix there are a lot of matt finish area's so tin oxide helps a lot. But tin oxide is a back up polish for me if it won't gloss up! A little mist of water to dry is how it works best for me as well as you mentioned. I've old classic machines and a couple of mine site built machines from Lightning Ridge! I use Diamond Pacific stuff as well and I'm used to a wiggle in the wheel! I subscribed mate and cheers. Travis.
Thank you so much for the information I’m definitely going to try to knock sign on a few things I’ve been having a hard time with myself especially Jade thanks for the sub my brother I really appreciate you I’d love to see your work
Hi Dave I've a mate that cuts Jade and he swears by tin oxide final polish . It's New Zealand jade he cuts! I've never cut Jade but it's New Zealand's national stone. And my lady is Maori maybe I should cut her a piece of Jade! . Anyway thanks for the reply mate and stay shiny side up! Travis.
G'day Dave I've just started a RU-vid gallery of some things I've been doing presently. There are a few of my carvings and this is my little channel that I will be displaying some stuff for public viewing. I'm not selling atm as I've projects that need some time but more carvings will be added very soon. I plan to display some constructed collector pieces in New year and more micro carving. I've a lot on the bench to do and the nature of carving is patience! In future I'll need even more patience as I'll be scaling down and defining detail for black and white opal carvings. You can flick through a few 1min vids and see what I've been doing any time . Give me some feed back mate! Acidrain Opal carver on RU-vid Dave have look for fun if you've time. Cheers Travis.
having 2 old board-mounted motors that I got for maybe $25 at Habitat for Humanity ReStore reminds me to be grateful because I cannot afford a Diamond Pacific bench grinder at $4000 and tho it is a nice easy setup I can do enough with an added "pendant motor" a Foredom I got new for $85 plus an old belt sander for other chores-like tool sharpening with a proper jig, sharpening GRAVERS??? YES??? I like this video anyway One of your best!
I would love a video on what polish to use on what stone for rotary tumbling. I dont have any equiplment other than a tumble bee rotary and doubt ill be able to afford a cab or lap any time soon.
the thing is when it comes to rock tumbling in the polish that one uses most of the time people only polish hard stone, so they either use cerium mark side or aluminum oxide which is kind of the standard for hard stones
@@lapidarydave I have a bunch of Green Opals, Common Opals, Lapis and Obsidian that I was gifted, and the standard Rock Shed Aluminum Oxide Polish(9000 to 10000 grit or so) did not get a polish on any of them.
Thanks Dave, you “rock” 😆. This is fabulous information. You have likely saved me hours of research. I’d love to see how to get the professional bevel and height expected for various stones, and how to do that. I have the piece for my Pixie but never learned how to use it. As a reminder to whoever reads this, even though you wet down the polishing compounds, it’s not a bad idea to wear a dust mask, and do clean up because that stuff will dry up eventually.
I spent months tumbling stones and crystals after using aluminum oxide for polishing method I have lbs of crystals and Stone but no machinery like you do. I see these machines are expensive what is the best method for me to get a high polish on the stones and crystals the easiest and cheapest way?
Hey Roy, a lot of great info. Hope you're doing well. I've been playing with my rotary tool & some free forms, but I only have regular electroplated burrs for shaping. I'm using sandpaper to give them a gradual polish, but I'm having problems with the pits & some of the deeper parts of the stone. I was thinking of trying some diamond paste & felt tips or some of your wooden burrs from the other video to polish them. Any suggestions before I give it a go? Thanks a lot!
I am coming from the knife world (sharpening) & so far the hand made Ukrainian diamond pastes I have that come in various weights and concentrations seem to do it all. Is there a site that lists generic compounds and some metric to decide how to yse them? Trying to avoid buying 50 stones like I have for knives when 6 are all I need.
How fine is the grit of the cerium? The Fundamental Rockhound sells Cerium Oxide (no specs on grit size), and .3 micron Aluminum Oxide which is much more expensive. Diamond Pacific doesn't list a grit size on their Cerium Oxid either. I have no way of determining which is going to give the finest polish on Amethist and agate.
Good question I think you just have to trust your supplier. I get my cerium oxide from Diamond Pacific and they have high standards, but I do not know the exact micron
Hi, i am just wondering if you joined the cabochon templates yourself or did you buy them that way? If you bought them would you mind telling me where so i can get a few? Many thanks.
thanks. good video. just gettign into polishing. couple questions ... (1) is there an advantage to using an end polishing pad that is convex versus flat? it seems like a stone that is completely flat might benefit from a convex polishing pad surface. A cabachon that is domed (convex surface) would be fine with either a convex or flat pad. Does that seem correct? and (2) as for wetting the stone in the pan. I was wonderign about little bits of debris in the water from using the 1000-3000 polishing discs. Is that debris fine enough that it does not matter in re to polishing with cerium or zam?
I have cut slabs about 2" x 3" ... The rmain flat ... I have not domed them. In polishing those I have found that my flat polishing disc does nto work well. Possibly a domed disk will work better (I will need to order one of those) ... or possibly a vibrating flat lap that will polish will work for that. I have a buffer with the cotton wheel (such as you are using w/ zam) ... and I am wonderign if that will work with cerium oxide. I understand that cerium shoudl be used somewhat wet ... but not sloppy wet (driipping water) but not dry either. and Zam use is on the dry side.
I think I might create a cabochon with a domed surface ... just so I can attempt to polish something on my polishing disk that is flat. I would make a smallish on ... 3/4" x 1" ... since my disc is 5.5" or 6" in diameter.
I have some sandstone-type rock, which is imbedded with tiny sea fossils. Do you know of the cerium oxide would be good that that? Is there any benefit to pilolishing an inexpensive stone beyond 3000 grit? Just asking for opinions because I do not know.
It really depends on the stone but I think when it comes to sandstone it would not be a good idea to use a powdered compound it really depends but I think that pretty much does pre-polishing it with wheels or disks see only way you’re going to be able to get a shine on sandstone
is it chipped or just need to polish if it’s chipped you’re going to need to grind it out and then go through pre-polishing steps before attempting to polish it if it just needs a polish then you can use some leather with cerium oxide on it or felt with Siri I’m outside on it you can buy them both from Amazon for a little bit of money look up felt or leather polishing pads for angle grinders then buy the cerium to polish
@@gloe9362 If it doesn’t need to be pre-polish then you potentially could use a angle grinder with a felt attachment with cerium oxide don’t forget to use water as well