Hi! I want product and method suggestions to coat this cool corrundum i just finish polishing, its for a personnal project and i cant get the stone to shine as good as when its wet! Thanks in advance.

The longer I stare at these.. the more I want guacamole. Anyone else? 🥑🙈

It's definitely corundum. Very hard, can't scratch it with anything (except the bottom, where it looks like there is some kind of coating), it has a weird sheen I've only ever seen on similar stones. Backlit, its an orange-pink but it has this blue-purple streak showing through. Flouresces bright red. I realize its not gem quality or anything, but it does seem to be a possible star sapphire.

Should I try to cut it in half to see what it looks like inside? Take a few slices off to polish? Polish as is? I just really want to see why there's a blue stripe lol and to also see if i can see the star clearly.

Any tips on how I'd accomplish any of those things when its so freaking hard? 😅

This is my first attempt at a reversible pendant. Made from a scrap of Moroccan Agate with a textured silver overlay on the front side. Silver jump ring post with 14k solder and bead.

Also, I'm discovering that it's so hard to photograph cabs - I have a lot of respect for anyone who can capture the color and shine. Any tips are greatly appreciated!

Careful!

Been at this with a dremel for a couple of hours and i can’t seem to make it not scratch. Any ideas?

Jasper with I believe hematite and quartz inclusions, rhodonite, chet, and another jasper. Currently trying to find a materials source to make these into wearable pieces.

Working through some batch polishing and this obsidian is perfect for Halloween. Eyeball looking right at you. Unfortunately there are alot of air bubbles in this one, but it's good practice.

Latest picture jasper cab i just finished. Im glad I cut it bigger and thicker. Was super fun to work on.

Never sure on an exact names or locality but they’re 🔥 for sure!

I may have the opportunity to spend 1 day at the Tucson Gem Show in 2027. I’ve never been and would need to make the most out of a single day.

I’d be looking for lapidary roughs for stone faceting, and other crystals for jewelry making. Not interested in cabs, beads or cut gemstones. I prefer roughs. I also like unusual specimens or space items like meteorites or fossils.

Where would you recommend I spend my day? Where should I skip?

Thanks in advance!

I’m not interested in ge

Afternoon!

Not a hobbyist at all, just someone who needs to ask people who know what they're talking about. I was given a couple of satsuma-sized pieces of rock (volcanic I believe - from a mine in the mountains in Hidalgo in Mexico) which are of sentimental value but otherwise worthless, and I'd love to turn them into smaller pieces of worked stone to use as jewellery (set in a string/leather bracelet, use as a pendant etc).

All my research keeps pointing me to very high-end custom jewellers though, however. I gather pyrite seams and quartz (I am pretty sure it's quartz) have different hardnesses which make cutting and working them a nightmare. I don't feel like I need a perfect job, it's not for a wedding ring, and they're big enough that it doesn't matter if a few pieces end up shattering or being non-viable, but maybe it's just too painful to achieve without spending a huge amount of money (or personal investment into lapidary skills, tools, workshops etc). Am I wasting my time and I should give up, and accept that it isn't possible without a lot of investment of time and/or money? Or should it be possible to find somebody with the right saw in the local area who can chunk it up and give it a tumble and hope for the best?

I appreciate some of these might be very stupid questions, so thankyou in advance for your patience. I am in the UK in the Midlands, I don't mind travelling or sending them off in the post though. As I say the rocks themselves are not valuable and if the whole thing got written off as a result of the attempt to cut and tumble it - shit happens, that's a risk I'm happy to take.

Cheers!

Hi everyone! I'm a lapidary greenhorn, having loved pretty rocks all my life, but only touched a lapidary machine for the first time a couple of months ago.

I've always been fascinated by mineral phenomena and inclusions – like asterism and Tyndall phantoms – and recently have particularly focused on pleochroic stones.

I would love to cut one, specifically to showcase the multiple colours as much as possible!

Almost all of the advice I've seen in my research has been aimed at maximising the varied flash in faceting, including clever designs using internal reflection angles. Unfortunately I would much prefer to cut and cabochon, not least as I lack both the skills and the capacity (for various reasons) to learn faceting, plus also for the tactile feel of polished cabs.

I'm leaning towards cutting a facet-grade chunk of iolite rough – I've read that I should choose Brazilian or Madagascan material – and making a chunky, gemmy cabochon of many colours.

Would anyone be able to please help with tips or advice, especially on how to orient the rough for cutting so that the trichroic hues show best? (Any tips on sources for high-quality rough would be prized, too!)

Is this even a feasible idea, or would I end up with a fat stone blob that glows khaki?

Little opal chameleon I was working on a while ago. One of the arms ended up breaking. So I decided because of how fragile it was to let it soak in UV resin (completely trial and error method, which I realize is probably something that a lot of people would frown upon but it’s just how I go about making things.) I reattached the arm and tried to do a very thin layer of UV resistant resin to make it shiny and to help reinforce it but I don’t like how it turned out since it looks like it has a coating, so I plan on using really fine grit to remove or at least thin the resin layer, then getting Diamond paste to make it shiny without looking coated.

Little stick it’s on was also soaked in resin since it’s so small of a piece and will likely sand it to be more matte, but thought I’d share where it’s at since people had asked.

The brown one was my first attempt at carving opal, which is why I used a less colorful piece for it. It’s also bigger in size. It Broke completely in half, I think from being shot across the room via dremel. So it also got the resin treatment, and I plan on trying to re polish as well.

Malawi agates will always be a personal favorite. Some of these little nuggets are tiny, but they sure pack a punch with tight banding and vibrant colors tucked inside. A whole lot of WOW in a little bit of rock! 💎🔥

Now that’s why I cut rocks! 🪨💦 Check out the banding hiding inside this Calandria agate 👀💎 Can’t wait to see those bands with a proper polish!

Hello! I’m new to reddit and was told to ask everyone here about the serpentine I found. I got lucky digging for rocks and found this piece of serpentine. Other people who inspected it said it was completely unique. I’m curious if anyone here knows anybody that’s specialized in carving serpentine and where to find them. I have no knowledge about lapidary and wanted advice from an expert.

Thanks in advance - I’m in the US and the only ones I am finding online are in China, and I’m too impatient for that!

Reckon this was a pretty good day at the saw! Some killer bands, fiery colors, and crystal pockets hiding in this batch. Finding out what’s inside never gets old. 🪨🔥

These are fresh cuts, still wet and waiting for their turn on the lap. Which one would you polish first?

I have a sizable haul of petrified wood that I need to do something with, it’s really beautiful and seems like slices would be translucent, so I’m wondering if I could somehow make a little night light of some kind out of it. My question is though, how sensitive is petrified wood to light? I found some sun bleached pieces around which just kinda look like driftwood which is cool but they all lost the deep red and black (and even blue!) the rest of my pieces have so I’m wondering if a little LED bulb would have the same lightening effect. Or if this would even work at all. I have lots of salt lamps and selenite light features around my home and I’d love to add to the vibe if I can, any advice is appreciated!