Rock Cutting & Polishing

[Jim Hatt]

You're right Beth,

This is a better place for it.

Jim



Same piece with different lighting


Here is a photo of the rock before I started cutting into it.


I got a little crazy with the saw...


The gold particles are very small, but they are all through the rock.

Now what do I need to buy to polish it?

Jim

[roc2rol]

Rock’N Jim !!


Those slabs look ggrreeeaat and lots of fun !
Got yourself a wee bit wet heh ? He he
I took a large plastic bag cut holes for head an arms & presto !
Water proof!
But here’s another trick with that wet little saw.
Cut from behind. Pull the rock instead of push.
Actually that’s even gives you more control with line of sight!
And dry!

Now to the more serious problem of polishing that large flat area.
That a trick! Always is… always will be.
Flat lap machine are bit expensive
(actually there not all that expensive its all relative to who we all are).
Around 800.00 bucks sets up a person with a really nice lapping machine.
It comes with about 10 pre-loaded discs
from 80 to 1200 grits.
This is just info off the top of my head.
And different from Mrs. Oro faceting machine

But before you go there, Jim! I would suggest hand lapping them.
They look like quartz material with the obvious softer metal.
A stiff flat plate of glass, 3-M cloth, little water, circular motion,
time and patience; and you will achieve brilliant results!

If your in Phoenix, basically around 44st & McDowell,
there is Lonnie Jewelry Supply.
He’ll have all the material and can even get some great advice.

Good Luck
You be slabb’n rock’n Hattman!!
E

[Jim Hatt]

Wet? Moi? ... To say the LEAST!

Like an uninformed idiot (The instruction manual gave no warnings).

I was standing right in front of it when I turned it on the first time. Of course I had the guard off the top, because my rock was taller than the amount of saw blade I had sticking up above the table.

That blade slings the water in your face at a very high speed!!!!

It reminded me of riding through a mud puddle on a bicycle with no fenders!

I finally ended up putting my raincoat on backwards, and just letting the water run down my full face grinding shield.

Next time I will try pulling the rock through instead of pushing it like you suggested. I can see how that would recycle a lot of the water too.
I had to refill my water tub after every cut.

Is there some kind of wheel I can put on my bench grinder for hand polishing?

Rock'n-Hattman

P.S. I panned almost 4 grams of gold out of the muck, in the bottom of my water tub when I finished. Made me wonder how much gold it slung all over my front porch?


Gold I got out of the muck... 3.81 Grams

[roc2rol]

That's really funny Jim !!!!

Nah your bench grinder speed is going to be way too fast for lapping! 1725rpm is the most the speed you need. The lapping machines are variable speed but don't go much higher. Besides you don't want to lose to much gold dust!

I'll bet the biggest majority of gold dust did go into
the pan on the workforce. Great capture!
You'll have to work in clean room

[Jim Hatt]

Ed,

I got an e-mail from Guz requesting that we start a topic that introduces all the different tools and equipment associated with Lapidary work.

I sent him your e-mail address so he could discuss it directly with you offline. I think it is a good idea. I know what a Rock-Saw is now, (A Benchtop Hurricane) but that is about all I know. All these other things you and Beth are talking about, I do not understand at all.

Jim

[roc2rol]

Just ask a question
and we'll all work out an answer
in the meantime
I'll work up a Power Point presentation

more importanly tho...
enlighten us on how you extracted that gold dust
from the saw slurry ?
nice job!
Ed

[Jim Hatt]

Ed,

I just rinsed the contents of the water pan in the saw, into a gold pan and panned it out.

Jim

[Sandman]

This is a cool subject. I've been picking up rocks all of my life and now........another hobby to get started on! Thanks for sharing everyone.

[Jim Hatt]

Sandman,

It's got me hooked!
You never know what you're going to find inside a rock till you cut it in half!

Jim

[cubfan64]

Jim - without getting into any specifics, was your rock found in the Supers?