Links to How-To Sites

Rocknuts Yahoo Group

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Rockwerks/

Rock Tumbling Hobby Group

http://andy321.proboards48.com/index.cgi

Kreigh’s Homemade Lapidary Equipment

http://tomaszewski.net/Kreigh/Minerals/Homemade.shtml

Diamond Pacific How To Information. Blade Speeds, Blade Care, etc.

http://www.diamondpacific.com/howtoinformation.html

How to Make a Cab

http://www.dbrockwerks.com/FreeformCab.pdf

Vibrating Lap Instructions

http://www.dbrockwerks.com/VibeLapInstr.pdf

Bob’s Rock Shop

http://www.rockhounds.com

MC Rocks

http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/mb/mcrocks

Petrified Wood Site, Lot’s of Info on P Wood

http://www.mashell.com/~estrauss/pwoodfx.html

Oregon Fossil Guy Great Fossil Resource

http://www.oregonfossilguy.com

Freeform Cabs

http://www.freeformcabs.com

How to Make a Stone Knife

http://www.freeformcabs.com/howtomakeastoneknife.htm

Field Trip Reports from All over the World

http://www.mcrocks.com/page18.html

Misc Lapidary Tips

Send Us Your Tips, Help Fellow Rock Hounds

Getting a Great Polish

Use Magnification while working through the grits. When you get a great polish using magnification, you will have a fantastic polish unmagnified.

Keeping Vibe Laps Cleaner

Use a shower cap, or press and seal to cover your Vibrating Lap. Be sure to use a different cap or new press and seal for each grit. Place the cap on, or seal the rim of the pan.

Seeing Better

Use bright lights when working on Gemstones, this give you a better idea as to what the stone will look like in full sun, of course when possible, use full sun. Bright lights help when working with stones like Rainbow Obsidian, and star Garnet, etc.

Get Them Really Shiny

After the polish stage in your tumbler, run the load with soap. Load as much volume of Ivory soap as you would grit. (i.e. 3tsp of grit = 3tsp of Soap) Use Ivory flakes non detergent, or shave a Ivory soap bath bar. Tumble with Plastic Pellets for 1-2 days. You will be surprised about the extra shine.

Contamination

Whether you use a flat lap, tumble, or use a grinding wheel, you have to be very careful full of cross-grit contamination. If you have done everything right, and still can’t get a polish, you might suspect contamination. Check your polish wheels for contamination.

Bad Air!

NEVER breath rock dust. Is that clear enough? Never grind rocks dry, do not breath rock dust. You can get some serious lung problems. DON’T DO IT!

Cabs Always Fall off the Dop.

Well a couple of possible reasons, first, if you are using old dop wax, or wax that has been heated many times, you may have to recharge it to get its tackiness back. Do this by melting some real beeswax in with the dop wax. Second, if you left the dopped cabs in the shop overnight, and the temperature dropped, that is just like putting them in the freezer to detach them. You will have to redo the cab, or bring the dopped cabs inside so they stay warm.

Healed or Not?

If you are not sure as to whether a fracture in a slab is a healed fracture of not, wet your finger and swipe it across the fracture. Watch the fracture as the water dries, the fracture if NOT healed will take a bit longer to dry out. If dries at the same rate as surrounding stone, most likely it is healed.

Diamond Saw Won’t Cut.

If your blade still has diamond on it, and won’t cut, run a brick, concrete, old aluminum oxide grinding wheel, or Obsidian about 3” thru the blade. This will strip off any alloy that is covering the diamond particles allowing them to cut. If you have no diamond left, you need a new blade.

Keep the Oil Out

If you suspect that the rock you are about to cut will soak in oil, you should soak the rock in water for at least 24 hours before cutting. This fills the porous areas with water. Cutting oil can stain some stones. Denim Lapis is an example. Soaking in water really helps to minimize oil soak in.

Secret Recipe

Experiment with polishes. If you are having trouble with that certain stone, try mixing polishes. I use Cerium Oxide mostly, but if I have trouble, I have been known to add a bit of Tin Oxide, or even Linde A. Red Rouge can help with Obsidian. I have used as many as 5 polishes together, and a lot of the time, I will get great results were one polish would not quite do the job. Experiment a little.

Tiny Work.

When polishing small crevices, use a shish kabob stick. the larger ones will fit a Dremel or Dremel like hand piece.

Simply dip the tip in water, then in the polish, and let it go. Fire Agate is a fine example for this tip. Thanks Elmer.

Soap all the way!

Try doing your tumble cycles with “ALL” even in the grinding stages. Gives a deep and very shiny polish. Thanks Guy DiTorrice

Keep your tables from getting scratched

A practice I've started on my polished trim stock (fossils, petrified woods,

obsidians, agates, jaspers) and for the polished thunder egg halves - I seal

the non-polished portions or surrounding non-polished matrix. Have

experimented with a wide range of products and find certain grades of Vinac,

Airflex and Flexbond (formaldehyde based) and Butvar (acetone based) as

extremely quality products. Gives the finished product a real

commercially-prepared feel and provides a non-scratching surface for

specimens you don't want to put on a stand or glue felt/fabric on the

non-polished surface. Thanks Guy DiTorrice

Handy Storage

For sorting smaller cleaned mineral and fossil specimens (e.g. less than

2-inch diameter/square), plastic fishing tackle boxes provide both

adjustable-sized spaces and a stiff, flat surface for sorting. Equally

useful in the field for those smaller items that you know often end up lost

in the wadded newspaper or wrapped aluminum foil. I also box, stack and

store specimens after they're identified and labeled. I know the national

federation and show standards favor wood, but I find the translucent nature

of the near-clear plastic tackle boxes an added benefit to inventoried

storage. (You can always pull stored specimens for show submissions and

displays.) Thanks Guy DiTorrice

1

Talc

2

Gypsum

3

Calcite

4

Fluorite

5

Apatite

6

Orthoclase

7

Quartz

8

Topaz

9

Corundum

10

Diamond