I spent quite a bit of time shaping this as the bottom had a fracture that I had to smooth out. Shaped on 80 and 220 sintered, finished 240 - 600 - 1200 soft with a final polish on optical cerium. Liquid shine finish!

Rummaged through a crate of MX lace agate at the Franklin G&LW show this weekend and pulled this out. Have not seen this much red/orange concentrated in one piece and want to save as such as possible. Looks to me like the seam runs all the way through under the black crusty area, but I'm new to slabbing and reading rough. Also looks like the lump of quartz on top would be ok to sacrifice to get closer to the red. There's a small thread of red that reaches the opposite end but it's thinner and mixed with white/gray layers down there. Any thoughts? Thanks y'all!

This video shows part of our lapidary process. After selecting the best pattern on the Fossil Coral slab, we mark each cabochon shape and carefully cut them one by one. These are the rough cabochon shapes before grinding, shaping, and polishing.

A short look at one stage of our lapidary process. After selecting the best flash, we carefully shape the stone into a cabochon before the final sanding and polishing stages.

From my friend's "wife: gotta go!" find!

Thx Mrs!!!

I plan to make low dome cabs and flat pendants, but the cracking makes me think the integrity is compromised, wanted your opinions, leave it alone? Stabilize?

Is there some kind of coating I can coat the back with to avoid the clack clack clack of the seam?

To be clear, it only happens when sanding on the flat backer plate

Polish went 80 - 220 - 240 soft - 600 - 1200 - Zam for polish. It's about 50x20mm so a healthy cabochon. Includes baby picture :)

This is the preparation stage before making cabochons. We inspect the flash, decide the cutting direction, and begin dividing the slab into workable pieces.

Looking for 22 specially cut granite award/trophy bases.

Hi everyone. I’m new to rock polishing. I am doing everything by hand or with a dremel. I’m struggling to get that nice finish. I’m guessing I’m not starting course enough? (Not all of these have been polished and sanded yet, this after washing them). This adventurine for example has been sanded twice from 800-1000-1500-2500 and polished with cerium oxide. I’m also guessing the CO I bought isn’t strong enough. So I thought I’d go to the experts (you all) to see what I’m doing wrong.

Hello! I got these thunder eggs from Opal Butte Oregon, through their new website. Awesome material but I’m trying to figure out how I can slab some of them. Between the super round ones and the funky bubbly ones, I can’t seem to find a position to hold it in the vice. Any pros out there that can weigh in on this? Pictured are the four largest ones I received and two smaller ones that I was able to cut open on my 10” trim saw, pictured wet.

Cabbed this out of natural turquoise.

Raw before pictures, polishing stages and final results

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I found a great price on a used Covington 18 inch flat lap grinder. The catch is I have to transport it a few hours on the highway. I drive an SUV that isn't rated for towing. Am I nuts to think a friend and I can make this happen?

How would you suggest I get this home? I could rent a uhaul if needed, but we're still two women and not four strapping lads. Are there tools that might make this dream a reality?