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/diy/ - Do It Yourself

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1718337 No.1718337 [Reply] [Original]

Any gemstone cutters on here? I'm exploring picking it up as a hobby - I'd like to do it sporadically when I'm watching TV or listening to a podcast, and produce a nice rock every couple months or so. Is it something you can do one day and pick up a week later without much setup/cleanup? Also how difficult is it to get into? Does perfectly following the schematic result in a perfect rock?

>> No.1718369

>>1718337
it produces noise, you won't be listening to podcasts anymore

>> No.1718775
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1718775

I had the same idea. Still getting into it but it's breddy gud. It only takes a few days at most to make stones the way I do it. The only thing is where you start. It takes a shitload of money to get into faceting (the fancy stuff you see on colored stones like your pic). if you don't have +$3,000 to spend on a good cutter's lap you can try cutting cabochons.

It can be done as cheap as 1 knife sharpening stone, different sandpaper grits, some polishing compound (Cerium oxide is good), and jewelers wax (I substitute with beeswax because that shit is hard to come by). Here's a good vid on the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MW7vLNSSE8

Good cheap cabbing stones aren't hard to come by but don't expect to make good money on cabs unless it's a fancy stone like opal. Use the cash from cabs you make to buy a cutter's lap. Once you have that, you can learn how to cut stones online rather easily. Start with trash like quartz then move to something like garnet or tourmaline to make actual money.

[spoiler]Pro tip: If you get a shitty stone that you can't cut/cab well, wire wrap it, google the "Spiritual significance" of the stone, and sell it to hippies as a healing crystal![/Spoiler]

>> No.1718793

Post nose.

>> No.1720354

>>1718337
I wanna try

Bump

>> No.1720355

>>1718369
What are noise canceling headphones

>> No.1721745
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1721745

Hello, I just bought to a little cousin some gemstone, which shall be broken with hammer into small pieces.
Do You think that it can be polished, or will it crumble into small pieces?
>Picture related is that broken gemstone.

>> No.1721746
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1721746

>>1721745
On the bottom is unbroken stone, others are broken. It was quite easy to crash it with hammer.

>> No.1721758

>>1718337
Would love to get into it, but as >>1718775 said it's quite expensive.
I have a feeling that there is a way to make a goniometer for cheaper than what they sell, but thats just a feeling.

>> No.1722656

>>1721746
none of those are gem or cabouchon quality, they'd crumble

>>1721758
what are you thinking the low end for all gear is?

>> No.1722799
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1722799

>>1718337
Lapidary is difficult, expensive, loud, messy, and fraught with health hazards even with PPE. Making money from it....well....you are here on 4channel having to ask about it. I can tell you the answer won't be what you'd like, but I'm sure you already know that.

>> No.1723654

>>1722799
>t. Boomer who doesn't want competition

Really though, I wont bet any money on it being profitable. From what little I've seen, the issue seems to be that you can ship roughs in bulk somewhere overseas and get them faceted to the tune of tens of dollars, vs American labor that would cost hundreds. Hence the only competitive advantage is in very elaborate designs that aren't standard. Once I had a gem cut in a hexagonal shape for me because I wanted a unique shape. It was expensive but the end result was worth it. (Then I found out that the mounting also had to be custom made.)
>>1722656
Do you mean the low end to get started? For amateur work, I'd say >5k for a used setup off of ebay that may require fixing. Then you should probably take a class, since the details of technique seem to be unwritten knowledge/feel based.
That's just my guess though, I am by no means knowledgeable. I was looking into this when I needed to polish metal to metallographic quality.

>> No.1724346

>>1722799
>>>1718337 (OP)
l>gif

Is that supposed to show the workers as incompetent?

I kinda can't tell if this some type of safety related reason as to why they have to fill manually.