⭐ Show Us Your Cut Stones - Before And After Photos

[Kingsolomon]

nice Citrine , almost forgot about it

 

[Lefty]

Very nice Design looks a bit like "Hanuka" but I don't remember that one having a framed table.

 

[shivan]

Been a while since i have cut anything so i decided to try some synthetic sapphire. I was given a few designs to try but forgot to check the R.I so cut for 1.5 instead of 1.7. The stone did not come up too bad otherwise, though i did manage to drop the stone and dop onto my batt lap when i was taking it out of the table adaptor :8 While the stone was undamaged my new lap now has half a dozen dings in it 8.(

 

[Lefty]

Rubyvale yellow-green, 45 carats. My laps are all just about cactus, new ones have been ordered and should be here next week. I'll wait till I have the new ones to tackle a sapphire this size.

 

[kawman]

 

[ktmman]

Did you find this one Lefty?

 

[Lefty]

Did you find this one Lefty?

I wish! I'm cutting it for somebody who found it decades ago apparently.

As always, it looks nice to the eye than my camera shows, it's a real golden-yellow with a very sharp divide between the yellow and the green.

 

[Sodabowski]

Whoa, biggie! Can't wait to see the outcome!

 

[fossickeract]

A couple of self collected Amethyst from opposite ends of the country darker LHS from Kuridala near Cloncurry North Queensland and lighter from Eden on South Coast NSW. Both around 1carat SRB.

 

[Bezza]

Hey fossickeract, nice stones. Do you get down to Eden much? I've heard about the amethyst down there but haven't seen many finds. Is it worth the trip?
Cheers
Matt

 

[Heatho]

Really nice stones Fossicker, interesting tlo see the 2 different shades of colour from the different regions. Nice work.

 

[fossickeract]

No Matt most of the amethyst is included and flawed only faceted if you like a challenge. The dig is within 5m of the sea cliff edge which is pleasant but perhaps environmentally sensitive.The fishing and general area is top especially in winter as I get away from the Canberra cold for a weekend.

 

[Sodabowski]

No Matt most of the amethyst is included and flawed only faceted if you like a challenge.

Well you were definitely up to the challenge!

 

[Bezza]

Thanks mate, I'm from Ulladulla so always looking for a new place to have a dig. Nicely done.

 

[Sodabowski]

From time to time I need my fix of cutting. This time I'll share what became of a chunk of Brazilian lavender quartz that I acquired from one of my suppliers. The gentleman is an Aussie, and some of you might know him, it's a small world after all
From rough to cab:

23,5 cts chunk to start with, it had a crack in the middle, at an angle, so I sawed it into several high-yield oriented pieces to get rid of the fractures and get properly orientable pieces.
The missus wanted me to try a cab out of this very pretty material, so I picked an 11,4 ct section, which could have yielded pretty high in an SRB, but since the faceting machine is still not done, Dremel it will meet and the yield won't be phenomenal.

Stuck to the dop with black wax.

Preformed cab...

Still preformed

Starting to get there with finer grits...

... and the top is done.

Looking pretty already, the color is softish but very nice.

Transferred to the same dop (no jig - I have secret powers )

Polished bottom with the proper shape

.. and out of the dop. Nice color there, right? I reckon I can't wait to facet the other pieces I've got!

Next to my magical ring, for scale. Final weight is 4,1 cts, which turns out to an acceptable 35% yield.

By the way, these are all poor iPhone 3GS pictures,I still need a proper macro lens for the DSLR.
My total lazy time on this one sums up to about two hours, I really took my time when sawing/orienting the rough (but still managed to screw up and ended up cutting 2mm away from my line!) and enjoyed every second
Hope you like the result, Mrs Sodabowski sure does!

Cheers from the upper world.

 

[Heatho]

Nice work mate, well done.

 

[Sodabowski]

Thanks Heatho. I really need to get the machine done!

Did another one tonight, this time Bangkok style: dopped, but freehand
Nice green tourmaline XL bought back in 2007, 1,5 cts rough, with broken edges right where they're needed for a proper emerald cut.
Before:

After:

Hand cut over a piece of window glass with 1200 grit sandpaper, polished over an MDF board with 15k diamond paste and then a touch with the buffing wheel on the Dremel. Around a hour and a half total play time. The facets are pitted like crazy (makes it hazy) but this will be recut once the machine is done.
Oh, and I'm happy with the 80% yield on that one

Next time I'll tackle some of that amazing Australian blue opal (no fire, the opaque style, you know, great for carvings in my book) and try to get a proper cameo out of it. Hopefully we'll have some eyecandy from Kingsolomon meanwhile, we could use more pictures of the bloke's breathtaking stones, right?

 

[Kingsolomon]

Sadowboski , nice effort . I have been busy with school . Have stones in triple digits I'm photographing . So you will see some soon . I'll send you link to website as soon as done

 

[Heatho]

Another nice stone man, well done. Gotta love the tourmaline, lovely stone.

 

[fossickeract]

No before photo but this is a simple portuguese cut topaz, hard to get the swirling of light effect in a photo. I also have in progress a pale citrine about 25mm dia similar cut but I am moving the index by 2 every second row on the pavilion to increase the swirling effect perhaps.

Rough fossicked in O'Briens Creek two years ago.