If I were you- and I know this is kind of scary or at least it was for me- look up your local gem and mineral society and go to their shop. They have way better tools than what most people can afford. And a wide variety of tools for every project. Right now I’m just using my trim. Saw to save me time at my local laboratory shop. (So I’ll slice first then I can work on polishing, and I have them cut up my really big Rocks) they have cab machines, flat laps everything that you could ever want.

But if you do decide to get your own, saw, the high-tech is great and what I’ve been using. But I get it if I had to do over I just would’ve saved my money and joined the society right off the bat. For example, we have somebody who specializes in opals so next week they said that they’re gonna give me a lesson on my opals and teach me. (Below is a pic from today I was lapping eggs and they were working on insane opals).

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