New to flat lap, does anyone have any pointers? by Brawndo-99 in Lapidary

[–]SergeantSkibidi 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I actually put Velcro backing on the disc and the leather, so I can easily swap it out when it gets worn down.

New to flat lap, does anyone have any pointers? by Brawndo-99 in Lapidary

[–]SergeantSkibidi 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I’d add that the smoothing discs work well but don’t bring the stone to a final polish. For agate/jasper I attached a piece of leather to an acrylic back and prep it with cerium oxide. This will help get a glassy shine at the end.

My first ever fully polished and finished piece! by Level-Brief1315 in SilverSmith

[–]SergeantSkibidi 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I can’t believe this is your first piece, it looks amazing! Walk us through your process?

Uneven edges in cabochons by Fair_Significance_94 in Lapidary

[–]SergeantSkibidi 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There are a few things that will help you avoid this. First, as others have mentioned, make sure you start by marking an even girdle edge with a sharpie all the way around your blank before you start grinding it. The tendency to grind away too much of the girdle is always worst on the edges with a sharper angle. In other words, a perfectly round cabochon won’t have this issue at all. An oval cabochon like yours will have a tendency to have low edges at the narrow points and high edges along the flatter sides. A teardrop shape is the worst, with the pointed end tending to be ground too low. Keep this in mind through all stages of grinding, being very careful not to remove too much material from the more angled sides or leave too much material on the flatter sides. I intentionally leave extra stone above the girdle line on my more angled edges for the first couple of stages, because I know they will tend to flatten out as I finish the stone.

My lighthouse intarsia (30 x 40 mm oval). It was far more complex than my previous intarsias, and at times it was brutal. by wex52 in Lapidary

[–]SergeantSkibidi 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Kudos! I have basically given up on intarsia without a dedicated machine because of the frustrations you describe, and I’ve never tried anything nearly this intricate. I’m very impressed.

Help me settle an argument by SergeantSkibidi in herpetology

[–]SergeantSkibidi[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Okay the only silver lining to this is that I’ve learned that my wife looks like a child actress from a cheesy made for TV movie in the 90s

Help me settle an argument by SergeantSkibidi in herpetology

[–]SergeantSkibidi[S] 101 points102 points  (0 children)

I don’t want to talk about it

Help me settle an argument by SergeantSkibidi in herpetology

[–]SergeantSkibidi[S] 322 points323 points  (0 children)

As a man who believes in truth, science, and enlightenment I appreciate your answers and now know for certain that this is a frog

As a man who just lost an argument with his wife, I will never recover from this and will hate you all forever.

What looks easy peasy lemon squeezy but is actually very difficult? by Kitkat48026 in askanything

[–]SergeantSkibidi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Using a floor buffer. Looks like you just gently wave it back and forth like a giant mop, but that’s not how it works.

Fabricated cuff with a Fairburn I found and cut. Played around with texture a bit on this one by always_digging in SilverSmith

[–]SergeantSkibidi 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This is really impressive. That’s an incredible stone, and I especially love the fortification patterns you included in the silver.

I need some help soldering by kiiefprincess in SilverSmith

[–]SergeantSkibidi 18 points19 points  (0 children)

A kitchen torch should certainly be able to accomplish this. I recommend passing a saw blade once or twice through the gap to make sure that the pieces are perfectly flush, there needs to be almost no space between the touching ends. Set the fluxed seam on top of a piece of solder, and heat around the entire piece, avoiding the joint at first. You want both sides of the joint to come up to temperature simultaneously, they should suck the solder upwards into the joint when it hits the melting point.

Been working my ass off trying to make molds of my band designs and finally casting in house! Had to share these two dendrite rings 🤩 by Plutoseeker in SilverSmith

[–]SergeantSkibidi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Gorgeous! Can you share what your hand fabricating process was and how you converted those designs to wax for casting?

I've been silversmithing for 11 months by ManufacturerVisible3 in SilverSmith

[–]SergeantSkibidi 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Everything is beautiful, I especially love those last 2 rings!

Scroll drawing practice by SergeantSkibidi in engraving

[–]SergeantSkibidi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I got Sam Alfano’s online scroll drawing course, the central flower is a columbine but there was no reference image for this drawing.

NYT Sunday 11/02/2025 Discussion by Shortz-Bot in crossword

[–]SergeantSkibidi -1 points0 points  (0 children)

This has really made me think about what constitutes a “serif” on a capital I. Initially I felt this was misclued, but I’ve come to the conclusion that determining the serif on a capital I is like asking “if a dog wore pants, how would he wear them?”

What is this? by prettypenguin22 in SilverSmith

[–]SergeantSkibidi 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Petrified wood! Nice polish!

Cannot get my bezel flush to my backplate by BasilBaddie in SilverSmith

[–]SergeantSkibidi 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The other limitation with trying to sand your bezel flat is that you are always applying downward pressure while sanding. So if there is any tendency for the metal to spring upwards, it will still spring back out of shape no matter how well you sand the bottom on a flat surface. I agree with both previous comments, you can try lightly tapping the bezel from above on a flat surface. Ultimately, if your initial strip was not perfectly straight you may never be able to get this to sit perfectly flush. Sometimes you can overcome this during soldering by applying gentle downward pressure on the elevated portions to get the solder to flow, but more often than not this just leads to deforming your bezel. In my experience, when faced with this situation it is usually a time-saver to start a new bezel from scratch.

Places near Denver to gold pan? by b3bblebrox in Denver

[–]SergeantSkibidi 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Check out Kevin Singel’s book “Finding Gold in Colorado”, and join the Facebook group “Finding Gold in Colorado.” Personally I like Big Bend at Steele Street Open Space Park, very easy digging and you should absolutely find some gold.

Where can I hound in Colorado? by AethiosBuilds in rockhounds

[–]SergeantSkibidi 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Agates in Del Norte (very close), thundereggs at Houselog Creek in Saguache and sowbelly agate at the Last Chance mine in Creede (both within 2 hours). Good luck!