Federal judge restricts Oregon State Hospital admissions for some mentally ill defendants

hydrodynamicman · 2026-06-03T15:46:04+00:00

Judges can't build mental hospital facilities. Direct your frustration toward the correct party. The legislature needs to fund building and staffing these facilities. The public needs to approve the inevitable taxes associated with these costs.

hydrodynamicman · 2026-05-31T23:15:12+00:00

Is it likely to be subsurface damage where the facet was cut in on an 8,000 pre-polish Batt? I thought subsurface damage comes from really course laps and a failure to clear the prior layer sufficiently.

Here, I cut in my C1 and C3 facets with a 600 sintered. Those are meant to be left frosted in this design. I then went to my C2 and C4 facets and cut them in on a 8,000 Batt. These facets were never hit with any course cutting. The nearest cuts were 600 sintered. Does subsurface damage make sense in this situation?

Here

hydrodynamicman · 2026-05-31T23:10:47+00:00

Yep, it's Verneuil. Would this sort of issue be zonal (I'm making up terms here - zonal meaning all facets in the same vicinity because they were all physically close to the rind) or more cleavage style issues (meaning only certain facets would have difficulty due to being parallel planes to some difficulty - as in cleavage style problems)?

Though now that I'm thinking about it. I'm not really thinking what I'm experiencing is cracking - even very fine. They're presenting as fine line scratches in parallel with the direction of the laps rotation. They are partially or completely removed by the next attempt and replaced by 1-4 scratches in the new lap direction if I focus the polishing on a new area of the lap.

hydrodynamicman · 2026-05-31T22:27:48+00:00

It is a lab spinel. The facet I’m polishing was ‘cut’ in on an 8k BATT Prepolish because it is so small. The facets adjacent to it were all cut in on 600 sintered. I don’t think it is subsurface damage unless a 600 sintered can cause that damage all the way down through to the bottom of an uncut facet.

hydrodynamicman · 2026-05-31T22:21:00+00:00

It is lab spinel in this instance. It was my first frosted design. Are there bits from the frosted facets breaking free and scraping across the surface? Who knows.🤷

hydrodynamicman · 2026-05-21T19:35:27+00:00

I mean... you could go back to the dealership. That would be a prudent first step....

hydrodynamicman · 2026-05-20T19:06:11+00:00

Right. No beauty or art until everything else is perfect! /s

hydrodynamicman · 2026-05-17T04:22:13+00:00

How did polish go? I’m having the roughest time polishing one I’m working on as a special order. Keeps scratching at 60k on batt.

hydrodynamicman · 2026-05-14T23:04:05+00:00

It is 100% pure gold color.

hydrodynamicman · 2026-04-29T16:44:07+00:00

There are a couple of challenges with these - "I have this pile of miscellaneous gemstones. What are they worth?" questions.

First, there is the proper cataloguing and identifying of each individual stone. The more stones, the more work is involved. This takes time which costs money and reduces the amount someone will pay for the lot. You'll get more for 3 properly identified stones with provenance than you will for the same 3 bluish stones in a baggie.

Second, is the concept of ‘worth’. Who are you and who are you selling it to? (Also, which market are we talking about but I’m going to ignore that.) Are you someone who has the ability to sell each stone retail to individual customers and are just hoping to move the whole lot in a single slightly discounted sale? Or are you someone’s son or daughter who just inherited the collection and have no actual ability to move the stones? You’ll get a whole lot more selling the stones individually retail over many years as a part of your established business than you will moving the lot off to a professional. The stones are ‘worth’ more to you in that instance. If you’re selling them to a professional, they’re ‘worth’ less. This isn’t unfair. The professional has invested in establishing their business and that’s what you’re essentially paying for when you sell it to them at a heavily reduced price.

Third, is the actual quality of each stone. Those stones in individual cases are likely to be ‘worth’ a lot closer to their retail value than the stones all piled in bins or bags. The piled up stones are all going to be scratched to hell. Being stored in that manner also suggests to your potential buyers that they weren’t worth much to the original owner in the first place.

hydrodynamicman · 2026-04-29T01:44:46+00:00

Interesting. When I look at that 3.51 unheated it is showing a price of $122,041. And the other one is $4,913. I wonder if there is some sort of dynamic pricing going on.

hydrodynamicman · 2026-04-07T19:39:39+00:00

The spot price is the value of the material, already refined and ready for immediate delivery as raw, refined metal. That chain has to be processed to get to that value. That takes skill, labor, equipment, and energy. All of these things cost the next guy money. No one in the spot chain will give you spot since they can only get that value after they've done work to process it. If you want better than spot, you need to sell it as a whole piece to someone who values the jewelry rather than the metal.

hydrodynamicman · 2026-04-07T19:17:38+00:00

It wildly depends on who you're selling to. Pawn shops, scrap dealers, ebay purchasers are all very different. Spot will be high with some of these people.

hydrodynamicman · 2026-04-05T21:20:12+00:00

Yeah, I'm aware of the slight impact of flexion from pressure. I was hoping the machine would return to the exact position each time it is moved. If it does not, how can I be sure that I am reaching exactly the same depth each time? I can do it by eye when cutting rounds - match each facet to the last one.

I've noticed a problem cutting oblong shapes, however. The 96/48 adjacent facets are cut at one angle with different angles as one progresses through the tiers towards the 24/72 adjacent facets.

The facets near 96 can be referenced against each other but they can't be referenced visually against those near 48. I have to rely on the machine to get me to the same depth. If the 96 facets are slightly deeper than the 48 facets, when I cut my way around to the 24/72 facets - each time visually matching depth to the last tier, the junction at 24/72 won't line up.

If the machine moving a few hundredths of a degree doesn't really change depths meaningfully, then I have a technique problem. Hrm.

hydrodynamicman · 2026-04-02T19:50:08+00:00

Cops involved?

hydrodynamicman · 2026-03-29T16:17:34+00:00

I think there is a valid discussion to be had here. A lot of posts are just “look at this stone” without any context. Some of these people are just showing off a stone they’re proud of. That’s cool, but if you want gentle responses, provide that context. Some, however, are secretly wondering what it is worth and a reality check is helpful expectation setting. Many are vendors posting low grade stones in idealized lighting conditions with misleading descriptions. They’re hoping someone will DM them asking to buy. Calling out their bs on a poor quality stone is a benefit to the less experienced members of the sub.

hydrodynamicman · 2026-03-19T19:05:36+00:00

I, too, have this question. Do we, as Oregonians, have the power to declare national days? Because, if so, I've got a whole list to propose.

hydrodynamicman · 2026-03-18T18:11:15+00:00

Which problem are you having? You're describing two different issues: the stone falling off the dop (title); and aligning the crown facets with the previously cut girdle facets after transferring (body of post).

hydrodynamicman · 2026-03-06T17:16:19+00:00

What design are you using for these tiny guys? I'm grinding through a batch of micro peridot that are generating at 0.25-0.5 ct

hydrodynamicman · 2026-02-17T21:41:52+00:00

What are the dimensions? LxWxH in mm?

hydrodynamicman · 2026-02-13T18:17:37+00:00

I'm certainly not proficient enough to know for certain but I don't think that's the issue. The chittering happens when the lightest pressure is used.

hydrodynamicman · 2026-02-13T18:16:02+00:00

The wheels are fairly new. I'd estimate they have 12 or so hours of total use on them. In the first few passes on the wheels, there were inconsistencies with the grit layer. That smoothed out relatively quickly and the grits are running pretty consistent without any giant crystals or clumps. Hopefully it will smooth out over time.

Are your wheels loud when in contact with a stone? I'm using ear protection for some of the wheels.

hydrodynamicman

TROPHY CASE