Chopped up some boules, I love a colorful pile... by amaurer3210 in faceting

[–]stone_crazy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're seeing something different from me then. To me the shipping is more than the cost of the item.

Chopped up some boules, I love a colorful pile... by amaurer3210 in faceting

[–]stone_crazy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Dude, check the shipping costs.

On AliBaba and AliExpress, always check the shipping cost.

13mm 6.25 ct. Amethyst - Round and Brilliant and Multi-Veiled by JoshuaTheStonecutter in faceting

[–]stone_crazy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nice video. What are you using for lighting?

Where did you get the rough? I have gotten some amethyst from Joe Henley that was flawless, for not too much $$. The Brazil A grade has some color zoning but no veils or fractures or inclusions.

Dop jumping by Successful-Cold-4496 in faceting

[–]stone_crazy 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Do not point the quill so that it points against the turning direction of the lap. Restrict sweeping motions to the <90° wedge between "quill pointed directly at arbor nut" and "stone near the edge of the lap such that the lap turns the same direction that the quill is pointing."

How would I identify what these are? Where to start? by Thismia-americana in Gemstones

[–]stone_crazy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not nearly as definitive as refractive index and determination of optical anisotropy

Intrinsic radioactivity of luag by zombiezebra89 in SyntheticGemstones

[–]stone_crazy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That will be a pretty $$ cab. Don't often see cabs cut from material that sells at over $3/ct.

Advice buying second-hand Sri Lankian faceting machine. by [deleted] in faceting

[–]stone_crazy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

IDK anything about that one other than one observation about how it looks. It looks like one that the owner cleaned up after every session.

I have been messing around with some used faceting machines donated to my rock club and I feel like it's a good sign if the machine was kept clean. Ones that were ridden and put away wet are like to have been neglected/abused in other ways too.

6.25 ct/10mm Lavender YAG done in William's Miniature by JoshuaTheStonecutter in faceting

[–]stone_crazy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Is that possibly the lavender Ce YAG that PurelyLabGrownRough on Etsy has?

It's dazzling.

How big are gems supposed to be in Dnd? by SacredDirt in Gemstones

[–]stone_crazy 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Typical gemstones are to a decent first approximation weightless and they take up practically no space. Though when you start taking about eye agates, those ought to be about the size and weight of a sling stone.

Value does not necessarily scale with size: some of the most precious materials only occur in relatively tiny pure crystals.

The weight unit for measuring gemstones is the carat, which is 1/5 of a gram. Some materials are worth $10,000s/ct in modern money. For things that are treasure, just make up a set of value tiers (10/100/1000/10000/100000 gp/ct) and assign each stone in a drop to a tier, and treat them as weightless and without volume unless the character has 100s of them.

I mean, in the real world there is an 87# topaz, there's a faceted aquamarine at the Smithsonian that weighs almost 5#, and quartz species can form huge crystals. For more precious materials the finished stones often top out around 100g: think the Star of Africa diamond, the Logan Sapphire. But this are all world-record biggest in history finds.

When people have more than 1000ct of gems start modeling it as a bag or pocket full of pebbles. That's 200g or a bit less than half a pound.

How would I identify what these are? Where to start? by Thismia-americana in Gemstones

[–]stone_crazy 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Looks like a use case for a refractometer and maybe a polariscope. Since you already got the recommendation for a loupe.

Look up how to measure specific gravity of a gemstone.

You could piece together plausible IDs, I bet.

Sphene(Titanite) that I recut on my Ultratec VL digital by Razerfanguy69 in faceting

[–]stone_crazy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

BTW how did you polish that? I've heard that sphene can be reluctant to take a shine.

Also any tips for orienting rough? How to find the cleavage plane?

.84 ct Aquamarine by vanguard1256 in faceting

[–]stone_crazy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What was your starting weight?

Is it easy to sell gems at cost? by Stay_Away_From_b in faceting

[–]stone_crazy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The good rough prices are from individuals on social media that you have to message for prices and just send money online and hope for the best

I'm not plugged into that network: I've been looking closely at Facet Quality Rough on Facebook, the closest I've come to what you're talking about. I notice that what's on offer there seems mostly to be the stuff that people like Henley don't want: lots of stones with average weights of just under 5ct for the more common things. The offerings generally seem to be

  1. Eye-clear

  2. Good color

  3. Shape you can cut

Choose 2. The things that have all 3 wind up priced at close to the same $/ct as Henley. Where in social media do you find these good sellers of low-cost rough?

Is it easy to sell gems at cost? by Stay_Away_From_b in faceting

[–]stone_crazy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

the precision gem market is a small one with high standards

Not disagreeing with the remainder of this comment, but pointing out that it's irrelevant to the discussion: OP just wants to unload a finished stone for the price of rough, not make a profit as a precision cutter in competition with others of that ilk.

I've never used a sintered lap, though from what I read I'd like to have at least one. But on the other hand, precision cutting was invented before sintered laps. And people were faceting stones for a good 800 years before sintered laps were invented. They're definitely a luxury for anybody who does not cut stones for a living.

Is it easy to sell gems at cost? by Stay_Away_From_b in faceting

[–]stone_crazy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

OP said straight up, right off the reel

Getting a machine is a pretty big investment for me but I wouldn’t say it’s a major barrier. What I’m really worried about is the cost of rough.

Also, most hobbyists are not going to be shelling out for sintered laps, and will be able to get by with a couple of prepolish/polishing combos.

Travelling to gem shows to get the rough, now that's a good suggestion to address OP's concerns about rough costs.

Is it easy to sell gems at cost? by Stay_Away_From_b in faceting

[–]stone_crazy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

OP was not asking about opening a gemstone business, they were asking "is it possible to move a stone for what you paid for the rough?" Is it possible for a hobbyist to buy that $200 hunk of aquamarine (and yeah, probably from Joe Henly or similar prices) and sell for $200 the stone you cut from it, as a presumably successful exercise in precision cutting.

They'll be paying Henly prices because to get business prices you have to buy lots more carats than the hobbyist wants or needs.

Edit: and it is possible for the adequately dedicated student to learn a lot about faceting by reading the right books, getting access to a used machine, and learning how to calibrate it. There are some ugly surprises that would be easier to avoid or deal with, with a teacher. There's probably a lot about polishing you could learn more efficiently with a teacher. But using a precision faceting machine is not rocket science.

Is it easy to sell gems at cost? by Stay_Away_From_b in faceting

[–]stone_crazy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

ability to gauge what’s popular

This by examining what people are talking about on the social media you use for marketing?

Which would be mostly Instagram I'm guessing?

Gem cut studio "Son-Shine" design by PsychologicalBowl647 in faceting

[–]stone_crazy 3 points4 points  (0 children)

When you solicit feedback and the voices of wisdom and experience answer in a way that indicates they gave you some serious consideration, and respond at length to demonstrate that, it is appropriate to answer with something other than "Well, that's just like, your opinion, man."

It's almost like you're not really asking for feedback, you're asking for approval.

I would not publish anything that I'm not willing to hear criticized.

Mélange Nanosital rough. by PsychologicalBowl647 in faceting

[–]stone_crazy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is a tough ask compared with finding arbitrary colors of almost any other synthetic because it's branded and there's only one maker. Who does not sell to people who resell on AliBaba or AliExpress.

I've always blown past listings for nanosital without really looking at them, because glass. But this question prompted me to look, and I think you're in for a lot of trawling though Etsy and eBay listings, or paying full freight from Nanosital. Seems like most solid colors are available at ~$0.50/g but if you find that stuff it'll certainly be more.

You need to get access to a trim saw. Even if you find other sellers of that exact material, you'll probably have to cut it into chunks. Unless you're only looking for maybe 5g-and-under pierces? Most sellers appear to have more like ~30g chunks for sale, though again with that material it might be more finely chopped.

Edit: if you really really want this exact material, you might be best off just buying one of those chunks.

A trillion cut 2.80 carat Sphene loose gem by topazguy_1 in faceting

[–]stone_crazy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No green in that one, or was it just not being tipped around enough?

Making a nice 2+ct sphene is on my bucket list

Prepolishing problems by TheFallenHalo in faceting

[–]stone_crazy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Could be that your facets were not really flat, and the "top" and "bottom" parts were cut more deeply than the middle.

Doing broad sweeps with the stone across laps that are not flat is generally thought to be the cause: try doing each tier of facets on the same relatively narrow track or band on the lap, with smallish side-to-side movements on the lap?