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Post by Rockoonz on Nov 10, 2018 23:03:25 GMT -5
Don't know what to think about all these dopless cabbers.  I have a couple unique shapes I do that I don't use dops for, but I dop most preforms after The perimeter is ground to shape. I generally don't use the stick as a handle, more like a guide, at least up until the 3000 wheel and cerium. I mostly work the 80 grit by feel, stopping periodically to check for flat spots. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2018 1:15:56 GMT -5
I use my hands,
Lots of light.
I believe there are steps to take to make
Things easier? , but in the end the stone speaks for itself
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Post by hummingbirdstones2 on Nov 11, 2018 10:19:29 GMT -5
It's interesting to hear how many people use dops more often, and those who only use them for certain situations. This thread has made me stop and think of the times I do - or don't - dop. It's good when threads like this make me actually think about what I'm doing.
Flat lap work is easier with a stick - the surface doesn't get outta' the way like the round wheel. Polishing on the Richardson's polisher, with the slow speed and lots of pressure is easier and safer with a stick. Stick helps with right-angle corners and parallel sides where I like to see the entire face during shaping. Old-style high domes with no girdle never worked for me without a stick.
Some of the "no-dop" bias in my cutting is from learning to cut on opal. Starting with potch, then potch and color meant chasing color bars and orientation. Much re-shaping and changing dome profiles. Re-dopping or dealing with a stick at an odd angle got tiresome.
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Nov 11, 2018 15:45:49 GMT -5
[quote author=" hummingbirdstones2 " [/p] Some of the "no-dop" bias in my cutting is from learning to cut on opal. Starting with potch, then potch and color meant chasing color bars and orientation. Much re-shaping and changing dome profiles. Re-dopping or dealing with a stick at an odd angle got tiresome. [/quote][/p]
I think that's a really excellent point Vince. I started lapidary work cutting potch-and-color opal and then transitioned to fire agate, which I cut intensively for several years -- a long learning curve. Those are stones I just can't accurately manipulate on the wheel with a dop because the fire planes undulate and it becomes nearly a carving operation. In the process, as I'm sure you've learned also, I developed techniques for avoiding wheel damage to my fingers, though I went through a period of joking I should become a cat burglar because I had no fingerprints. Eventually I applied that experience to cabbing other stones on my Genie and I find it works fast and well for me.
I always use dops for oxide polishing however, because heat and pressure are needed on my flat polishing laps and I can't hold on to most stones any other way. Now and then I get stupid and try it but usually end up in what I've named "the jeweler's position" -- on my hands and knees with rear end in the air, searching on the floor for a stone that went flying.
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Post by stephan on Nov 11, 2018 21:03:20 GMT -5
What on earth is a potch?
I don't dop, since I don't have the pot to melt the wax. I do use a near-equivalent -- nails and superglue, though. Sometimes. Smaller pieces, I definitely try, but go to cabbing by hand if it comes off (typically if I used a small nail, or got impatient waiting for the glue to set). I don't use the nail for soft or brittle materials (lepidolite, most dino bone...), because I've pulled chunck of the back of the cab out, trying to remove the nail. I do tend to use it for very hard materials (Owyhee, Brazilian agate, crazy lace without softer areas), where more control and/or pressure are needed to make a dome and remove scratches. Also, I use the nail for obsidian and jade, where the last step is a nearly dry polish, and allowing the stone to get quite hot.
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Post by hummingbirdstones2 on Nov 11, 2018 21:11:39 GMT -5
Stephan - legit question. Potch is opal without any play-of-color. Crap is a good synonym. Good for learning how opal cuts, though.
Superglue and nail is good. Wood glue on a wooden dop works, but waiting for it to dry bugs me, too. Toothpicks, small shish-k-bob skewers, or whatever looked like it might work on little opals. Painting over the wood or white glues with clear nail polish to keep the water from loosening it up. Less chance of pulling chunks out of cabs.
Like rockjunquie said - many ways to defur a feline. |
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Post by stephan on Nov 11, 2018 22:15:03 GMT -5
Stephan - legit question. Potch is opal without any play-of-color. Crap is a good synonym. Good for learning how opal cuts, though.
Well, that's a good word, then. Kind of like bad wine being plonk. They're both unpleasant-sounding, so good synonyms for crap.
I was going to accuse you guys of using made-up words, but then it occurred to me that ALL words are made up. But seriously... plonk, potch, swarf... it's starting to sound like vintage Batman fight-sequence sound effects.
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