Nipomo marcasite

[stardiamond]

I ground around the non face sides of the rough with 80 and 185 to be able to better mark and see if there was a better orientation for slabbing. The piece that I cut the bottom right slabs had a better orientation at 90 degrees with a bigger face. I use old trim saw blades to slab and my technique isn't very precise. I could cut some smaller slabs but will put the pieces away for now. They are extra thick so I can work with them and the material isn't hard. Crud but no fractures. The last Nipomo I cut wasn't as solid.

[stardiamond]

This is the other side of the bottom right slab. It is 9-12 mmm and has a nice botryoidal crystal vug. I'll be making this the top and will grind off the crud and see it I can incorporate the vug into a cab design.