⭐ Show Us Your Cut Stones - Before And After Photos

Very nice Sapph mate, great cut too, well done. :Y: :Y:

Inclusions... what inclusions.. not seeing any, anyway inclusion mean it natural not man made, nature at its finest

Nice on there Wally erfect:

Hi all,
Just thought Id put up a couple of pics of a pair of calibrated garnets that I scored from Lefty... his work is first class.
Cheers :gemstone: erfect:

Wally your on fire :fire: :clap: :trophy: I haven't looked at this thread for a while but I'm sure glad I did today, beautiful work erfect:

OzzieAu I know what you mean :Y: Lefty's stones are fantastic :trophy:. I bought one a while ago and Kate set it as her first setting, looks fabulous erfect:

A while ago, I posted the Superman garnet that had some cool looking bubble inclusions, so I found another with needles in a lattice pattern to have a crack at.



The stone is quite dark, but the size was good and the inclusions intrigued me. The design is the same as the little sapphire I just finished, it was going to be my first triangle shaped gem, but it jumped off the dop and has been missing in action for quite some time.

I stumbled across it yesterday hiding in amongst some tools at the back of my workbench, so I had a crack at redopping the stone to see if I could finish it off. The result is 1.95ct, very dark in the shade, but it sparkles in the sunshine.

Some interesting things happening in there

Nice one Wally :Y: Did you dop that with superglue?

I've seen those little needle lattices in most garnets I've cut I think - both Australian and from overseas - but often they are thinly dispersed and hard or impossible to see with the naked eye.

Thanks Lefty

I have been using a gel based superglue of late. Like most adhesives, it doesn't like being dropped from full height on a spinning lap

Yes, I've also experienced that that kind of thing doesn't work very well :lol:

What do you remove it with? Heating the dop or a solvent?

I soak the stone in acetone for 20mins prior to transfer and heat pop it off or use a razor blade if there is a gap.

If I use glue only on the second, I will soak it until it falls off, but I have also been waxing some to get the shape of the seat, snapping the joint upon initial wax setting, then glueing onto the wax. In this case, once complete, I heat the dop to pop the stone out, then soak the glue/wax until it dissolves.

I have had the odd stubborn connection on transfer due to being impatient on the soaking. This can be problematic as the stone will not pop off quickly and you risk heat transferring into the wax on the other dop. Think this can also happen on larger stones where the glue surface area is bigger. In those instances, I stand it up in a dropper bottle of acetone filled with just enough to cover the joint I want released.

Now that I think about it, I could just glue the second stick on and soak the desired joint until the became completely gooey. Might give that a go on larger stones, thinking 30-40mins might be enough.

The super-glue I use comes with a tube of release agent in the packet... Handy when you make a boo boo... I actually think its Acetone...

LW....

Wally69 said:

I soak the stone in acetone for 20mins prior to transfer and heat pop it off or use a razor blade if there is a gap.

If I use glue only on the second, I will soak it until it falls off, but I have also been waxing some to get the shape of the seat, snapping the joint upon initial wax setting, then glueing onto the wax. In this case, once complete, I heat the dop to pop the stone out, then soak the glue/wax until it dissolves.

I have had the odd stubborn connection on transfer due to being impatient on the soaking. This can be problematic as the stone will not pop off quickly and you risk heat transferring into the wax on the other dop. Think this can also happen on larger stones where the glue surface area is bigger. In those instances, I stand it up in a dropper bottle of acetone filled with just enough to cover the joint I want released.

Now that I think about it, I could just glue the second stick on and soak the desired joint until the became completely gooey. Might give that a go on larger stones, thinking 30-40mins might be enough.

Click to expand...

Interesting, haven't tried super glue yet, still sticking to wax and epoxy and I find Lefty's tip about flaming the shellac is improving the wax bond. Haven't dared try it on small stones yet, still sticking with epoxy both sides for them

I had really good results with brown wax, only problem was that I kept burning my fingerprints off. layful:

I gave the gel glue a try on a really small stone and have kept with it.

LoneWolf said:

The super-glue I use comes with a tube of release agent in the packet... Handy when you make a boo boo... I actually think its Acetone...

LW....

Click to expand...

What brand is it LW?

Wally69 said:

I had really good results with brown wax, only problem was that I kept burning my fingerprints off. layful:

I gave the gel glue a try on a really small stone and have kept with it.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I find that once a stone gets so small, wax doesn't really cut it and you need a glue of some sort.

I religiously use Loctite Super Glue 'Precision', I buy it from Bunnings. It is only a small container because I find the larger containers tend to go off to early and wastage is money. Also I think the 'Precision' is probably the cheapest at about $7 and not very much is required on a dop. After the glue has cured overnight I mix a two part Tite-On to bond the stone with the dop and to seal the Super Glue. I never lose a stone.
At transfer and also when stone is finished I use Z7 Debonder on the unnecessary bond and let sit for an hour, adding some more Debonder during the debonding process and then I heat the dop to be removed and I heat it twice for a brief period between heat application, this allows the heat to engage and work on the bond without overheating the stone on the dop. I do not let the dop get so hot that it penetrates to the stone which is wrapped in a suede square that I hold the stone or the dop with.

It is a process and it works well. The stone does not twist or turn in the dop when curing and holds exceptionally well when faceting and polishing.

Hi fellow's, here is some picks of my sapphires from my short trip to the CQ gemfield's last year, some to skin polish some to get cut and a few that a local cut for me

Lefty said:

LoneWolf said:

The super-glue I use comes with a tube of release agent in the packet... Handy when you make a boo boo... I actually think its Acetone...

LW....

Click to expand...

What brand is it LW?

Click to expand...

Sorry Lefty I just noticed your post. :zzz: .. This is the stuff I use for my Gem Tables.... $2 a card from my local Bargain shop.... Best stuff I have used... The Red tube is the release agent.... Just feel the weight of the Card as I have got some with no glue in the tubes...



LW...

Before and after ........... life is an Aventurine