I have acquired some beautiful quartz rough and saw a comment that cerium oxide would not polish it well please would you suggest the best polishing agent for my use,thanks in advance.
Cerium oxide works wonderful on all quartz’s. That’s all I use to polish my quartz stone. But remember it has to be really clean prepolish before moving on to cerium oxide, I usually go from a 3k grit lap to cerium oxide ultra lap with perfect results.
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Thank you for your reply I’ll go with that then.
This is a quite timely topic. I have some awesome Quartz coming in now, in fact, it was just shipped today and will be here next week. I am looking forward to making some unusual cuttings with them. (I hope.) I have ordered in some cerium oxide for polishing them with and was wondering the same thing.
All the very best.
Otter
Otter Sir… Could u share the pics plz once u have cut the quarts and polished them
Otter,
Are you cutting it with a Faceting machine or dremel tool?
David Beasley,
I am using a fordham tool and diamond files. I am kinda old fashioned like that. Unfortunately I have to have surgery on my left hand in a few weeks. I have an opal and a piece of Sleeping Beauty Turquoise that I am finishing up for a friend overseas. I tried a lap machine in the past but just could not get the hang of it. I can make some fun free forms with the Fordham and files. Finding good diamond bits in unique shapes is not easy so I go through a lot of the cheap ones from the Harbor freight store here in the States. I’m a frequent flyer at that store. Lol. A gal has to cut corners some place! My hobby is not always cheap. I will post some pictures as soon as I cut these. Or get them going. I would lover to get at least one going before my surgery. A pre cut would be nice so I have an idea of what I want the stone to look like in the end would be nice.
All the very best,
Otter
Gotchya, I am here in states as well, I live in a remote place that basically has nothing, have to get everything from harbor freights or amazon or online, I cut a bunch of quartz and polished them with a Dremel tool with the felt like round thingy and some cerium oxide. The real trick is to get it really smooth before polish. Love to see some of your work.
Hay David, I will have to pull some of the stones that I have hand done and get pics of them and get them posted. I know what you mean about living in the middle of nowhere and finding good tools. Here is a little trick. Go to Sally Beauty Supply, ask for the nail file section and buy the big nice nail files that ase colored that have 2 sides to them and are washable. There are all kinds of grits. You can get them down to a real fine grit for some of the softer stones. They are a life saver. Try them some time. If your town has a Harbor Freight store they have a Sally Beauty Supply. I use them before I use my powders for the final finish. Makes it go so fast for some stones. Opal is one such stone. Anything much harder they become less effective but still are helpful. They are great for putting a quick polish on metals such as gold and silver. Remove heavy scratches in rings real quick.
All the best.
Otter
Here are a few stones that I have done and already set and a few that are still in the works. I got up today with a migraine so I did not pull the opals and a few other stones out of the vault. The ring that has the 2 pieces of robins egg Turquoise in it is the same as the oval piece that is not set and under construction. It is the hard to find, Sleeping Beauty Mine Turquoise. I love working with this material. The square piece is Copper Turquoise, also pictured is Azurite, Purple Turquoise, Bisbee Turquoise Green Tigereye, Picasso Jasper and Lapis. I made the cross many years ago and kept it because it was one of my first pieces. All of these were done with hand tools and helped me quit smoking. Nothing better to keep your hands busy and keep a body from snacking when quitting.
All the best in the creative worlds of rocks.
Otter
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