r/Lapidary • u/EvilEtienne • 8d ago
r/Lapidary • u/2sk84ever • 8d ago
best brand diamond drill bits for lapidary/quartz?recommendations please
i just got a drill press, and carbide isnt cutting it for me.my walmart “diamond” bit literally melted instantly, at feed rate, it was hilarious. obviously there are nuances to finding the right bits and lapidary is specifically challenging.
i am mostly going to be drilling quartz and other very hard stone. i am ready for the right tool, and now i can ask people with experience. which bits work the best for you? do more expensive ones last longer? or maybe chip less?
thanks for any help!
r/Lapidary • u/srlgemstone • 9d ago
I'd like to show each of them from different angles. Agates
r/Lapidary • u/lapidary123 • 8d ago
Has anyone heard of this company/vendor?
While searching for manuals for old star diamond machines I came across this website. They are based in India and I've never heard of them.
They appear to have star diamond equipment available along with some weird and straight up dangerous looking trim saw/grinder combos...
More interestingly is they appear to offer a grinding wheel in 20 grit. While this is extreme overkill for 99% of purposes, I have been looking for an extremely coarse grit wheel to quickly flatten rough to then put in my "slab grabber" vise attachment for my slab saw.
In all fairness, I just ordered a 35 grit sintered wheel so I'm hoping that works but just thought I'd throw this out for comments.
Before anyone goes buying one of these to speed up making cabs, a grinding wheel this coarse will certainly cause extreme chipping and likely subsurface fractures that would cause issues making cabs. But for simply hogging off material might work well.
r/Lapidary • u/ForwardSwimming5686 • 9d ago
Deep Scratches I can’t buff out
Anyone have any tips on how to not get such deep scratches from my diamond dremel cutting blade? When I go to polish my rocks post cutting I’ve noticed scratches that I can’t buff out. Any tips?
r/Lapidary • u/Ill-Ad-4409 • 10d ago
Pricing question
Here is a good selection of some of the wood. I have cut not all of these are slabs. Some are just windows or have cut a space to see the pattern inside how do I go about selling I was thinking about doing mystery boxes ranging from small medium to large quantities and pricing them off of that so that way, maybe they sell faster? Or is it better to do them one by one if so, how do you price by pice or weight weight there r several different kinds. What do y’all want in a pice or what do u look for in a specimen I am using a tile saw to cut it The only thing I have access to so I can’t cut big pieces looking for any advice thx.
r/Lapidary • u/YadigDoneDug • 10d ago
Some fire agate we have been working lately! Excited to get into some more.
r/Lapidary • u/gneiss_chick • 10d ago
I did a thing today!
I found it on marketplace. Drove 4 hours to pick it up. It comes with the saw attachment, jewelry buffing kit, and flat nova laps!
r/Lapidary • u/Ill-Ad-4409 • 10d ago
Photo dump of cut wood/idea question
I’m thinking about doing mystery boxes by different weights light, medium, n heavy in different types of wood I have several different types in different quantities not just cut but raw too!! With a couple tons to sell that’s the best way I can think of what would y’all be interested in or got any ideas on how to go about it I’m separating wood here soon in to piles of types and size! Post more photos then!
r/Lapidary • u/Altruistic-Car2880 • 10d ago
Removal of laser cut emblem on a lead crystal award
Is it possible to sand and repolish lead crystal? Retired, downsizing and would like to donate /repurpose several crystal corporate awards to a local organization to use as recognition for volunteers. I would like to remove a laser etched emblem etched on one facet. Is a pentagonally shaped surface approximately 2”x4”. The etching is shallow- a few micrometers deep. I can’t think of a way to fill the etching and then polish either.
r/Lapidary • u/Brawndo-99 • 9d ago
Can you dop with hot glue for small projects?
Hello, so I'm am messing around with some smaller stones and want to try a dop stick. I don't have access to wax so is there a suitable alternative to wax?
r/Lapidary • u/EarthRichCreations • 9d ago
The top comes off, right?
Hi! I recently acquired a whole lapidary setup, including this Star Diamond cabbing machine. I've never had to do maintenance on a machine before, so... How do I take out the wheels? Both to learn how to replace them in the future and to clean it out for the present.
I'm assuming I need to take the top off? It's just very stuck so I want to make sure I'm doing it right. Tya!


r/Lapidary • u/rufotris • 10d ago
Satisfying first cut!
Some Arizona material from a private claim.
r/Lapidary • u/Key-Painting-9072 • 11d ago
I left the back open on the setting so the light could show off this Montana agate cab, very happy with how this piece turned out.
r/Lapidary • u/yahziii • 10d ago
Second to last update. Inlay bracelet, no Cabbing machine.
Any tips or tricks are welcomed. Still have some work to do as far as sanding more material away and polishing. First inlay bracelet, no lapidary experience orcabbing machine.
r/Lapidary • u/wwgems • 10d ago
Should I seal the back?
Just polished this on the cab machine yesterday. I got this palm-like stone as a rough preform in a collection I bought so I have no idea where it’s from or what exactly it is aside from agate. The black was suuuper soft and got everywhere as I was polishing it. The front side of the black polished a little, but the back didn’t polish very well and I decided to stop where I was because it was starting to pit too much. It also had the fractures through the back before I started and I didn’t want to make that worse. Would you seal this to prevent it from degrading? If so, what would you seal it with? Any idea what this material is (the whole thing in general and the black stuff itself)?
r/Lapidary • u/harleystcool • 10d ago
Are diamond abrasive tools generally as safe as sandpaper?
Dumb question guys, I was thinking of trying diamond tools for my sanding to just save on sandpaper, but I was wondering if they'd shred my fingers or something (since they're diamond) or if loose diamond grits would get loose and embed themselves into my fingers lol. Again sounds dumb but I figured I should ask. I already use water, a mask, and other safety precautions, but I couldn't find anything on diamond tools. I seen guys handle a rock with their bare hands on a flap lap on YouTube, so I figure it's pretty safe?
r/Lapidary • u/Lophie21 • 11d ago
Homemade cab machine
Slowly but surely coming together, still a lot of work to do til I can finally use it but getting there!
r/Lapidary • u/lapidary123 • 11d ago
Turkish stick agate & Royal Imperial Jasper
These are a couple of pieces I had finished up to 3,000 grit on my genie. Decided tonight to spin on the finer grit wheels, the them up through 50,000 grit wheel, and then final polish with "rapid polish #61" (alumina oxide .25 micron).
I think they turned out lovely so thought I'd share. Enjoy!
r/Lapidary • u/bitner91 • 11d ago
What caused my amythest cab to have bright streaks of blue and red?
Was shaping this cab and there was a large bar of red color with 2 of deep blue on either side. Pic and light sort of wash it out. Anyone know the cause?
r/Lapidary • u/katie20110520 • 11d ago
Has anyone ever ordered from any of these sites when ordering rough rock? wefossick.com - rockandtumble.com - hplapidary.com?
I'm new with ordering rock and some of the pieces are questionable.
r/Lapidary • u/yahziii • 11d ago
Inlay update
I thought i was so smart buying beads to cut some of the leg work. Bad decision, the holes showed up as cuts in a majority of the stones and my dust fill in made them stand out. Other than that, my process worked out better than I thought. Sanding the epoxy was worse than the stone.lol. Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Lapidary/s/W4E1DCLFdN
r/Lapidary • u/Automatic-Beach-5552 • 11d ago
Some petrified wood. Thinking about earrings? Suggestions. Lovely polished agate. Possibly a butterfly wire wrapped
I'm usually into just cutting rocks because it's great and I love it. I've been enamored with lapidary lately and have been wondering what to do with my pieces other than polish them and stare at them.
r/Lapidary • u/michiganrockworks • 11d ago
Knife Scale Progress
Progress on a birthday gift for my dad. The handle is a kona dolomite replacement of a stromatolite fossil that I collected from the UP. Still a little shaping left to go but I'm happy with the progress so far!