2023-10-24: petrified wood
Two things I rarely do come together in this piece. No, not drinking chocolate syrup while break dancing - I do that all the time. I'm talking about making an inside curve on the cabochon and also leaving a natural edge! I recently got a box of petrified wood and started digging in. The piece I'll be working with was a scrap from my September competition entry and I thought I'd get pretty wild. (kids roll eyes)
On a more professional note, I've run out of candid pictures of my mentor Dave to put on my site, so please send more. I've been getting a LOT of fan mail asking to bring back the completely unedited pictures and we need to satisfy my loyal fans (all three of you!).
You can also check out a sweet video on Instagram of this rock being cut and polished. Check it out! https://www.instagram.com/p/Cyw_RGIuBkB/
I don't have a great before picture of this rock, but here it is getting a girdle line drawn. I didn't know what to do with the rough side so I just kept drawing and it worked out pretty good!
Next step is to heat that puppy up and get it stuck to the dop stick
Here's the raw piece with the outline cut.
And the dome after 80 grit. It's hard to believe that gross looking thing can polish. But then again, that's what people say about me!
Here it is after 220. A lot of those deep scratches have been removed.
After the 280 wheel, this material is so hard that it's already taking a shine.
600 grit complete. Looking nice.
1200 grit is done in this picture. Hard to see the difference between the 600 / 1200 in these.
Heyoooo action shot! This is using the leather disc to do the final polish.
There it is! The final polished piece. Hopefully someone can enjoy this for years to come.
As I mentioned in a few earlier posts, I participated in the UU Handcraft Bazaar. Thanks to everyone who stopped out!!
