So, I currently live in a tiny 2-bedroom apartment, and am waiting (somewhat impatiently) to buy a real house where I can have a lapidary workbench. In the meantime, I am staring at the stash of turquoise my dad left me, and decided to try an experiment. I got some basic sandpaper at the hardware store, and tested some lapidolite chunks to see if it was feasible to grind softer stones by hand. The results were not too hideous, so I tried it on a piece of the turquoise. The piece was already sliced, and was an irregular square shape, so I first tried to flatten one side. That went fairly well, so I moved onto the next side. Again, the results were acceptable. These are pics of the current stage, using 100 grit sandpaper.
The piece is about 1/2 inch long on each of the straight sides, and about 1/4 thick.
I figure that this may work moderately well for pre-forming straight-sided pieces, but anything more complex will have to wait until I have proper equipment.
I’ve got the time… recently retired. We’re just waiting until we have enough for a down-payment on a house, and moving expenses covered. My 401K is going to pay for most of that, so we need the stock market to settle down again. This last year has been rough.
Been working some more on that one piece I showed above, and a few more as well. Got them up to 1200 grit sandpaper, but anything more (up to 3000 grit is advised) will have to wait until I have the machinery. Here are some more pics.
The piece I showed above is the square just below the quarter. A piece matching that same color is just above the quarter (a bit smaller, but also a bit thicker). I have also worked three more slices of a lighter color set. I hope to put those three into a bracelet or necklace once I have my workbench.
These are great! I just started a jewelry repair and making class and am learning so much and repairing many of my pieces and resizing rings. I would love to have some stones to place in settings. That will have to wait, but look forward to watching your process. Enjoy!
Have a question for any of you: I am working on a piece, which has a good amount of matrix rock. I would like to keep some of it because I like the look with it remaining, but, the matrix is softer and has bits of ?quartz/sand? which keep popping out, leaving divots in the turquoise. The turq itself is not stabilized, and I don’t want to have to go that route. How do I keep the matrix intact? I have seen comments on other lapidary sites about using different types of epoxy or filler…should I consider this, or simply work around it and accept the divots, or something else? Any advice is appreciated.
You could definitely try the filler. But you might end up with inconsistencies between the filler and the stone. You will probably have to stabilize. I can understand why you wouldn’t want to go that route, but the problem you’re encountering is common with most turquoise. The turquoise is just not hard enough to hold onto those quartz chunks when you are cutting and shaping them. There is nothing wrong with stabilizing
