Polishing stones brings out hidden luster, as in this tiger eye.
The tools you need for your gemstone hobby depend on what type of activity you are interested in. Some "rock hounds" or gem hunters enjoy the search for stones in their natural environments. Other hobbyists like to polish found stones or cut them into various shapes to perhaps make them into jewelry or gifts. Each requires its own types of tools.
Searching For Stones
Adventurous gemstone hobbyists sometimes like to search for their own raw materials. This could be beach pebbles found along the shoreline or rocks found on dry land, with or without a little digging. One important tool is a hand lens, or jeweler’s loupe. This is like a microscope for the hand, letting you take a close look at the rocks you find. Most lenses have 10X magnification.
A geologist’s hammer comes in handy. This tool has a pick on one end that can be used to pull rocks apart or for taking them from the ground. The flat hammer end can be used to break rocks into smaller pieces. If your hobby includes looking for fossils, a brick layer’s hammer is useful for separating layers of rock. A good pair of eye goggles and a rucksack to hold everything is also needed.
Tumbling Stones
Dipping a stone in water enhances the natural colors of the stone. Polishing them in a rock tumbler has the same effect-only it’s permanent. Tumblers come in two basic types: rotary and vibratory. The rotary tumbler has a barrel that polishes the stones as it turns. The vibratory tumbler polishes stones by shaking them back and forth in a bowl-like container. Both types use different grades of grits (grinding materials) and polishing materials. Rocks are placed in the containers with water and a coarse grit and left to tumble. After about a week, the rocks are removed, and the process is repeated with a finer grit and then the polishes.
Cutting Cabochons
Sometimes gemstone enthusiasts want to cut stones into specific shapes. Cutting cabochons is an easy way to get into gemstone cutting. A cabochon is a gemstone that has a curved top and a flat bottom. They are cut from slabs of rock and are usually oval. If you are cutting your own squares of rock, then you would need a rock cutting saw, which looks like a small table saw. Once you have the rock square, it needs to put on a dop stick, which is a dowel with special wax on the end that is heated to hold the rock. The dop stick keeps your fingers safe during the grinding process because it gives you a handle for the rock.
After the wax hardens, the stone is ground on circular grinders using first a coarse grit wheel to form your shape. Wheels with finer grits are used to smooth the stone. Finally, polishing wheels are used to bring out the luster in your finished stone.
Tags: coarse grit, polishes stones, them into, with finer
