michael B Posted November 19, 2012 Report Share Posted November 19, 2012 Been looking at buying some silicon carbide and alum oxide points for a few months, today I decided to make my own, worked awesome, drilled a 1/8 hole, then 10 mm core, glued in with high strength epoxy, very pleased with the results, and I can shape these to suit, did wear better than expected, only used for my rough sanding, all finishing done by hand, this jade works better on these than diamond, smoother and less aggressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mace ngata Posted November 22, 2012 Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 kia ora michael, this looks great !!!!! , would you be able to let me know if the original stock was from a sharpening stone ? i have been trying to put togeather something to help me carve jade , never done it before so its a learning process. i belong to a lapidary club that throws out grinding wheels of a variety of grits once they get too small and was wondering if you think these would work along the same lines, i am purchasing an old drill press and turning it into a point carver, and am hoping to do alot of the shaping with this , have you heard of anyone cutting down old grinding wheels into sticks of a variety of shapes and sizes and working jade by hand , ? in your experience would this be possible with a standard diamond trim saw without damaging the blade ? , would you have any ideas on how one would be able to shape or grind the sticks ? i am wary of using the diamond wheels at the club as i dont want to risk ruining/ contaminating them , soz for all the questions mate , dont meant to barrage you with them , guess i get a touch obsessed when the ideas start flicking around in my scone, if this works i think i could put togeather an affordable approach to shaping and carving jade, hahaha and i get a bit excited and maybe a touch carried away , the possibility of working the stone by hand in the final shaping and finishing processes appeals to me alot, sounds a bit corny but i feel like it would help me to learn the stone having a hands on approach rather than mainly working with power tools. love you mahi mate, the hei matau look choice , and I am absolutely a fan of the nephrite that comes from tamworth , i have been fortunate to have seen some beautiful stone from that neck of the woods , lol wish i was closer , I reckon the rockhound in me would rear its ugly head for sure !!! , thanks for this post mate, i appreciate it it def will help me along the "path" and i am sure it will help many others as well. cheers, mace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael B Posted November 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 Mace, these are cut from worn out silicon carbide cabbing wheels, ensure you clean out the hole and dry before gluing with epoxy, I also use these as files, cut in many shapes, use a cheap diamond saw blade, great for hand finishing, used up to around 600 grit, after the 120 grit point I go straight to hand finishing, we can buy 10 in diamond blades here in AU for $10 each, crimped rim, great for cutting these, sand and shape on a diamond hard wheel, I use on my 8 in hard wheel wet, you can cut as thin as 2 mm thick, and the shape is unlimited. this pic shows it hand finished to 120grit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael B Posted November 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 Mace, these are cut from worn out silicon carbide cabbing wheels, ensure you clean out the hole and dry before gluing with epoxy, I also use these as files, cut in many shapes, use a cheap diamond saw blade, great for hand finishing, used up to around 600 grit, after the 120 grit point I go straight to hand finishing, we can buy 10 in diamond blades here in AU for $10 each, crimped rim, great for cutting these, sand and shape on a diamond hard wheel, I use on my 8 in hard wheel wet, you can cut as thin as 2 mm thick, and the shape is unlimited, this pic shows it hand finished to 120 grit, a sharpening stone should work the same, I also make these from aluminium oxide for points, old worn out bench grinder wheels used for drill sharpening. I still use diamond to remove the large inner sections, these are used on the edges to round as they are less aggressive and won,t chip edges. Cheers michael B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mace ngata Posted November 30, 2012 Report Share Posted November 30, 2012 Thanks mate , genius Woohoo , appreciate it Michael , i am picking up some wheels soon and with luck will be getting into it with a week off work , got a deadline for my daughters of Dec 25. So gonna get cracking on it, i have picked up some nice hard nephrite from a lapidary club day that i have put too one side , looking forward to giving this a go the use of wood points and diamond paste sounds cool to ;-). I hoped that what you have said would be the case as it opens up a world of possibility .thanks again for your response mate and the post it is reassuring to know that i am going down the right path , hmm Hahahaha so many projects so little time :-) then again so much shear fun to be had !!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mace ngata Posted November 30, 2012 Report Share Posted November 30, 2012 Mate what can i say , i am stoked !! Thanks for the response Michael , this opens up a world of possibility and it is reassuring to know that i am not heading down a path that is a dead end , as i said before the idea of hand finishing and shaping is where i hope to work towards though i like polished finishes with the idea of making lines of light for the eye to chase, i also am very much a fan of satin finishes too , which implies a more tactile softer theme . the only way i used to be able to get the cleaner sweeping curves in bone was with hand files cutting at an oblique angle following the curve, this will help alot so thanks for the time bro . lol Santa thanks ya too ;-) Cheers mate happy festive season for you and your family mace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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