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Author Topic: Cabochon Polishing Service?  (Read 1069 times)

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Stone Mania

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Cabochon Polishing Service?
« on: November 09, 2020, 06:03:41 AM »

Not sure where to post this so apologies if it's the wrong place!

I have a load of cabochons that were once mounted as pendants in sterling silver but have since been removed from their setting.  They're good quality stones which I need to sell but they have residue from being mounted around the edges. I need the edges repolished and have been doing some by hand but it would be better and faster if I can get someone with the correct machinery to do it for me.  Price will be the deciding factor as I have around 200 stones.  Quotes I've received have started at £10 per stone which isn't viable.

Just wondering whether this is something that someone would actually do or if anyone has any ideas how I could do this myself faster than doing it by hand? 

Many thanks

Laurence (London UK) 

 
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irockhound

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Re: Cabochon Polishing Service?
« Reply #1 on: November 09, 2020, 10:48:47 AM »

A couple of things.  First depending on what exactly it is you are describing would need to be known. 
1) Show closeups of examples of the work needing to be done.
2) Are there stones that have damage or they all just "residue"?
3) If it is just residue then you can probably take care of it yourself. Most Epoxies that are used can be dissolved or loosened also by using material like Acetone.  Placing the stones in a glass jar with the stone submerged in it will normally just let you wipe off the residue the following day.  THIS COMES WITH A CAVEAT!  This is one reason why many people don't do jewelry repair - as an EXAMPLE: you have no idea how it was put together when working with silver and you don't know what solders were used and trying to fix it can lead to more problems.  Do you know if any of the stones have been treated with an epoxy to cover up  flaws?  Turquoise can often be enhanced by pressure treating them with epoxies and or dyes.  If you were to immerse the treated stone in Acetone it could have adverse effects, however, it the stone is natural it wouldn't be affected.  A stone that may have had pits or cracks sealed with products like Opticon and Epoxy or even Super Glue would have the fixes reversed if cleaned by acetone.  I am not aware of any natural stones used in jewelry affected by acetone but others may add to this and I encourage more voices.
4) If the stones have chips, scratches or other damage than just residue then they would need to be worked on a machine (or sometimes by hand) to repair the damage.  Your picture looks great but it doesn't show what is actually needed.
5) have you looked at Etsy, Ebay and other sales locations to estimate the value of the stones to see what your value would be if you had them repaired or cleaned.

With that said Agates and gemstones will not suffer from Acetone cleaning and it could save you time and money you may not need to spend.  However if they were treated with epoxy or hot glue or Opticon, Hxtal or other agent to hide flaws they will be reversed.  If it were me and I EXPRESS IF IT WERE ME, I would take all the agates and gemstones and use the Acetone with the exception of Turquoise or other historically soft or porous stones that are frequently treated.

One last thing is Acetone as a solvent has safety rules, read the can.  I use full rubber gloves if I am needing to use a cloth or rag soaked in it because it is readily absorbed into the skin and it does affect the nerves ( I worked with people who used to use no protection and clean their fingers with it- Un advised) but with gloves in a ventilated area is suggested but again follow safety guidelines from the can.  If used properly it is safe.
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Stone Mania

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Re: Cabochon Polishing Service?
« Reply #2 on: November 09, 2020, 11:42:25 AM »

Hi Steve,

Many thanks for your detailed and informative response. 

I used to buy cabochons from a stone supplier in Jaipur in India a good few years ago.  Having bought the stones I then had them mounted by a team of artisans who transformed them into pendants.  Over the last few years I've changed the focus of the business to rocks and minerals and moved away from jewellery which is why I started removing the stones from the settings.  I had hundreds of pendants that I really didn't want to waste more time with because I only trade online so everything needs to be photographed individually, uploaded to my website etc etc.

I have no idea whether the stones would have been treated prior to me buying them and if they have, how.  I also have no idea what kind of adhesive would have been used to fix them into the settings.  It is just the adhesive which is a very hard substance around the edge of the cabs that I need to remove.  It comes away easily when I sand with wet and dry but of course it also removes the polish.

There's a wide assortment of stones such as agate, jaspers, lapis, feldspars, larimar, turquoise etc.  Some are more valuable than others so I'm happy to do those by hand but with regards to the cheaper stones I'll give acetone a try.  To be totally honest, if I lose a few it's not the end of the world, of course I would prefer not to but it's certainly worth a go.  I'll chose stones carefully and won't include turquoise, malachite and anything that's porous or too soft.  Eudialyte I think may get damaged so I'll skip on those as well.

I'll be selling them to recoup some of my money but will make it clear that some may benefit from additional polishing around the edges.  They'll be sold at knockdown prices but I can't sell them with the residue. 

Thanks again for the advice. 

Regards,

Laurence
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freeformcabs

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Re: Cabochon Polishing Service?
« Reply #3 on: November 11, 2020, 12:16:17 PM »

Laurence, Irockhound brings up the most important part. And doing basically sight unseen service can be next to impossible and I would worry as a lapidary for not really knowing what I would be getting, or in for not knowing until I see it in my hand. I used to do service work and have done recutting and it was never profitable for the person I was doing the job, it was always personal.

In the end the issue is even if there is a small amount of glue around the edge. the entire stone would have to be re-polished. Not just where the glue was. There may be some cases where this would go smoothly. But in most cases each stone would take time. and may even result in recutting. Or in some cases as irockhound points out. Re treating if there was such a treatment. An even the most experienced lapidary may still not know if there was a treatment until the process starts, which then you can't turn back.
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~Shain


lithicbeads

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Re: Cabochon Polishing Service?
« Reply #4 on: November 18, 2020, 08:05:21 PM »

 Fixing stones is a substantial amount of work in many cases and virtually impossible to cost  properly without the stones in hand.
. Good advice above and good luck.
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