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[55fossil]

    Well, I am continuing my education in jade. Buying good rough is the first step. Well, after you learn what good rough is. Then .... well I am still learning. Here are some of my recent cabs. Some are killer translucent with a glass like finish. Others are very dark with minimal translucent. But they took a glassy finish and people seem to like the color. This is all material from the Cassiar region of BC. Just having fun and trying to learn.

[Orrum]

Wish mine were like that!  I believe you have got it Nesl!!!   Those r super dupper!  Still like your picture composition cabs better. Jade doesn't have pictures does it???

[southerly]

Nice work Neal, at last years jade symposium the attendees got a t-shirt say "life is too short to carve shit jade".

[Jhon P]

Good job I don't see any orange peel

[Jhon P]

Orrum, what procedure are you using to cab jade? I use diamond belts on 8" expandable drums. Up to 6 mil, polish on leather with Linda A. If I over polish I get a little orange peel. Some jade is easier to polish than others and some needs to be slabbed so you have the right orientation. I should send you a piece of clear creek jadeite it is easy to work

[Orrum]

I have SC hard wheels and SC expando belts. I orange peel bad!   Or it just don't shine and gets a satin finish.  A old timer told me to use 400 SC wet and then 400 sc worn plumb out dry and the polish with Linde A. Isn't sapphire powder Linden A?

[Jhon P]

Sometimes I use sc belts 220 and 400  than I alway go diamond
600-  1200-  3000- 6000 polish with Linda a (I don't know what it is, except expensive and a little goes a long way) I let it go a little dry and the stone gets pretty warm but don't let it get to hot  and polish only long enough to get a good shine. I read Michael Hoover's tutorial and I learned a lot. But what works for me I stick with

[southerly]

In my early days of lapidary with SC and tin oxide I actually gave up after a few try with nephrite due to orange peel. Now I go diamond all the way to 50k or 100k and have little problem with orange peel, which I get very occasionally.

[Back]

Hi All

This thread made me go find a cab and some rough from a long time ago when I did not have diamond anything ago. I quit on it and I guess it has been sitting for about 35 years. I know this pic sucks but I am having a bad pic day. I am thinking this is what you are calling orange peel if you can see it.

[Jhon P]

Yes looks like the peeling on an orange

[55fossil]

Back;

   Well, I have seen a lot worse but that is probably orange peel. If you want to mail it to me I would like to try and polish it. I will probably even send it back.....  I have been trying to learn a few techniques after taking the short course with Michael on Jade. Just purchased a new Covington Dual 8 inch grinder that needs testing. Send me a PM if you want to mail it to me.   Neal

[jerrysg]

Linde A is aluminum oxide.  There is also a Linde B and Linde C which differ in their particle size. Here is the link for the MSDS:

http://universalphotonics.com/Portals/0/MSDSs/lindepowderMS.pdf

Sapphire powder is also aluminum oxide and is probably named such when it's not the Linde product.

Jerry

[StonesCryOut]

Hey Back, thanks for posting a pic that shows what orange peel.

55Fossil, to get your glossy finish, did you use diamond wheels and to what grit?

[55fossil]

   Polishing Jade is a learning experience, with every new piece....  Michael taught me one very valuable lesson:  test polish every chunk of jade rough before you slab it up. Some jade is very directional in which way it will polish. The better the jade (interlocking internally) the easier it is to polish as a rule. But when it comes to orange peel every piece seems to be different in how to get it to polish and some never will.
   
The reason for the offer of a free polish job is for the challenge and to learn from it. No guarantees...  If there was a rule on fixing orange peel there would not be so many discussions about it. I try to laugh every time I see some "expert" who says he can polish every piece of jade to a glass finish. While the Chinese call Jade the Stone of Heaven I feel it may best be called XXX, or at the least it will make you a humble person.    neal

[Back]

Hi Neal

Thanks for the offer but here is the story. This stone was a preform from me Mentor from the late 70's to early 80's when I was still in my teens. I went to his shop one day and he was working on a bunch of cabs of this material. I will never forgot what he told me when I asked him what he was doing. He picked up one of his preforms and said I am making these look like this and showed me some of his finished ones. He said when you can do this you are getting good. When I left he gave me this preform and a slab.

Thinking back I realize how different his polishing/final sanding station was. It was a diamond station and it is just the last couple of years that I have progressed to  diamond.

I am sure there are some here that might be able to tell me what kind of machine he was using.It was a wood that had curves cut into it that rotated. When he got to the end of that it was done.

Now i finally got upgraded to diamond I got it back on a dop stick and trying again

Bless
Shawn