This is what I do… find a comfortable position, then start relaxing all of your muscles.

Start with your toes … given them a wiggle and relax them. Slowly move up your body into your torso… then down your arms, and finally your neck and head.

I’m usually out before I get to my arms.

Rumor has it, the monorail will be dismantled in the next couple of years due to not being able to get parts.

And this surprises anyone?

I’ve used dental wax for years to hold the stones to the dop and it does a good job as long as you don’t use too much force when cutting. The key to using the wax is to make sure you heat both the stone and dop enough for the wax to adhere. You can tell that has done so when the wax edge no longer seems to curl under and instead seems to have a clean line with the surface.

I’ve used super glue as well depending on the situation… but the cure time and difficulty in getting it off the dop and cleaning the stone of the residue makes it not worth it in my opinion.

This is interesting… I would not have considered using some of the tools of the trade for the purposes you have outlined.

You can see and read about some of the equipment I use in this post. I did a whole series of posts around how I cut stones.

In terms of equipment, there is a pinned post in this community that has some links as well.

Happy to answer any questions you might have.

Nope, this stone and its siblings were given to me to cut.

Second this

Non-cloud cams with an nvr all the way. I won’t touch the cloud based services. My go to is currently Reolink.

You did an absolutely stunning job on this one!!!

Now you are motivating me to finally try my hand at frosting a cut.

Love that color…nice work!

Thanks! I updated the thread post with your links.

The vendor I mostly use is Joe Henley Rough.

I met Joe at the Tucson Gem and Mineral show a few years ago, and found him both personable and honest. I have never had an issue with any purchase from him. He sells both natural and some synthetics.

You can link to vendors… no issue… I just don’t want to have active solicitation for selling stones, as that adds significant overhead for validating the seller. I’ve updated the sidebar to reflect this. 😀

Also, please post the link to the vendor, as I’m looking for a good source for synthetics.

Nice… I really dig the color too!

Fantastic job!!! Love it! (No comment about the girdle 😉😂)

I’ve done this cut many times… and it’s one of the few pears that I’ll do as it tends to be easier than other pears in my opinion and also produces the best light return. So, based on what I can see:

You still had room to cut down your girdle. I would have cut it down another 20%-40% of what you have there.

The polish in general looks good. Tables on a BATT can be tricky I’ve found, yet I still do them. I use a spray bottle only when polishing and spritz the lap when it starts to dry out, I do not use the drip tank for this. I also recharge the lap prior to cutting the table if the last facets seemed to take longer to polish than expected. Sometimes I recharge before the table just because. My best guess on this is that the polish issue was either the need to recharge, or not enough moisture on the lap.

My first try on this one was a total hack job with a mis-aligned index and a lot of missed meet points.

For a first time cutting this, you did an excellent job!

Love the color

Oh my… that’s pretty… I’m going to have to get some of that, as I’ve never cut it before.

Great job!

He’s already planning and budgeting for his own machine. 😂 He also has a friend who has asked him to cut something for a girlfriend… What’s really funny about this, is that a few years back he didn’t think this hobby was at all interesting.

That’s tough as it depends on where you live. Generally I would recommend looking for a small family owned store that does custom design work and has a GIA certified on staff if possible. Look for stores that are not in big malls. Talk to them, if they feel pushy look somewhere else.