The Rock Inspired: creating with rock and precious metal

Cutting the Stone --> Shaping the Rock --> Wrapping the Stone

It all starts with the rock. If it wasn't for the rock, I wouldn't be making jewelry. So that's where each piece begins for me. You have a piece of very rough (or sometimes fairly smooth) rock. The first step is to get the rock down to a manageable size to work with on the grinder. To do so, it must first take a trip through a saw.

I have two saws - one a 14" Lortone lapidary drop saw, and the other a 7" WorkForce wet tile saw. Technically the Workforce saw isn't a lapidary saw, but it fills its purpose in my workshop. Eventually I'll replace it with an actual trim/slab saw, but I'm kind of fond of it right now. The 14" saw will easily cut parallel slabs of a rock up to 4 1/2" tall. I'll use the Workforce for slabbing rocks that are under 1 3/4" tall, as they are generally also smaller in size and not worth the time to set up in the proper slab saw. Common slab widths range from 3/8" to 5/8" thick - it's a personal preference. When purchasing slabs off the Internet, you'll generally encounter 1/4" slabs, as that's right in the middle. My own personal preference is 3/8" slabs, as I generally prefer a low-dome. If I want to double-dome (a dome on both sides of the cab), I'll cut the slab 1/4" or 5/8" thick.

Once we have a slab of rock, I have to decide what I want to highlight on that slab. At this point, I need a general idea of shape and final form I want from the slab. Using either a template or freehand, I'll draw the shape of the future cab on the slab using either a pencil or a fine-point sharpie. Some slabs will give multiple cabs, and some slabs will only have one waiting for me. If I see multiple cabs in a slab, I'll also mark how to cut the slab so as to not ruin any of the others. If I like the pattern on the rock, but no set shape calls to me, I will mark a blank - a circle, square, or rectangle to cut - leaving the actual shaping to the grinder.

Next, I have to cut the future cabs from the slab. For this, I return to my Workforce saw. This is one step where having the true lapidary equivalent of this saw would be nice. Because the Workforce is a construction grade saw, the blade spins faster than a lapidary trim saw. The faster blade is a rougher on the slab, and you have to be careful to leave enough room to not chip into the markings on the slab. So this stage is to carefully cut out the future cab.

Now you have the preform (future cab) and you're ready to actually start shaping the stone.

Cutting the Rock --> Shaping the stone... --> Wrapping the Stone...