Gemstone Polishing: A Beginner's Guide!

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Are you interested in discovering the art of gemstone polishing? Well, we have a treat for you! Join Preston as he embarks on an exciting journey of exploring gemstone polishing techniques. Despite being a beginner himself, Preston fearlessly experiments with his own unique approach, showcasing his skills on stunning gems such as iolite, rainbow obsidian, and Mexican fire opal. Be sure to bring a mask because it's about to get dusty!

#Gemstones #polishing #gemology

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Ooowee! I'm surprised you didn't shatter your obsidian and opal from thermal shock! I used to use a slow drip of water above and a plastic tray of water below when I carved them. I'd dip the stone about every 30 sec to cool it.

If you get into gemstone carving you'll want to get a thinner handpiece for your flex shaft. Like something from a dentist supply. With the larger handpiece after an hour your hands will still feel vibration if you snap your fingers or touch anything. It's really weird. Can't be good for the hands!

With polishing obsidian you want to be really systematic with the steps.. progressively finer grades of sandpaper then up grades of polishing compound up to the best mirror finish diamond compound. Clean it thoroughly between each step. Let that vibration get out the grit and compound too, not just water and soap. You want every speck of compound off that stone before going to a finer grade or you'll get a noticeable scratch and have to grind it off and start again. It's real finicky! Opal in matrix is tough too because the matrix and gem material is so different (you know that!) So if you're not going to just grind it away it's better to use a cabbing machine rather than the flex shaft. It'll be uniform that way where a flex shaft bit will eject chunks of matrix faster than the opal. You also really don't want to work with opal dry. Not at all. If you can carve in a slurry of water and diamond paste that's ideal. It carves faster and cooler and prepolishes it. Doesn't seem to require as many steps as obsidian does to polish. It's going to be super porous even at the last step. If you have to stop before you get to the final polish keep it soaking in water. Both obsidian and opal cut like butter though. It's really satisfying, especially if you're doing something with a lot of fine detail. If you like those you might also like Tagua Nut, a vegetarian ivory lol. Carves the same and you can stain it with colored inks and dyes for scrimshaw. I've written you a book here lol. Hope it helps!

disideratum

This is how I started, with simple grinding tools and sandpaper. I was curious about a small stone I had and wanted to experience precision stone shaping. From there I made a few tools, bought more and now I facet, cab and create sterling silver jewelry by recycling scrap, much cheaper than buying sheet/wire sterling.

DonariaRegia

I’ve faceted obsidian, hematite, tiger’s eye, and ametrine with just sandpaper and diamond sharpening stones. It takes less time than you might imagine

soomcire

Thanks for the fantastic explanation! I'm totally visual as far as learning goes. Respiratory protection is what you were searching for in regards to the mask, I believe. 😆 I have a Dremel and an intimidating pile of raw gemstones that look at me from the corner. Now I feel more confident in tackling this task.

nicholehernandez

This is SUCH a great video. I've been wanting to try exactly what Preston did in the video. Preston has inspired me to give it try. Thanks for posting! 👍

oscarmedina

That was pretty cool. I used to use my Dremel to polish small rocks. I certainly couldn't cab I could polish and I had many bits and sanding pads from 60 grit to 10, 000 grit. They were about 2 inches but came up to 4 inches and I did really well for someone that only had one hand. The fire opal looked awesome! And I'm sure it was the easiest to get smooth! The iolite is pretty hard and will polish well, but is pretty hard going with a fordom. And you did pretty good with the obsidian too! I never had luck with obsidian, but I usually cut myself up too!
Thanks for showing this, because it can be really helpful and easy for beginners!

largent

You did a great job, I did it the same way when I first started, and now I use a flat lap. It's not as expensive as a cab king or other machines. Awesome video and great information.

catfishuntermiller

Hey, I just started watching your videos this morning and I know they’re like four months old but I just wanted to say thank you because I am just starting out and I’m trying to learn different ways and how things should be done and how they could be done I’ve only watched this one video, but I am definitely a subscriber and I will watch all your videos and again thank you very much. Take care and God bless great job.

charlesteune

9:30 I’ve been working opal with rotary for almost a year now and I must say from day one to now I’ve massively improved. I do agree a cabbing machine is best(I’m saving up for one but for now a rotary tool is great for what I need) but what I’ve learned with the tools is there’s many ways to go about this process especially with free-form pieces. Sometimes even a 3-4 day tumble can easily make the experience so much easier. I find that a good pre polish is key for the best polishing experience with no can machine and just the rotary tools as after I began using it my polishing results were DRASTICALLY improved than jumping straight from sandpaper to polish. Hopefully I’ll get the machine sometime soon but improving just with the rotary tools is equally as motivating 💎

chasecarlson

Thaks! This is really inspiring! I’ve been wondering how I can make my stones shine without buying a lot of expensive tools. I engrave stones and have only done natural stones so far. Will definitely try this to add some depth to the art 😊

TheIngis

in a similar vein, i'd love to see a video on gemstone dice! highly recommend Hedron Rockworks for the beautiful D20s & cutting & polishing process videos they make.

jasmineqiang

Thanks. It was very helpful to keep in mind. I want to try more in my gemstone adventure. You're right, you can surprisingly do a lot without the "proper" tools. Necessity is the mother of invention after all.

cyrilproudbottom

You help me lot. This video is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks a lot.

LumieSoucek-rt

nice, simple tools and also you can do all of it under water to avoid all dust

ChronoWrinkle

Oh wow! I need this video! I have a dremel only and am really looking to start polishing my geodes, maybe with a flat lap, but this will be so useful!

ZaDussault