Thank you very much.

Thank you for the feedback Donna. I'll give it a try.

Currently, my 'go to' adhesive is UV activated Super Glue. Right now, I only use 2 part epoxy on LARGE LARGE stones....and the epoxy is still doing fine...even if outside the expiration date.

Thank you very much.

Hope you enjoy cutting! I bet you will! Zircon has a very high refractive index and gives a good sparkle. Zircon is a natural gemstone, not to be confused w/Cubic Zirconium which is lab created, but which gives off a better sparkle (higher Refractive Index) than Diamond.

Thank you. When I cut the girdle where there are a lot of facets on the girdle, such as cutting a round design, I lower the mast down until it touches the lap, as you noted...however, on the preforming phase, not all the facets are the same distance from the lap...I find the one that is furthest from the lap, and lower the mast to match that facet and then start cutting my girdle...maybe it sounds confusing, but you will see what I mean when you try it. I recently got a copy of Tom's volume 2 book and I agree, it is very detailed and useful.

Thank you. Glad the cerium oxide worked out for you.

There are a number of ways. Most commonly, I will start by cutting the two opposite teeth of the index gear, say 96 and 48, I cut and measure the width of the stone at these indexes until the stone is a wide as I want. That establishes the width, and without changing the mast or angles, I then cut the rest of the facets around the girdle. There. Girdle set, width set. Now the first cuts on the pavilion, I cut down far enough to have a pavilion and that distance is known and provided in the instructions as the P/W ration (Pavilion divided by width). You already know the width, so multiply that by the ration and the 'answer' is how many mm you need to cut your first row of angles. You cut the next row of angles until they 'meet' or just touch the girdle, thus the name 'meet point' faceting. Then the next row 'touches' the previous, etc., etc. Then you transfer the stone and cut the first angle on the crown side (top) down until the width of your girdle is where you want it....which is up to you....but commonly 0.5mm or 0.3mm or close to that. Next row of facets 'meet' the girdle, etc, etc. Finally cut the table until it 'touches the intersection of the two facets as on the diagram...and you are done! Enjoy!

@@mikesackos2208 thats great man. Going from cutting to the pre polishes to polish do you loose any material, so that you need to cut your piece large to make up for the lost material durring pre polish ?

@@TIG2MAN0Yes, but that is all based on experience, you will need to learn how much space to leave between the last cutting lap and the prepolish lap, and maybe between the prepolish and polishing, but after you cut a few stones, there rarely is any noticable material loss when you polish.

That happens....re-doping is a good skill to learn, you will get better at it. Sounds like you did fine!

@@mikesackos2208 thanks for your reply...I'm learning through your teaching. Much appreciated.

Nick said take a 4 oz bottle and filll 3/4 full with water and add 1 teaspoon of Cerium Oxide. So the mix ration is 3 oz water and 1 teaspoon of oxide.

Is that good or bad?

Just want to Hear You speaking. @@mikesackos2208

Thanks Mark. I will try to keep the volume at a minimum on the music.

I think you will enjoy it!

My 'classes' are all online here on YT.

Congrats on your SRB!!!! I think you would do better to ask questions on the many gem cutting Facebook sites...but if you ask them here, I'll do my best to answer them. Yes, I use Acetone over and over...HOWEVER...it does get 'weaker' as it disolves a lot of epoxy or superglue...it takes longer and longer to get the job done. SO at some point, you will want to replace the Acetone you are using.

@@mikesackos2208 thanks so much.

If I understand correctly, you are suggesting to polish the gemstone two times. First with a BATT and CeOx and then a 2nd tie with a Darkside Lap and CeOx....I think you will see no improvement in the polishing by going over the gemstone a 2nd time. Both the Darkside and BATT will polish quartz perfectly with Cerium oxide....re-polishing won't make any difference.....I guess you could try going to a 100,000 Gritt Diamond for an ever better polish...but haven't seen any improvement in polish between a 60K Diamond or a Cerium Oxide.

@@mikesackos2208 Thank you. I needed that since tgat is exactly what I was doing. I'll just go to the darks side.

Thank you!

I would say that my polishing method is evolving. Currently, I use the 3K with the Batt and then go to polish. Just save the 8K or the 15/14K for a super great prepolish when I feel it necessary. I have a Tin for Cerium Oxide and a Tin lap for Aluminum Oxide, but right now the Greenway with Aluminum and the Creamway with Cerium are my current preferred laps for polishing...for those stones that Oxide won't polish, I use 60K on a Batt.

You all prolly dont care but does any of you know of a method to get back into an instagram account? I stupidly forgot the account password. I would love any tips you can give me.

@Mathias Hunter instablaster :)

@Dayton Wilder Thanks so much for your reply. I got to the site through google and im trying it out now. Takes quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

@Dayton Wilder it worked and I actually got access to my account again. I'm so happy! Thank you so much you saved my ass!

Don't let it worry you...which way to turn the cheater confuses virtually all new cutters. Turn the cheater the way you want to turn the stone. So in this example, I need to turn the stone in the spindle to the right (clockwise) to get the right side of the facet polished...so I turn the cheater to the right (clockwise). For the Ultra Tec you turn the cheater the same way you want the stone to turn. It is just that simple.