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Thank you so much for the DIY equipment videos!! Being somewhat $ challenged (frugal wife) I can now do things that were out of financial reach before. Great videos in general!

Correction: When I said it can take 30ish minutes to polish a rock what I should have said is that it can take that long depending on a number of factors such as what kind of saw it was cut on, how aggressive your wheels are, size of rock, and hardness.

That is so awesome that you made that!

That was very impressive! I have to make a carpet polisher for sure. Nice work!

Thanks for the excellent VIDEO.! All the very best from the LAND DOWN UNDER....;-)

Once again, that love of making stones even more beautiful than when you found them shines through. This isn't work folks, Jared is having fun. Your enthusiasm is infectious. P.S. I bought my wife an 8" Flat Lap for Christmas.

Just found your vids. Nice work! Your teaching with love and kindness and that's what the rock thing is all about. Bravo! That was a nice description of why stone blows out BTW.

This was a great video covering the high speed sander and how fast someone can polish a rock with enough practice :) The polisher is also very well put together!

Wonderful explanation. Since I live in a flat with a terrace, I try to cut many stones in a row to stain and clean everything in one go. That gives me many pieces to later carve and polish. The problem arises when I also want to do it "in chain production". I am changing the diamond pads and polishing one after the other, without time to pay attention to whether they are well finished carefully. I get to the final polishing and it frustrates me to see the result after so much work. When I finally see in your video that polishing that stone can take 40 minutes and I have polished more than 20 fragments in an hour, I finally understand that I am doing it very, very wrong. Thank you very much for your good videos. They are teaching me a lot to do things well. I use an adjustable speed angle grinder on the minimum speed for polishing, 3000 rpm approx, and sometimes I feel that the stone, especially if it is limestone, turns whitish in the process no matter how carefully I wet it. Could it be due to high speed or using something inappropriate?

This video is absolutely awesome!

Thanks for doing this. Winter has ended my rockhounding. Helpful hints for back in the shop are always appreciated.

Excellent video, thanks. OK, key points noted: ~3000rpm for the grinder/polisher, ~200rpm for the carpet buff. Do you like the vertical axle on the grinder? I was thinking a horizontal axle would be easier to use. Might be hard to hold a really heavy rock in place, though. I've been thinking of building something like these machines... But I'm also thinking of building something like Michigan Rock's tumbler cabinet... But I'm also thinking I don't have room for any of this... So I'm also thinking I need to build a new workshop... Ah well, I'll get there some day.

Great video thank you!

Love your white board teaching. I can picture the carpet building up static.

The seam agate turned out beautifully! Doing it in just over 10 minutes is pretty awesome too. Thank for another great video Jared!✌🤠

I enjoy seeing different ways to make our rocks shiny. It’s good to have various options. Thank you.

I appreciate that you also cover the cons as well as the pros of "more power" machines. I work on small stones for pendants so now I know that this setup wouldn't be practical for me But it's very interesting to see what tools are out there

Great! Thanks.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us amateur RockHounds. I greatly appreciate it!

These tools are awesome. Especially the hand crafted carpet polisher. Very nice touch with the switching box on the front.

Cool to see the process beginning to end. I will have to go find these other videos featuring these machines. My vintage Richarson’s polisher has carpet but someone has put a leather cover over that and it works really nicely and much less likely to grab the rock.

I’ve always used oil in my rock saws.

Interesting set up. Building my own machines as we can't get such here in Scotland. My polisher is very similar to yours, but I have used leather covering. However there are slight screw hole recesses where I have attached backplate, these catch a bit so need a way to eliminate. Have to smooth out back surface, otherwise machine works reasonably well. Now that you have shown carpet to work, may try that option. Thanks for sharing. Would like to send you pics to get your comments if possible.

Good video A buddy and I got a 16 inch flat lap! might use it for a cerium oxide buffer since the plates are so expensive!

Thanks for showing this. Haven't started getting into polishing due to not being able to get my own yet. Very informative! 👍 looking at what I need and build.

It looks really good and yes it can be dangerous, but life is dangerous. Just keep your wits about you and avoid the worst bits. Nice talk, thanks for sharing. I often use my lapidary wheels to fast polish a piece of a rock to see how it might turn out. Doesn't take long, but that is a very small piece compared to your rock. Keep the good info coming. Be happ, safe and stay healthy 😷⚒

Its nice to see your technique for polishing on the high speed sander. I have been learning as I go on mine and have had mostly good results but sometime got chips from overheating but never thought of cooling off the rocks in water.

Great video.

Very nice all information is welcomed, thanks for the show.

Sweet setup you put together! Fast and efficient. 🤘

Cool video with great information. Thanks for sharing!! Keep rockin!!👍😎

OMw to a customer right now but look forward to catching this when I get home! Thanks for sharing as always~ PS...love the spray guard on the buffer~~ 👍

Very cool. Thanks for sharing. I wish my lapidary cabs were that fast. It’s takes soooo long and gets boring. Your carpet wheel seems to be a hit in the rockhounding community. I’ve seen it a handful of times. I wish I were mechanically inclined, as you seem to be. 🤩👍 Stay Crystal 💫

I (we) use an angle grinder with incremental stone polishing discs and a machinists vice. Some rocks I’ll get the first flat with a grinding disc just to see what’s inside. I use a countertop 1800 to finish. If I see potential pop outs I might use super glue to fill gaps.

I have thought about the reasons we dont use variable speed motors on most of this equipment. Could get tape and gun to dial it in within a few rpm. Saws polishers Sanders even tumblers if one so wanted.

Wow! That is wonderful.

Amazing video, thank you for sharing!!

That was an awesome video!! Love seeing your engineering skills.👍👍👏

I wish my local lapidary shop had this… or that I had any space whatsoever to keep large tools (I live in an apartment)

Hi. As I don't have a flat lap (yet), I built me a polishing setup out of an old wood turning machine. Works, but I'm looking forward to my birthday in May and getting the flat lap. Maybe I might build a carpet wheel out of the lathe then... we'll see.

Awesome been interested in this subject , looking to add to my equipment in my rock shop , the machines are a expensive investment, thank you 😊 for sharing, loving your content, 😊💙

LOL, Hall Monitors and Keyboard Cowboys. Yeehaw! I'm pretty sure if I used that polisher I would take off a finger in short order. I wonder if some kind of rim guard could be rigged up...

Have you tried to cool the rock down with a pan of frozen water? You could just place the stone on top as you change out the sandpaper. Not sure if it would get the rock too cold or if that is even a thing.

Very nice, but I think that I might be able to go a bit higher on the danger spectrum. I use an 18k rpm angle grinder and Harbour Freight silica carbide/PVA disks to polish free form shapes from silicified iron stone, or could be iron oxide heavy quartz (can't really tell). These disks work great and don't heat up much. One pack comes with a number of grits from 40 to 600. Works ok with Australian opal as well, but you have to be a bit more careful.

Nice finish....so fast. Wondering 🤔, drill press with attachment fos sanding disks. What do you think?

I just picked up a Richardson Ranh sander and am wondering what your air suction system that you have connected to it is. You implied there is another video on it. Any help would be much appreciated.

Your Dugway geode is not too small. You just let it get too hot. I've done many pieces about the size of a quarter. Yes, they are hard to hold on to. You might also consider adding a felt pad behind your carpet on the buffer. Leather might be a better polishing cloth too. It's what Richardson's uses on theirs. I appreciate you taking all this time to do these videos to help educate the general public. Thank you.

Like the idea of using high speed sander but concerned about need to have head well balanced to avoid vibration.

I get the "need for speed" very attractive ideas. Problem to solve: Sanding dry leaves you with rock dust across the room... Do you have a clean up protocol? Or plans for a dust booth?

With your amazing knowleges, fully equiped and huge of collection of rocks why don't you just open a rock club in your area? It's would be wonderful for all rockhounders in your area. Of course with a small fee amount to help on maintain the equipment and the field trip. I wish I live up there :)

Where do you find silicon carbide 6 inch w no hook n loop or PSA backing. Can't find anywhere, especially ones w hole in middle, or by assortment vs many of one grit only . .argh. PS. . love your videos . .

I recently acquired a Richardson dry sander. Where can someone buy the sanding discs? I emailed the Rock Ranch asking if they still sold them, have not heard back.

So can you tell me what grits you used on the high speed.

what do you like better? the Richardson or the flat lap? Where can you get a Rchardson?

Are you varying the time the rock contacts the paper by moving it up & down in short increments to avoid micro fractures from starting? I have found heat buildup in the surface transmits through the silica & when it hits the edge, it can blow out. I've solved some of that problem by bevling the edge a bit first. But short bursts on the contact seem to make a lot of difference. Excellent video topic🍻 Well done too. The time lapse with stopwatch really makes this video credible with your explanation👍

I think the traditional way is better. Sure, your high speed method is great for those bigger rocks, but I would not use them for "speed". I think a well polished stone takes time. I don't want the imperfections on my polished faced.

That's fast. Even still, not a whole lot of shortcuts in the process of polishing. It's a pain in the ass.

Hey I want to send you a couple pieces for your collection, because I like to share my stuff with people who appreciate it....I can see that you would. How do I do so??

You interested in doing demos at our prineville powwow rock show ? I might be able to get you there in a great spot ? I don't know how on here to do direct messages

i love this video sooooo much ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️💎👽🐟🍆🔥

Nevermind my last comment. Challenge accepted. 🕉

I'm not entirely impressed with hi tech.

Just found your vids. Nice work! Your teaching with love and kindness and that's what the rock thing is all about. Bravo! That was a nice description of why stone blows out BTW.