World Jade Symposium – The Tools

Posted on Nov 25, 2014

Getting Started | The Tools | Pendant Creation | Finished Pendant | Sculpture Creation | Finished Sculpture As I began working on my jade I quickly discovered that my lack of tools was fast becoming a hindrance.  Bits only reach so far and provide even cutting an inch was beyond it’s limits.  Getting mass removal of material was going to take years it seemed.  So I began my search for tools.  Now, if money were no object this task would have been MUCH easier.  LoL  So I searched high & low, started down many paths only to find dead ends, but finally, FINALLY, I managed some success. I found a 14″ Lortone Drop Saw.  This baby cuts the larger pieces into slabs.  AND as a side benefit you feel mighty cool running one of these.  Something about a 14″ blade dropping onto something is a rush!  This machine uses oil as a coolant. Next on the list is a cabbing machine.  You can see this in action in the video toward the bottom.  This is an old Sears Craftools Cabbing Machine with attached trim saw.  The trim saw for for working on smaller cuts after a piece is slabbed.  Then this machine has two grinding wheels and bull wheel at the end for polishing.  I hooked up an aquarium pump to the tubing for a constant drizzle of water to keep the wheels cool. After playing with this I realized that I wanted something a bit more aggressive then the silicon carbide wheels that came with it.  And I wanted something shaped a bit differently to help with carving instead of just making cabs.  So I picked up some convex diamond carving wheels along with some various diamond bits. Eventually I want 1 or 2 more machines.  I’d like a 2 wheel machine that has easier access to swapping out wheels as there are misc. other wheels in various grits that I’d like to have. Then I also want a full 6 wheel cabbing machine for actually making & polishing cabs. Finally I added this little beauty.  This is an NSK Z500 Micromotor.  This is actually a dental tool.  It offers far more precision and less vibration on the hand. However, I found that this only take bits with a 3/32″ shank with is very limited.  While I’m glad I have this and really do appreciate it, I do want to add either a Foredom or a fixed point carver that will take 1/4″ & 1/8″ shanks as well, mostly for the bigger surfaces.  Then I’ll leave this for the detail work. I made a short video of this in action.  Next post will be my actual entries. Click below on Pendant Creation to continue. Getting Started | The Tools | Pendant Creation | Finished Pendant | Sculpture Creation | Finished Sculpture...

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