I have been advised to shape/cut tiger coral wet. Don't know what kind of saw/shaping equipment to use. Obviously professional lapidary equipment would be ideal but don't have any and budget for old retired people is a limitation. Can I use files, sandpaper,grinding, bandsaw, etc? I understand from MM that it is best to use CA before polishing but don't know how to get to that stage. I have also bought some turquoise and will probably have the same challenge there. Cheapest lapidary saws I see are in the $200-$400 range. Unless I went commercial it would not be cost effective. My goal here is to try a range of exotic materials while avoiding as many crash and burn experiences as possible. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I, too have some questions along this same line... I've been considering alabaster, as a handle material. I'd be interested if some of our members who have knowledge in this area, can help out with tools, techniques, etc.

I've tried grinding "just rocks" on my 2 x 72 - it don't work. Even wet don't work. As I understand it, alabaster is a soft stone, but I'm curious how it's shaped and finished.

Any advice is greatly appreciated,

JR

The type of belt you use is important. A/O belts are pretty much usless. Check lapidary sites, I think I have used zirconium belts, (memory thing). I have shaped coral a few times, anything agatized will be much harder to work.

Oh, you can shape it on a 4 x 36, just have the right belt and use one with an exhaust port hooked to a dust collector of shop vacuum and wear a respirator in place of keeping it wet. Same rules apply for abalone, pearls, stabilized anything (wood, tusk, tooth, or swordfish/marlin bill) including woods that are an irratant that are not stabilized. The reason for keeping it wet is to prevent the dust from being airborne. Other methods work. Stay safe !

ok..just my two cents....i lost most of my lapidary equipment to a fire...duh..an i thought insurance was just legal extortion...damn.

a four or six inch sanding disk, attacked to a battery operated drill works fine for polishing and forming...clamp the drill in a vice at an angle...use wet dry paper...do not use a drill powered by 115...water has a tendency to climb the shaft and get in the motor...zapppppp is not something anyone wants.
the neat thing about wet dry paper is you can get it at the hardware store...
rough to fine...spray some glue on the disk..slap the paper on and your rock and rollin'
(footnote:when you use the disk and drill method...water is going to fly everywhere. it is not a bath you need, but a trickle of water, to cool the stone/coral.)

i am now making a slab saw...they run from 140.00 up for a 4 inch trim saw...so i have a pile of parts...a pan about three inchs deep...an old tile saw mount...nice flat table...an arbor to mount the motor away from the water...an old pump from a swamp cooler...about 15 bucks at the hardware store...i will post photos when it is finished...it might not look as pretty as the store bought..but i have done these before..if you can make a knife...you can make the saw.

So, I wonder, can you take a tile saw and convert it to a slab saw? I think one of the biggest things we may see in the cutlery world some time this year is the use of 350 million year old fossil coral. Yes, it was in Blade and Culpepper was quoted and I talked to them, they are very excited about about the future potenetial this material has. Some has been agatized and should be much harder. They should have some in June - they hope. I have seen some and I think it has a lot of potential. I think the state rock of Michigan is one of them also.

So, I have been wodering about the potential for these tile saws to be converted to a slab saw. I have been thinking about doing this for a while now.

i believe one could use a wet tile saw to slab the material out...shaping it to form would require another set of tools.

now i have a fire under my bottom...have to get out in the shop and experiment...