Post #262410 by Tamapoutini on Mon, Oct 23, 2006 6:28 PM

Benz: I forgot to add; another no-no for stones like this is letting wet/dry paper get too 'blunt'!
Change paper frequently as even 1/2 doz strokes can blunten by half...

Your on to it with the 600grit burrs! From those I would go with wet/dry paper: 400, (maybe 600), 800, then check for orange peel. If ok, give a light dry sand with 1200, if not stop there...

*I wish I had some REAL gem-quality stone to give you. I've only ever had my hands on a small amout & it just makes the job so much easier, very hard to go wrong. The first really nice piece I ever worked was from an old boy who was sitting on hundreds of lbs of the stuff (& understandably reluctant to sell), I asked him, "how do I go about getting a nice finish with this?". His reply, "hit it with a hammer", meaning that it could take any sort of finish & would never pit/orange-peel or give any result other than gorgeous...

Sadly those days of abundant good/cheap material are gone... Aue! Tama :(