At a snail’s pace is more like it. Fits well with the title of this blog. I’m horrible at keeping this thing updated. Have no fear, I’ve got a belter of a blog for you. Before I begin, can I just say that I’m still fuming with the Grammys. What a shocking award show. The only reason it got ratings is because Whitney Houston passed away the night before. Nicky Minaj, what the hell was that??? Horrible, horrible, horrible. Sorry, I consider myself some sort of musician and that was an insult to struggling musicians out there.
To the blog we go! So I got this crazy looking yellow gold onyx ring that needed a matching section supplied and cut.
The middle channel of the ring is set with a bunch of diamonds .
I don’t know if your imagination is as vivid as mine but the onyx looks like a snails shell, no?
There it is. The missing section where I’d need to cut a piece of onyx. Here’s the thing. Onyx is moderately priced but the time and labor is what you’re really paying for to have this piece look brand new again. If you’re still confused, continue reading and you’ll see the process, step by step on how it’s comes into fruition.
If you notice the original loose, broken piece of onyx that used to be in the empty section of the ring. I need to match that broken piece.
This is my favorite picture and angle. Look how the wall curves in and the foundation of where the onyx should sit curves. That’s where some of that labor goes because I have to manually shape it with my hand tool. If you keep reading and scroll down, you’ll see what I’m talking about.
So I eventually got my piece of onyx rough and I started to grind away on it.
It’s a trial and error process (Though I try to avoid the ‘error’ part). That piece of white tape I crazy glued to the onyx is my guide for me when to stop grinding away without starting all over again with another piece of rough.
The wheels spins so fast that anything you put against it will cause friction and that’s not good when dealing with gemstones. So it needs a water pump to deliver water onto the spinning disk to kill any heat when a piece of gemstone comes into contact. Hence the water, in case you were wondering.
Once I’m done with my grinding session, I take the stone to my bench for detailed work so I can get it to sit properly in the ring. I have my hand tool here with a special diamond grit drill bit to give me that curvature I’m looking for.
The drill bit has a sort of cone shape to it. Each section of the bit has a different purpose when using this kind of shaped bit.
Hey look, it’s starting to fit.
I used flash so you can see the wave like shape I need to create so it hugs the wall of this ring.
And it fits nice and tight. Here comes the fun part.
So I went back to my lap diamond grit disk and shaved it down to a close matching shape before I can get to use my hand tool to start carving out the swirlly snail shell shape.
Honestly, nothing scientific here. I used a pencil to map out the exact match of how I needed to cut into this piece of onyx.
Another favorite angle of mine that helps me explain the process. It shows the different layers and rounded curves I cut into the onyx for that match I’m looking for.
Pretty damn close, no? It’s a match alright. Now to manually lap and shape the onyx with my hand tool and then switch to a polishing cloth bit to give it that matching high polish look.
Done. This job took about 8 hours to complete. Time and labor. Just talk to your mechanic if you don’t believe me. The customer loved it, it turned out great, and I’m thrilled I got to share this little project of mine with guys. Till next time…
