u/stone_crazy

I have been convinced that YAG is a good starter synthetic material for a beginning facetier. So I have arranged a supply of YAG to get started with. I'll have enough colors to cut 4 stones without repeating myself. The 2 colors I won't be out of then, I have enough of that I might never use it all.

I'm hoping doing a half-dozen designs in YAG will be enough to move on to some other materials. I have available flame fusion spinel, flame fusion corundum, and CZ. What would be a good order to approach those? I'm assuming the sapphire goes last.

The title basically says it.

How are these defined? Are they chemical recipes, or absorption spectra, or eyeball comparisons to color standards? I'm guessing they are not just market names: am I wrong about that?

Did Verneuil actually prepare samples of all the stuff for which codes exist? Or has the list got later extensions? I gather that there is not a normative standard keeper of the list. Is that right?

Title says it all. I notice that the big pieces at Tom's Box of Rocks are half-boules, which seems plausibly convenient for slicing up on small trim saws.

What's the technique for splitting them?

So, I started off thinking I wanted to cut only natural material but have run into the fact that as a beginner I want to cut 10mm stones, and the necessary 13mm diameter x 9mm deep pieces of natural rough are awfully rough on the wallet.

I have seen YAG recommended as a beginner material but it also is not exactly cheap compared with other synthetics. Flame fusion spinel, otoh, seems to be pretty easy to find in pieces that would let you cut that 10mm stone for $10. You can even be a little picky about the color.

So, from a technical challenge POV, is there really a big difference between the two?

I'm trying to get good with wax dopping and would like a way of warming stones besides waving them over an alcohol flame.

I tried making the stove out of a 64-oz juice can heated with the alcohol burner and that got too hot for my liking. I was just noticing the existence of "candle warmers" as a product category and that strikes me as something not likely to get too hot. I'm wondering if anybody here has tried using an electric cup warmer or candle warmer to heal up rough for dopping with wax?

Also I have been a little afraid of transferring on to wax. I'm wondering about using red wax to dop the temp table and transferring to black wax, with the idea that it should be easier to get the first dop off with a lower-temp wax. Is that a stupid idea?