[Rockhounds] Color of Minerals

[Kris Rowe]

john, that's way too *simple* an answer to be obvious! My silent comment was
"Doh!" (Got that Homer feeling again ...) So, there it is! "Huzzah!"
I'll be sticking to food grade Standard Oil lube, keep the hood down AMAP,
and *listen! *That's the best advice of all.
You'd be amazed (well, perhaps dismayed ...) how many of the folks who've
asked me about the noise of cutting operations felt the answer would lie in
wearing their MP3 player earbuds, and *drowning out* the sound. I always
tell learners to listen ... it'll save you $$$!

Thanks again!
                        Kris



On Thu, Mar 19, 2009 at 9:17 PM, jb <jabac at hal-pc.org> wrote:

> Kris Rowe wrote:
>
>> Echoing Kriegh's comments, oil is a far better lubricant than water in
>> most
>> workshop applications. However, some materials such as howlite,
>> wonderstone,
>> and other porous materials that can be affected by oils necessitate the
>> use
>> of water or other water soluble lubes. So, for those on a limited budget,
>> or
>> with limited space or cutting sensitive materials, the water solution may
>> be
>> best.
>> As Kriegh outlined, detailed cleaning and drying will be needed to
>> preserve
>> your equipment and extend its life. As many do, I learned the hard way to
>> drain and clean my trimsaw, after forgetting to do so. If you do the same,
>> you'll find out just how quickly a saw blade will rust! Sloppiness gets
>> expensive very quickly.
>>
>>
> The best solution I have found is to use oil, but soak the stock in water
> before cutting to minimize the oil penetration.
>
> Cutting specimen rather than lapidary material might entail a different
> approach, but the surface penetration of things like howlite is easily
> handled if the material is water saturated to begin with. Even agates and
> jaspers will soak up enough water to make the technique work.
>
> Of course, the saw will have to be cleaned a little better to make sure
> there is no water, but one does that anyway. And there is surprisingly
> little water that escapes into the oil; it is easily removed later from the
> slab by thorough drying.
>
> I use mop oil which is cheap and effective as a lubricant, though it does
> mist a lot. And it tends to cake with things like rhyolite dust and
> rhodonite. Works like a charm on agates, quartz, and other silicates.
>
>
> john
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