That one looks really nice, has a kind of soft 'satin' look to it.

Yep Swizz, it does look kind of satin finished, too bad we can't show the "dancing bands" in one picture. Here is another shot of the same guitar pick with bright sunlight back lighting it.....only shows about 1/5 th of the actual color rainbows seen in hand.



I obviously need to practice the photography some more. Grrr! Back to the photography frustration, er' I mean practice.

Here is a sweet one made from an amazing piece of moss agate Thunderegg from Mexico. (Slabs pictured on page 6 of this thread) It measures 2.3 mm thick.
Almost looks like a spider web in a tree.



Thanks for looking.

Denise,

It does look like a spider web. I'm looking for the spider!

This would be a great pick for a guitarist playing in a band with someone like Alice Cooper

The visual depth that is very often displayed in your picks is great!

Chris

Do you ever tumble guitar picks instead of polishing them on the wheels? After drawing out the pick shape on an already thinly sliced slab, could you trim out the rough pick, shape it, bevel it and then polish it by using a tumbler?

The obvious is that working a pick by hand gives you complete control over shaping. What other negative things would/could happen that make it a disadvantage to use a tumbler in the pick making process?

Chris

Thanks Chris. The visual depth is also one of the things I like about making stone guitar picks. One would never know what is hidden within the stone till it is sliced thin.

I have tumbeled some picks before, but I wasnt happy with the polish in the end. Tumbeling can also undercut any inclusion the stone may have leaving the polish uneven in those spots. It is possible though. I strive for perfection, so I was forced to go back to the diamond wheels (starting on the second wheel) and re work the entire pick to get the results I wanted. Tumbeling also takes a week on each grit stage (4 weeks or more total). I prefer to crank up the music, turn the diamond wheels on and jam out a stone guitar pick in a few hours.

Denise,

Your attention to detail does show! It is quite impressive!

At what point in the cubing, slabbing or slicing do you know you are going to make guitar picks out of a piece of stone?
I wondered how you decide whether a larger piece of stone would make a good pendant, cabochon, pair of earings, guitar pick or remain a specimen set. Obviously smaller and thinner pieces give you fewer choices of what you can choose make. When making a pick do you first make thin sliced slabs from a piece of stone until you get a slice you want to work with? Or do you make many thin slices and then just start working them?

Chris

Thought I'd answer this one since I do the cutting on the larger saw in our shop.
Each stone cut pretty much dictates not only how it's cut but what it's going to make or not make. Sometimes the stone is large enough to cut several varied slices that can do picks and cabochons both. Many times though the stone itself has fractures and or is difficult to get a grip on in a vise for cutting which will dictate how the cut starts. From there we may block cut it to rotate larger stones for different angles, or it may be say a broken thunderegg which we know will only have one half for a specimen at best....so then you take a few cuts off the broken half to see what you can use. Thickness depends on how the first cut looks.
First cut is always going to be for cabochons or tumbling material (especially if fractured) for any stones. Once youv'e cut the first slice off and the stone revealed appears solid enough, then the next cut will make a slice that should be consistent (that is if all goes well during the cut). Sometimes the stone gives out mid cut on a fracture line and allows the blade to "push" outside off the edge of the stone. This of course leaves an uneven cut and will not be able to finish the cut out properly if reset for the thinner slice. It must be reset for a fresh cut (normally a bit thicker) to even out the cutting again.....this leaves an uneven slice which can still be used for cabochons.

Thickness of slices is decided as cutting continues based on how solid the stone is and how well the cuts are doing. Second factor is if Denise is out there when a new slice comes off the saw......if she thinks it's sweet I'm usually required at that point to direct the thickness towards picks.

Really though it just comes down to the stone and how well the cuts go.....many other factors will play into this as well. For instance, thundereggs that have voids or cavities in them obviously won't make good slices for working cabochons or guitar picks, but the cuts are still sweet suprises inside that no one has ever seen before.
If the rough is bigger and several slices can be taken like with jades then we can cut several slices at varied thickness for both cabs and picks. After slabs or cut then there is still a chance that a guitar pick slice could still be used for cabochons or inlays as well as vice versa where cabochon thickness slices are used for some of the thicker giutar picks. You just have to work around the fractures in each slice.
We try to waste very little of any stone so most all of each slice is used eventually even if fractured but the thinner cuts are intended for guitar picks just based on how the days cuts are progressing.
If you have a stone that just won't stay in the groove so to speak while cutting, then it's probably got too many fractures in it. You can try rotating for a new cut direction to take advantage of the fractures with cutting and sometimes that will do the trick. But if not then that stone just gets set aside as a nice lookin' yard rock, no point in arguing with it in the saw, that will drive ya' nuts.

Hope that explains it a little bit.

Here's an example of one that is pictured in this thread as a slice and even though it originally was suppose to be a classic size guitar pick, after slicing and beging to work it through the stages, more fractures were found so it's now going to be resized into a small stubby style which will eliminate the fractured part near the top. Sometimes ya' just have to change midstream with a piece.

CP

Dan,

Thanks! Your reply could be part of a "Stone Cutting 101" course! Awesome explanation and even though this is all new to me I easily followed you. It sounds like your expertise and creativity guide you throughout the cutting process and allow you to make decisions about what you want the stone to become and look like.

P.S. I recognize that stubby shape!

Chris

Here's my first one!

Good job! Love the black Jade.

Thanks! Nice job spotting the Australian black jade!

Jim here on CP cut the slab so I knew it had pick potential, lol!

Jade makes really nice picks and giving them a great sound also. Keep up the good work!

Here is a Brazilian agate (not dyed) one I recently did. This one will probably become a future prize giveaway. It sure has some fantastic patterns. Even has a blood red playing tip.






Thanks for looking, and I would love to hear your feedback.

Denise that is very cool looking.

I like the red just at the tip and the different patterns converging. Great eye for catching everything in your pick layout!

Thanks GuitarC for the kind compliments. We do try very hard on placement of the stones to be cut and many times we'll move a marked piece several times before we find the placement that works best for the fractures involved as well as the stones patterns overall.
Good thing we mark with pencil because getting off an aluminum scribe mark doesn't work with a pencil eraser.

CP