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Cutting petrified wood
- Thread starter tryppyr
- Start date
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2011
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- 16,352
You can cut it with a tile saw if you have access to one, you need to cut it wet with a diamond blade. Cut it very slowly, you should never see any sparks or let any heat build p, don't push hard at all.
Shaping/Polishing - To simplify my answer I will say you need lapidary equipment to work with this material.
A wet diamond setup is the way to go in my opinion, you can also cut it with silicon carbide belts and an expando wheel setup, they aren't too difficult to set up or find used on a budget. I use 80-3000 grit diamond on sintered hard then neoprene backed wheels.After that I polish with 14,000 and 50,000 grit diamond. Cerium Oxide also works well as a polish once you are in the 3000 grit range.
Honestly I wouldn't attempt shaping the wood without a lapidary setup. If you want I bet you have a local rock and gem club that is set up with equipment. I think the local club here charges $5 to use their equipment if you are a member. It is a lot of fun and a great skill to learn.
Lapidary is a hobby of mine, let me know if you have any questions along the way and I'll be glad to help.
Shaping/Polishing - To simplify my answer I will say you need lapidary equipment to work with this material.
A wet diamond setup is the way to go in my opinion, you can also cut it with silicon carbide belts and an expando wheel setup, they aren't too difficult to set up or find used on a budget. I use 80-3000 grit diamond on sintered hard then neoprene backed wheels.After that I polish with 14,000 and 50,000 grit diamond. Cerium Oxide also works well as a polish once you are in the 3000 grit range. Honestly I wouldn't attempt shaping the wood without a lapidary setup. If you want I bet you have a local rock and gem club that is set up with equipment. I think the local club here charges $5 to use their equipment if you are a member. It is a lot of fun and a great skill to learn.
Lapidary is a hobby of mine, let me know if you have any questions along the way and I'll be glad to help.
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith
ilmarinen - MODERATOR
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Reddrum may chime in, as he does this type of work, IIRC.
It takes lapidary wet grinders and such to do any petrified material properly...it is rock.
The home brew lapidary equivalent of a camp fire HT is:
Shape it with the HF diamond grinding wheels/burrs, dipping it in water regularly.
Sand it with Wet-or-Dry 100 grit (wet), then use your belt sander and a new 400 grit belt to smooth it up...dipping in water often.
Take it to the finest belt you have, then use the wet-or-Dry papers up to 2500 grit.
Put on a worn out 800 grit belt ( or a plain polyester belt made for charging with compound).
Charge the belt with tripoli (unless you have access to diamond lapping paste) and buff to a dull polish. Valve grinding compound in coarse. medium, fine , and extra fine can be used if you have them available.
Switch to red or white rouge and buff to a shine.
It takes lapidary wet grinders and such to do any petrified material properly...it is rock.
The home brew lapidary equivalent of a camp fire HT is:
Shape it with the HF diamond grinding wheels/burrs, dipping it in water regularly.
Sand it with Wet-or-Dry 100 grit (wet), then use your belt sander and a new 400 grit belt to smooth it up...dipping in water often.
Take it to the finest belt you have, then use the wet-or-Dry papers up to 2500 grit.
Put on a worn out 800 grit belt ( or a plain polyester belt made for charging with compound).
Charge the belt with tripoli (unless you have access to diamond lapping paste) and buff to a dull polish. Valve grinding compound in coarse. medium, fine , and extra fine can be used if you have them available.
Switch to red or white rouge and buff to a shine.
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2011
- Messages
- 16,352
Oh yeah...
Quartz dust is bad stuff and can cause silicosis. Always grind it wet if possible and clean up any dust.
My friend grinds lots of big material with a regular angle grinder, he just keeps the stone wet and uses a diamond setup. He needs to get a GFCI to avoid shock! Lol he has been hit by lightning before so the grinder probably doesn't scare him!
(you wouldn't want to grind smaller pieces with one... just saying)
Cutting turquoise is a common hobby or profession here, it is way softer than stones like petrified wood and a lot of people use home made setups. I have seen some great stones rough cut with only a bench grinder then finished on flat laps made using paint stirrer sticks with silicon carbide paper on them, just buff to finish. A lot of locals cut serpentine, it can be worked with hand tools.
I have a 5 gallon bucket of scale shaped wood with the bark still on it. One day I want to use some as scales with the bark intact, I think it would look awesome. We actually have fields and ravines full of petrified wood here, I know of one place that must have 100 tons just on the surface in a small area. One piece is literally bigger than a car. My friends property has clear to pure black wood with plumes in it, very cool material.
Quartz dust is bad stuff and can cause silicosis. Always grind it wet if possible and clean up any dust.
My friend grinds lots of big material with a regular angle grinder, he just keeps the stone wet and uses a diamond setup. He needs to get a GFCI to avoid shock! Lol he has been hit by lightning before so the grinder probably doesn't scare him!
(you wouldn't want to grind smaller pieces with one... just saying)Cutting turquoise is a common hobby or profession here, it is way softer than stones like petrified wood and a lot of people use home made setups. I have seen some great stones rough cut with only a bench grinder then finished on flat laps made using paint stirrer sticks with silicon carbide paper on them, just buff to finish. A lot of locals cut serpentine, it can be worked with hand tools.
I have a 5 gallon bucket of scale shaped wood with the bark still on it. One day I want to use some as scales with the bark intact, I think it would look awesome. We actually have fields and ravines full of petrified wood here, I know of one place that must have 100 tons just on the surface in a small area. One piece is literally bigger than a car. My friends property has clear to pure black wood with plumes in it, very cool material.
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2011
- Messages
- 16,352
Some local fossil wood specimens I partially polished (windowed) for fun.
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2011
- Messages
- 16,352
Very cool!
I started in Lapidary so I commonly make pistol grips and knife handles out of rock including jade, petrified wood, petrified dinosaur bone, fossilized wooly Mammouth teeth, etc. Here is the technique I use.
First, choose your material well. Don't start with anything that has an existing crack in the finished area. Most of these will be agate or basically silicon dioxide. They might very well break if dropped on concrete. Next use a trim saw with a diamond blade to cut as closely as possible to finished shape and thickness. You MUST use water. I use Elgin blades .008" thick with a .022" diamond kerf. These are 5/8" arbors with 1/2" inserts included in case you have a smaller arbor. I haven't bought any blades in years but they were about $4 each from Jay O'Day. Most arbor nuts are left hand thread.
Once sliced, take them to your grinder to rough them closer to shape. Silicon carbide wheels were the most common...done wet, but many have changed to diamond sintered in nickel onto a 6-8" flat plate. Most grind with a water stream. I use 100-180 grit for this. Now time to attach to the knife. Pins can break the material and diamond drills are a must if you use them. Core drills are much easier but require a fair sized hole and pin. You might epoxy and undercut instead. Now back to the grinder. I go from 100 or 180 grit to 600 grit diamind grinders. Be careful when you get close to the steel. It rips the diamond out of the softer nickle.
Now to pollish. It will go faster to get the flats out if you drop down to 240-320 grit diamond powder mixed in oil and available in syringes. There are commercially available canvasses or leather available to apply the diamond compound on a 1/4" rubber 6-8" mat. I personally go from 320-1200-8000-50,000 grit. I clean carefully in between grits to eliminate contamination.
Rock clubs or friends or local community colleges usually have equipment that can be used for free or rented. White materials can be dyed. Black petrified wood can be bleached. Dying or bleaching should be done after finished as it is surface only.
Have fun!
Pete
First, choose your material well. Don't start with anything that has an existing crack in the finished area. Most of these will be agate or basically silicon dioxide. They might very well break if dropped on concrete. Next use a trim saw with a diamond blade to cut as closely as possible to finished shape and thickness. You MUST use water. I use Elgin blades .008" thick with a .022" diamond kerf. These are 5/8" arbors with 1/2" inserts included in case you have a smaller arbor. I haven't bought any blades in years but they were about $4 each from Jay O'Day. Most arbor nuts are left hand thread.
Once sliced, take them to your grinder to rough them closer to shape. Silicon carbide wheels were the most common...done wet, but many have changed to diamond sintered in nickel onto a 6-8" flat plate. Most grind with a water stream. I use 100-180 grit for this. Now time to attach to the knife. Pins can break the material and diamond drills are a must if you use them. Core drills are much easier but require a fair sized hole and pin. You might epoxy and undercut instead. Now back to the grinder. I go from 100 or 180 grit to 600 grit diamind grinders. Be careful when you get close to the steel. It rips the diamond out of the softer nickle.
Now to pollish. It will go faster to get the flats out if you drop down to 240-320 grit diamond powder mixed in oil and available in syringes. There are commercially available canvasses or leather available to apply the diamond compound on a 1/4" rubber 6-8" mat. I personally go from 320-1200-8000-50,000 grit. I clean carefully in between grits to eliminate contamination.
Rock clubs or friends or local community colleges usually have equipment that can be used for free or rented. White materials can be dyed. Black petrified wood can be bleached. Dying or bleaching should be done after finished as it is surface only.
Have fun!
Pete