Stephan A Posted April 20, 2014 Report Share Posted April 20, 2014 Hello Folks, I'm a complete novice at lapidary arts. I'm setting up a small shop in my study and am just about there. So far I've fabricated stone scales for a few pocket knives and ruined a few nice pieces of material. I'll be happy to post pics of my next projects and soon at that ,I hope. I'm going to take the sage advice to listen far more than I speak for awhile. I'm pretty sure using the search tools will answer some of my own basic beginner questions. Today my quest is taking me in search of a vacuum chamber for stabilizing some Mexican fire opal rough...more questions than answers so far. I'm happy to be aboard and hope to someday be able to share my successes and failures in an informed way. Just call me Stephan ps heres an old pic of me practicing my lifelong muse. WOW I'll need to work on the thumbnail size pics (sorry mods) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T Paulsen Posted April 22, 2014 Report Share Posted April 22, 2014 On the rock tumbling hobby group they discuss using a brake bleeder hand pump and a bell jar to draw the vacuum to stablize small amounts of material. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephan A Posted April 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2014 Thank you Sir!! I've been looking at some larger glass vacuum chambers available commercially for not to much money. including bell jars. They make pyrex cook ware with stainless steel lids and hand pumps that are really inexpensive. They come in sets so my dear wife will get something she wants and I'll just try not to leave any puddingstone in the fridge! I just posted about using acetone in a vacuum in the tools and techniques section. When I'm better informed I'll have a clearer idea of which stabilization method is best for me. Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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