Lapidary Saw

[IMAUDIGGER]

I had someone that does gem work, offer to cut/polish a gold specimen if I wanted.
I was waiting to find a larger piece and maybe have it sliced in half.



This one only measures 2-3/8" long. I was thinking of either having a base cut on it, so it would sit upright as tall as possible, or cutting off that one barren side (parallel to that flat face) and have it polished to reveal some of that gold, leaving it more of a low profile presentation.

Either way, it would be reducing the size of the ore specimen...should I wait for something bigger?

Any ideas? This is something that I would hold onto, but possibly sell later...so I want to preserve or enhance the value. By the way - found with a Makro Gold Racer, 5" round coil at 8" deep. Leftovers from pocket mining.

 

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[IMAUDIGGER]

I'm not completely sure the quartz is hard enough to polish.
I'm thinking maybe just make a small wire kick stand that will hold it upright.

There is a better one waiting to be found.

 

[arizau]

Beautiful specimen.

I agree that it may break if you try to cut it so...Wire stand and maybe mount it on a small turntable with polished dark hardwood.

 

[bc5391]

Quartz has a hardness of 7 and polishes up nice.

 

[N-Lionberger]

Not all quartz polishes up nicely! I play around with lapidary and I wouldnt slice that, gosh its pretty enough as it is.

 

[Eu_citzen]

What lionberger said. I also do lapidary. It'd be a shame to cut it, especially if you one day may want to sell it.
Sawing into a specimen is not highly regarded in my experience.

 

[Relichunter1]

Looks great as it is, wait for another one..more ugly on the outside but will shine inside...

 

[Kenmitch]

My vote would be to leave it as is. A natural looking specimen is much nicer looking than ones altered by man. Some do look better if the quartz is somewhat removed exposing veins, etc in the end.

You could also use a small piece of clay to hold it upright if needed. Probably would look cleaner than a wire kickstand in the end. Guess you could go MacGyver style and use some light colored bubblegum even.