Who uses a tile saw to cut open rocks and then how do you polish it?

[bigtim1973]

Hello was wondering who uses a tile saw to cut their rocks they find and also do you use the stock diamond blade on the saw and does it do a good job? Also after the rock has been cut open and you want to polish it what do you use to do that with? I know there are some very nice expensive polishers out there but what about a good cheap way to do it? Thanks in advanced, Tim

[goldinmypan]

I use a 10" MK tile saw that I bought at a yard sale a couple years ago. It works fine as long as the rock isn't to big. Maybe 4" thick but could go larger by turning rock and working toward middle. I now finish with a Gennie but before that I used an Inland all in one as a lap with a 60 grit disk to shape a cab and then tumbled the rest of the way to a shine. I could have used the Inland all the way but was to hard to change disks out on my unit.
The downside to this method is the tumble time. Since the rock is already shaped, I could skip the first step(rough grit) and start with medium(220). I added a fine (500 grit) and then pre-polish and polish. All at about a week each. So you do need patience to get your final piece.

[uthunter]

For cutting rock down to smaller sizes I have a 24" saw for big rocks, I use oil only with it. I have a 7" tile saw that uses water. I use the best diamond blades I can get for them. The blades may cost a bit more, but the finish of the cut makes up for it.

I use a Dremel for shaping, carving, sanding, and polishing of the smaller pieces.

For slices, cabs, pendants, and larger pieces, I use an oscillating wet/dry sander and a belt sander made for wet/dry use.

These may not be the fastest of methods, but beats sinking several thousands dollars into equipment if you only do a small amount of work.