Agate I think.

[Mineral54]

I think this is some sort of agate. I had this flat ugly white but very heavy for it's size rock. We decided to cut a slice and this is what we found.


Now how do I polish this little beauty up? Hand polish if possible please. Sorry the picture isn't better.

 

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[BurntBear]

Wow, that's awesome! Can you snap a photo in regular light too?

As far as polishing it up:

It could be honed with some diamond hand files which are pretty cheap if you don't have any. It would take a few stages of filing and reducing grit size to get it nice and clean. Keep the Agate & file wet when filing! Then you could proceed to a polishing stage. I really like leather polishing wheels on Agate. If you're going to hone and polish it completely by hand with no mechanical aid in the polishing stage, be prepared for some tired shoulders! It will take time, but if you're patient; it's worth it! You have to eliminate all of those white "half-moons" I call them, left over from the diamond blade's initial cut.
-Luke

 

[Mineral54]

Thank you so much BurntBear, I will look for those hand files. I am very new at this so any info is much appreciated. Is there a certain place I could find the hand files, I live in the state of Nevada.

 

[shaman15771]

I got some nice diamond hand files from Amazon pretty cheaply, Believe they were under $20. if I remember right.

 

[Mineral54]

Oh, thanks Shaman15771 I will check that out.

 

[Mineral54]

Okay...here I go again...What grit files should I get? When we cut it, it seems pretty good but i can see the faint blade scratches with my loop.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Polishing by hand is a lot of work. On my machines I use 200, 600, 1200, 3000 and then polish it up.
Perhaps you'll want to add an extra step. Leather with cerium oxide is a good polishing agent.

 

[Mineral54]

Ok, thanks so much.