Stone Tes Hand Faceter

[MarkH]

Hello,
Tried a quick search on the forum, but could not find anything.
Has anyone seen or tried one of these.

http://stonetes.com/MHCUSTOM/

Cheap alternative to a full machine, or just a watse of money?

Regards,
Mark

[Aussie Sapphire]

Have never heard of this one - thanks for posting it.

Have heard mention of the Jack Lahr system so it looks like this new one has some background to it.  Not a lot of money to give it a try compared to a full blown faceting machine.

It is a manual system so slower than using a powered machine but is absolutely portable so for a particular niche, should be worth serious consideration.

For those interested in background reading, something on Jack Lahr below:

http://www.rockhounds.com/rockgem/articles/laplap.shtml

cheers
Leah

[mehoose]

I've sent a pm to someone from elsewhere who was looking at getting one. Will let you know if they purchased one and how it went.
I had a quick look, at the mo he only seems to sell more copper thingies, LOL, I like dops, wonder if you can get more than 4?
It's certainly an entry price, great for where there's no juice and will build up the arm muscles. 

[Andrew]

 Happy to hear of any positive results from buyers but Really common sense tells me it sounds cheap but could turn out a very expensive piece of not much
  With good gear Lapidary is a rewarding challenge that offers much,my opinion of Gear like this is after you get over the shock of how little you get for your $ you wipe Lapidary all together because really the little investment hurt

  Cheers Andrew

[mehoose]

Ok, the purchase didn't pan out, life got in the way.
The guy looking at this was more a ''novelty', keep oneself occupied while at the holiday cottage'. In other words, play time. They definitely have a dinkum machine.
Apparently extra parts were to be picked up from the local drug store. Now sizing on stuff like that could be an issue eg dop size, will a lathe then be needed. 
Personally I'd rather try my hand at the local club to see if I liked it. But hey, this could be right up your alley. Just something to while away the hours, go into Zen mode.
It should work, the lap lap did but I wouldn't be looking at making a raging trade out of it. 

[magnum357]

Hello everyone this is my first post here.  I'm the guy who made this hand faceter if you have questions I'll be happy to answer them.  There are plenty of videos on youtube to see how to use this, just search for stonetes.  I've been using this design or one like it for 10 years and never needed anything more to facet a stone.  I enjoyed faceting by hand and just put together a kit that contained what was needed to get started in faceting. 

[mehoose]

Welcome to ALF magnum357.
Hey, some close up pics of stones you've cut with this would be great.

[Wwoofa]

I'm the guy who made this hand faceter

Ouch .... wouldn't faceting your hands hurt ....    I think I'll just stick to gems ....

[magnum357]

Taking a good picture is still difficult for me.

Guys this is just a hobby to me, I wanted a portable machine that didn't require electric and this is what I came up with, I thought I would share it and make it available to anyone who wanted one.  Of course this was inspired by Jack Lahr's "Lap Lap" which I used for many years. This machine is certainly not right for everyone but it is right for some.  Have a nice day everyone I have to go to work.

[mehoose]

Hey that doesn't look too bad. Well I have to say that, I love squat pears. 
Seriously tho, that's exactly why the other chap was looking at it - to use at the beach pad without power. Horses for courses.
What is the stone, size etc, (did you buy a preform) how long did it take to cut and polish and hows about spares eg dops? ( you don't seem to have those available as extra's).
Heard the story about how Mr Lahr used to sit on the flights and cut to pass time. Don't reckon that would be looked too kindly on these days. 

[magnum357]

This one is synthetic corundum a little over 2 ct and about 8 mm on the short side.  I have a few hundred ct of this corundum and I think it is easy to polish.  It wasn't a preform I cut this rough out of a boule, I believe that is what they are called.  The dops that are available from me are the four in the kit and I have a .250 inch V and .156 inch V, I just haven't put them on the website yet. 


This stone took a little over 4 hours most of it was done laying in bed watching a movie, take a look at youtube and you will get an idea how long it takes.  Of course when I started faceting this way it would have taken me a great deal longer, because I didn’t have a clue.  That is why i posted movies, however boring they are, no sence in re-inventing the wheel.

[mehoose]

It's a shame you didn't have all these short vids on your site from the start, good you have them there now tho.
By the way, think you left out one row of cutting details on your design.

Hey I should proclaim myself the official Australian Facet machine road tester.  Andrew...Leah...magnum....anyone else? Insert devilish laugh, mwahahahaha
LOL, if I can use them, anyone can.