[meteorite-list] wire saw cost (Benefits of the wire overblade?)

From: Michael Gilmer <meteoritemike_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2011 22:32:31 -0500
Message-ID: <AANLkTinHEGw03FhxZJ0Jb3j_4nNyZyk93i4UpjmN56Rb_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hi Adam and List,

Good point about sanding and polishing.

I own a 6-inch lap saw, but I do not own a lap polisher. I do all of
my polishing by hand, going through progressive grits from 100/200 to
1500 and then finishing with rouge. It's VERY labor intensive and can
require several hours of work to finish a single slice. Taking that
labor into account (and the cost of sandpaper, which adds up), it
doesn't make financial sense for me to polish meteorites like NWA 869
or other common, low-cost specimens. To make it worth my while, I'd
have to charge $2-$3/g and nobody is going to pay that for NWA 869, no
matter how good my polishing job is. So, I sell the majority of my
cuts without a polish. Also, because I sell many slices without a
polish, I try to make my initial cuts as neat as possible, so I don't
leave behind many unsightly saw marks.

When I cut for other people, I inform them that the polish job will
make up the bulk of the price I charge, in terms of labor. I can
slice up a small golfball-sized stone in a few minutes, but the
polishing can take many hours, spread out over days of work. Needless
to say, my cutting fees are very reasonable, but if the customer wants
a polish job on the same pieces, the price goes up substantially.

One of these days, I'll get off my arse and invest in a lap polisher.
Then, every cut I sell will be polished, even the cheap/common stuff.

FWIW - I HATE HATE HATE seeing sealer or lacquer on an unpolished
specimen! It says to me that the cutter doesn't care about their work
or the cutter is taking short-cuts (pun intended).

Best regards,

MikeG

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Gilmer - Galactic Stone & Ironworks Meteorites

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On 3/10/11, Adam Hupe <raremeteorites at yahoo.com> wrote:
> It seems the other half of the equation is being overlooked. Do not forget
> about
> polishing which is even more important than the cut as far as future
> preservation and appearance are concerned.
>
> It seems a lot of material being offered these days has no polish at all.
> Even
> worse is that some are coated with lacquer to hide the saw marks. The more
> the
> surface area is reduced through rigorous polishing, the less chance of
> moisture
> being trapped. A saw that leaves grooves, be it a wire or radial type, will
> increase loss by as much as 20% if both sides have to be finished afterward.
> It
> does no good to cut at .004 when the media drifts side to side creating
> unsightly grooves. Any material preserved during the cut using an
> ultra-thin
> blade or wire may be lost in the polishing process.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Adam
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--

Received on Thu 10 Mar 2011 10:32:31 PM PST