4 years, 10 months ago-
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Looking for a place to purchase natural and man made rough. I’ve looked and there are so many options, that’s a good thing, but a bit overwhelming. I’ll be purchasing my first faceting machine soon. I’d like to be prepared though, so any recommendations would be appreciated.
ThanksCongrats on getting your machine and joining the rest of us.Here are some sources of natural stones,some offer hobby grades as well as top grades
http://Www.westerngems.com
http://Www.neweragems.com.
http://Www.djgems.com
http://www.Garsowgems.com
For synthetic
http://www.Usdgems.comsorry, these are the corrected website addresses; http://www.johngarsow.com,
http://www.westerngem.com. the previous ones weren’t right
also http://www.hashnustones.com is another one.Hi James,
It can be pretty easy to find clear quartz at your local rock shop – cheap too.
I often dig through the amethyst bins to find that one cheap stone in there.
Ebay can sometimes have some decent rough but it’s an expensive habit to get into and you’ll soon graduate beyond buying rough unseen. (Don’t buy overseas!)
There’s always glass – I know a few folks who practice on marbles and love it.That being said, of course you should support your local facet grade rough supplier whenever you can. I just can’t afford to pay top dollar for something that I’ll never sell, ever.
Add PrettyRock.com to your list of suppliers. They are based in North Carolina.
Welcome to the world of gem cutting!
Randy C.
James,
A great place to find rough is at the annual Tucson gem show around the end of January each year. There are more shows going on at the same time in Tucson than the average person would have time to attend! If you do get to Tucson for their big show, I would also recommend you attend the Tucson Faceting club (sorry I’m not sure of their official name) as they often have some events at this time. Great time/place to meet other factors and really nice people.
At the Tucson show, all types and qualities of rough are available. Natural, synthetic and lab created rough can be found. A lot of the dealers mentioned here, can be found in Tucson, so you can meet them in person. As an example, I picked up a large piece of lab created emerald rough (a lifetime supply for me) from Chatham at the last show. They don’t sell rough online. Yes, I have heard that Chatham will not be selling rough in the future in Tucson.
Graves is famous for slow delivery on machines, but they’re fast and cheap for a lot of rough. I buy a lot of CZ from them.
Just a thought…
Thanks everyone. I now have enough rough for years now. Although I find I’m still looking for more, and now I’m seeing that people are using their cabbing rough, and I’ve got hundreds of pounds of that. And I am still looking and being tempted to buy more.
Addicted I guess. Wonder if there’s a 12 step program for rockhounds?You can also get synthetic rough from Creative Gems – http://www.creativegems.com Located in Texas.
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