How to use CD or DVD disks to polish gemstones! Lapidary

In this tutorial I'm showing how to pre-polish and polish quartz using DVD or CD disk as base laps.
Enjoy! All comments are welcome.
Should you feel interested in giving any support to me personally, you can send funds through PayPal account " [e-mail] "
For more info contact me at:
Fb page: / professionalgemcutting
or
www.vagabondbottle.com
DISCLAIMER
The techniques described in this video are only educative.
I recommend the use of appropriate protective devices and a wise and careful attitude thorughout the procedures.
I'll not be liable for any physical injury or property damages induced by any accidents may occur during the procedures showed in this video or wrong applications thereof.
Follow the instructions and technical suggestions at your own risk.
#gem polishing
#polishing with a DVD
#Cerium Oxide
#Lapidary
#lapidary equipment
#Gem cutter
#lapidary saw
#cerium oxide polishing
#lapidary for beginners
#lapidary machine
#lapidary tools
#lapidary tutorial
#lapidary polishing

[@mgdesigns37069]

Way back in the day, AOL used to send disks every week, in nice tins. That's all they were good for, gem polishing.

[@justinsmith3429]

Good God, I used to have so many of those... now I wish I had them back lol

[@luisgomez385]

I don't know if you are going to read this but thank you for posting this. I am new to Faceting and I tried out this method and it works for me as I don't have much money to buy new polishing laps. Maybe once I get better I'll buy some new polishing laps.

[@sutra1976]

Thanks for commenting and take great care while polishing. This showed it’s ok as emergency method but best get yourself a batt or tin lap to be consistent and comfortable,😉 other than this, best luck with your practice and keep well and safe during these strange strange times. Ciao! 😄

[@luisgomez385]

@@sutra1976 Thanks. I have a tin lap but haven't tried using it. Don't want to mess it up so as of now I'm practicing on cheap quartz for before I move on to more expensive materials.

[@rgprtube]

I am a newbie on this topic - but i like unconventional ideas reusing whats already available. So i give you a big big thumbs up! Nice video!

[@susanncarter6201]

I can’t wait to try this

[@thisbadmonkey]

Hy Angelo, just wanted to mention my solution for an issue i came across while polishing the girdle of a small stone with this method. Because the master lap is much bigger in diameter than the cd i had the Problem that i can't polish the girdle because the dopstick was not long enough. The dopstick allways touched the master lap befor the stone touched the cd. At first i stuck 2-3 cds over each other but than i got an even better idea. I bought the thickest piece of acrylic glas i found at a craft store that was about 500mm By 250mm (thickness about 6 mm or so), cut it in half, drilled a hole in the middle of both halfs to fit on my maschine (14mm in my case), turned the maschine on and hold a more or les sharp thing against the acrylic glas where the master lap ends till i could break the unwanted edges out to get it to be round (if that description makes sence?) Now i have 2 pieces of “cd Material“ that are as large as my master lap for polishing and they work perfect!

[@sutra1976]

Stein-Reich Edelstein Schleifer brilliant! Thanks for sharing. 😊

[@jacksgems3599]

I have not heard of this but it 100% makes sense. Wow, this is such a good idea! Thank you so much, definitely going to try this!

[@geo-negativeaxis2429]

Rad

[@mammothgreenstudiodiscosde2635]

I going to try to start in this world, just to (try) make my diamond stylus because i really need it faster and better and i can find anyone who make it, so i start to study about with everything i can find.. so God bless YOU for give this tip and video for everyone! You are a gem sr.

[@celticlightning9703]

Wow!! You learn something new everyday. Thanks for showing your craft.

[@Debbie4729]

THat's great!I am saving this idea!THanks!

[@davidmkrt]

I tried CD for opal stone, nice result!

[@CelebrityCyborg]

Thx for posting. Very useful info.Happy Holidays!

[@davidlowrie579]

Very well presented. I’ll definitely try this. Thank you.

[@randalamerson5478]

Thank you So Much for sharing your knowledge and expertise. You’ve inspired me . God Bless You as Well.✌️😎👍

[@bigwu100]

Lovely finish product. Good work

[@lizzymoore54]

Beautiful result!

[@sutra1976]

lizzymoore54 thanks!

[@LadyRiderKim]

Truly awesome idea, thanks for sharing!

[@gustavnordin8690]

Thank you your video really has been most helpful to me. Hope to ask questions in the future as I see how stones come out.

[@zzMAXz]

Last week I was trying in poloshing a small apatite. On ultralap and cerium some result with High speed and more water running than I wouold had expectec. Then suddenly bad schraches. Changed ultralap but again schraches. Then I remember this video and i try DVD+ diamond powder and coconut oil. It polish Like Beryl on copper, easy and fast! Thanks!

[@chevyaswin914]

That was abselutely fantastic.. cause i am one of germstone fan, any germstone... and thank you for information... 🙏🙏

[@wisherwatch]

Amazing! Would love to learn some more from you

[@VintageTimeGems]

Great vid. I cut gems and have a few gem cutting vids on my channel. Yes using the Cd method has been around for awhile. The rewritable cds have a softer surface than a standard prerecorded music cd which has a harder surface, which should work even better. I like the lucite discs with cerium oxide. Ultra laps are excellent but adds more to the cost for those who facet for a hobby. Well done on making this interesting video.

[@sutra1976]

Well, you taught me something new now about CD nd DVD... Thanks for commenting!

[@tonydavies8683]

i took the plastic of a rear projection screen and made a few full sized lap plates for master lap toppers it works as well as the cd but nothing beats a good batt lap and cerium the plastic flaking and peeling roles the facet edge.

[@cristianojax4995]

you probably dont give a shit but does any of you know of a trick to log back into an instagram account..? I was dumb forgot my account password. I would love any assistance you can offer me

[@brooksseth1929]

@Cristiano Jax Instablaster =)

[@cristianojax4995]

@Brooks Seth I really appreciate your reply. I got to the site on google and im waiting for the hacking stuff now. Takes quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

[@carlitosway60]

Thank you for sharing you tips wiht us , God bless.

[@JueGabox]

Muy buen tip, gracias por el video.

[@superceci9093]

Thanks for sharing, i did both you earned it.

[@oovlocityoo2671]

Oh man thank you soo much for this tip. It's really great. I will try that tomorrow 😉👍🏻🙏🏻

[@euvid1]

Very interesting. Thank you.

[@rhondajones1313]

I have heard of this before but I thought it was bs until I saw it. That is neat because I now have a use for my old drds ans cds. Thanks

[@brandontwining9338]

Great video buddy

[@rmensimonyan4369]

its very nice idea, thank you so much, you help me so much, im using it on succesful

[@sandraferhad6982]

LOVE THIS!!! God bless you too darling :)

[@faneshbhaisare9709]

Excellent job sir, please advice if instead of using diamond powder for prepolishing

[@nanaandbump.]

Its important to use the proper genre music CD for this - Rock music

[@tikeswarpradhan9839]

Very beautiful talent thank you very much 💞

[@NUGGETSHOOTER]

Very cool, subbed

[@ademirjsilvasilva3152]

Lindo trabalho parabens amigo

[@philippinediamondworks4587]

Always watching sir very imformative i learn so much thank you for sharing 😍😍😍😊😊😊😊

[@asghartaj1434]

Very good idea sir thanks God belss you.👍👍👍💓💖💪

[@kurtschultz8199]

Thanks for the tip!

[@benjamindejonge3624]

Thanks

[@marsyas73]

Wow! Just wow! 😮😮😮 💎💎💎

[@juanmorse50]

Wow! I'll give it a try.

[@WaseemKhan-mp9dw]

very nice and very good sir

[@Nicorien]

Well done!

[@VondaInWonderland]

That was cool ♥

[@codybarnes1531]

God Bless you too.

[@nikrabins1299]

May God bless!

[@mastertechnician3372]

Thank you

[@mauriciocortes7619]

I like very much, congratulations for the idea. What is the RPM used? Do you have the project for the stone hold device used?

[@askalice7222]

A useful reuse/recycle tip in addition to being innovative! Lovely! And your voice and accent i think are the best. ;~}} Thank you.

[@cathyd5277]

Soo pretty, very nice vedio!!

[@SifuGeorgeHajnasrJEETKUNEDO]

Excellent thank you that was awesome 🙏🙏

[@gvlbill]

Thanks great info

[@mhmody-777mahmody2]

Excellent

[@DaSageBlaze]

Wow I didn't know that thanks for this knowledge

[@user-ii8lo1re1y]

Интересное решение, оригинально. Спасибо :-)

[@farisfaris7177]

No;1 sir Thanks

[@claytonmitchell1387]

Awesome video question what is the liquid you have dripping into the cd

[@farooqminerals]

Good idea.

[@janhachicho3373]

Thank you very nice

[@corypalmerini1610]

Bravo!!!👏👏👏

[@craftytimestation2540]

Some o rings or washers from harbor freight or any hardware store would be a good idea to actually keep centered

[@sutra1976]

Probably, but it feels like a little complicated....it takes a few seconds to center it, really. Thanks for commenting

[@machavaraputirumaladeva1253]

Thank u showing but may I know which powder and oil are you using sir and can u tell first what to do with rough gemstone to make sparkle

[@janillebutler2739]

This is fascinating l!

[@vansonmai8422]

Thanks so much very you.

[@iliketostealyourthoughts]

Im going to try the acetone tip tonight. I have a sunstone dopped and have been having some trouble getting the table to polish as nice as the pavilion facets did.

[@sutra1976]

Isaiah Rockefeller great! Keep me informed on results!

[@iliketostealyourthoughts]

Worked like a charm. I struggled at first still with that darn table.....just could not get it to polish....I randomly decided to reverse lap direction and it polished in less than 15 seconds.....I di not use cerium though as you did. I have a zirconium battstick from Gearloose that I used. The rest of the pavilion facets went fairly smooth as well. Only had 3 that gave me a bit of stubborness.

[@sutra1976]

Well, I'm happy it worked for you. I'm noticing that diamond and cerium powders together work very fast at least on quartz. Thanks fro sharing your finds!

[@iliketostealyourthoughts]

I dont have the means to use diamond powders yet (no laps for them) but the zirconium stick really works well for quartz. Besides the table, all the other facets were polished nicely in roughly 10 seconds or so. You acetone tip is what help me get things working. The slight etching effect really helps the polish stay on the cd and go to work.

[@sutra1976]

I meant to dust up the dvd with some 50k diamond dust, you don't need a special lap to use that ;-) but everyone has his special polishing recipe....

[@roshakasravi9962]

THANK U BEAUTIFUL!

[@JadeWonder]

Thank U Brother!!

[@aliciamarya3175]

Muito bom gostaria de exercer essa profissão

[@LapidandoPedraseGemas]

Venha conhecer meu canal,obrigada

[@GemPassionpl]

You are epic with this toothpaste! Thanks :)

[@permanthea]

Thank you !!! I will try it absolutely! Nice idea to use my old Cds and great for us who do facet as hobby with not so many money to spend!

[@sutra1976]

Sure. Bear in mind that the final result is not comparable to more professional polishing medias. Happy to be helpful, thanks for commenting. 😉

[@permanthea]

I do it for hobby. I have tried with cerium mixed with olive oil as we have it here in Greece but my quartz end very shiny but with scratches. Before the CD I had done it with 3000 diamond disc. Do you think this is the reason? Maybe it is better to use diamond paste as you did in video?

[@sutra1976]

Devi Perma Oma you have to find a “sweet spot” and diamond powder mixed to the cerium works best because cerium cushions and smoothens the grooves on the cd while diamond polished quickly. Use limited amounts because I’ve observed that the leaner the lap the better the results. To “reset” the CD pass a cloth of acetone on the surface while spinning slowly

[@permanthea]

@@sutra1976 what do you mean sweet spot.??? SoI have to buy a 3000 diamond paste and mix it with cerium to prepolish and then to change CD and polish only with cerium mixed with oil? Thank you for your time!!

[@sutra1976]

Devi Perma Oma buy a 50k diamond powder and mix on the lap with a dab of cerium oxide. The sweet spot is a place on the disk where it’s profile and right quantity of polish is found. I work very dry too but without overheating. Swimg slightly the Stone accross the sweet spot

[@falcon74]

nice method !! if you have other trick for faceting cause i haven't faceting machine thanks!!

[@magworks7583]

Thank you for this information. Now All I need is to actually get some equiptment.. LOL

[@saedofee9014]

this good idea bro i can do it thanks

[@wangaykuo6472]

Cool 😊

[@neogovernment]

I would suggest that the diamond paste is doing all the grinding and the toothpaste is just for video attention-grabbing.

[@celsoalejandromorales6452]

Excelent !!!!!

[@thisbadmonkey]

Hy Angelo. At first I was just thankful about getting the clue with the CD, which brought me to the idea to use self-made plexiglass discs, and finally getting a really good and cheap lap for the finish polish. After some time (since I last commented on this video) I now know exactly what you meant as you said that this method can't replace other methods completely because of the time it takes to get the facets polished. The polishing takes almost 300% of the time it takes to cut and prepolish the facets (I always cut the most facets with 3000 grit, so I can skip the prepolishing, at least on quartz). So the productivity is very limited with only using plexiglass laps. Now, where can I buy the ultralaps you mentioned? Google search only spit out some articles about the laps being great, but I can't find a source to buy them. Also, I heard that nubond laps are no longer available, is there an alternative you can recommend? Thanks a lot. Have a nice day.

[@sutra1976]

Hi man! i think polycarbonate of the DVDs it's probably better than the plexyglass…..for some unknown reason, however, my favourite polishing laps used to be Ultralaps and you can ask Brian at cyberrockhound.com or other online shopping sites like graves…...I use DVD quite happily but I prefer my Lead lap…;-)

[@MrBali123456]

You look like Iron Man, even more handsome 😊

[@ramadhanihsan9812]

wowww i see n great job .. very god idea dude :)

[@queirozpedraslapidadasebru7039]

Bom Dia Amigo Isto E cd E Isso Vc E Bom Em Parabens

[@sutra1976]

Obrigado

[@pedrogallardo8434]

I did the polish with the CD and it works really good. Is like using an spectra lap. Thank you so much for the info. The only question I have is how you do to make the CD be paralel to the master lap, so it wont create extra facets or concave facets.. Thanks

[@sutra1976]

Pedro Gallardo thanks for commenting. Yes this method is more an emergency one. However, you could try to fix the CD on to the master lap using a 2 sided sticky tape, a thin kind. Like that the plastic won’t flex that much anymore keeping facets more true.

[@pedrogallardo8434]

@@sutra1976 yes I need to do it. The first time it was ok. But after it, the DVD start to move. Anyway I need to keep trying. Thanks so much for sharing this knowledge

[@averypcandhometheater5065]

What speed or RPM motor are you using? Please

[@abdulrasheed5767]

Clear picture

[@jaimevega1953]

Hola Angelo que es la crema blanca que pones sobre el disco al comenzar? What is the white cream? Thanks

[@jimmhadd1373]

polish agent applied in gems Fe2O3 as Hematite due to temperature for Topaz

[@SP-ny1fk]

Will this get rid of the scratches on my CDs?

[@thisbadmonkey]

Hey Angelo, thank you for this usefull trick. One question: im currently working on a more softer and fragile stone (like florite, but yellow) and it seems like the ceroxide on the cd is scratching the facets. What Tools should i use for this type of stones? I am in “trying and buying new stuff“-Mode to get better results, but don't know what to do with this particular stone. It seems that diamond powder (0-1/2 micron) is bringing better results, but maybe a cd is the false option?

[@sutra1976]

ThisBadMonkey TBM thanks for commenting. I had to cut once several cuprites and they are really soft material to polish. I had success using a lead lap with a very thin layer of diamond powder and a dab of oil. You can try even with a tin lap but make sure you have the laps skimmed by a machinist and ask them not to polish it or they will impregnate it with their polishing compound. The diamond and oil layer must really be minimal. Let me know how will it go.

[@thisbadmonkey]

Angelo1976 okay thank you for the recommendation. I hope i get my hands on a lead lap asap. The stone has to be ready this saturday and there is no lapidary Tools store in my local area. I personaly know a good maschinist but he has no tin or lead in stock. Anyways thank you Angelo for answering so fast. I will Update here after success!

[@thisbadmonkey]

Angelo1976 buongiorno signore, i got the lead lap yesterday and i can say it actually did work to polish the facets with lead+oil+diamond powder (i used WD40, do You have a better recommendarion for the oil?) BUT at facet nr. 6 it went straight to krkrkrrr. I had that problem before, that when the stone touches the lap at a specific angle it will immediately break out / flake out. Pieces of the stone broke out and demaged the lap (which is not as awfull as it seems because You can flatten the lead lap very fast because it Is so soft.) anyways Angelo, thank you for the recommendation, i think to have a lead lap is a good thing, even if this stone is now broken. You learn the most out of failures.

[@sutra1976]

ThisBadMonkey TBM I’m sorry to hear that your fluorite broke. I never actually facet one of those, but I assume that having cleavage planes like topaz, you should orient the rough carefully not to have any facet parallel to the Cleavage. Lead and the tin laps saved me a lot of time and efforts to polish a variety of materials

[@felmarg8840]

Thanks for the great idea. I am struggling with a way to polish a hole and after your video i have the idea to try to use teflon. At least instrument made out of it. It has a high melting temperature and it is easy to carv so to make tool wil be easy. By te way if some one have done some thing like that before, i am open to suggestions. thank you

[@sutra1976]

Hi! Keep your temperature low, even Wooden beads on a mandrel will work keep it lubed with oil and keep speed low

[@felmarg8840]

@@sutra1976 thank you agen

Top

[@STONES624]

Excellent thanks for sharing like to strengthen Hug

[@rawdawgpendants5490]

Wow

[@samansenator6343]

Hello dear friend. Does this method also work for diamonds or only for stones whose hardness is lower than diamonds?

[@81OH4Z4RD]

kept waiting for you to say April Fools. i really like the toothpaste idea, most toothpaste contains Aluminum Oxide which is a very hard material (Mohs 9) and the sticky viscosity would keep it (and added polish) from just flying off the disk. Thanks for sharing.

[@siamaklighvani3951]

Thank you very much for your teaching , the make the use of DVD , is this black stone is Shungite?

[@sutra1976]

Thank you for watching. The stone in the video was an amethyst.

[@montesalps]

can a dremel work with this procedure?

[@russellbradford4394]

Lol. Most gem guys take such a long time with all these "tricks" or "shortcuts" that they have , but yours is easily the longest. 15 min for one side? And you have to do it twice. 6 sides would come out to an hour and a half. Times two. Not counting the two hours set up time. Yeah. One gemstone in a 10 hour shift. Very helpful. Lol

[@teresanolivo4075]

It is a very dark bright pink. It doesn't even have any clear quartz strips in it. It is nearly a perfect rose quartz sphere. I feel like I cant breathe.

[@tikeswarpradhan6082]

Thank you sir 🙏I love this video How to cut & polish moisanite Please make a video 🙏💛❤️💚🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼

[@abdulrazzakpakeerdeen4646]

I would like to know weather green zircon too could be polished in this method. If not do you have invented any methods to get it polished. Thanking you very much, I am Pakirdeen from Sri Laka.

[@sutra1976]

Abdul Razzak Pakeerdeen hi there thanks for commenting. I never had a problem to cut or polish zircon. I usually use tin or lead lap with 50k diamond powder and some tin oxide. Lubricate with little wd40 and keep cool with very slow water dripping. The laps must be smooth, never scored. I hope to have helped you how I could.

[@Annie59G]

Fantastic tips! I was wondering how to use cerium oxide to polish a faceted stone and what support to put in on. With cabs it's a felt wheel but that wouldn't maintain the integrity of the facets. Now this would have worked in a pinch to help a friend who had been asked to needing to repolish a scratched stone but did not have any polishing discs.

[@FullMetal372]

Would this work for garnets?