Stone Turning a See-Thru Obsidian Shot Glass

[@DavidRutten]

Perhaps a somewhat inappropriate personal question, but how long do you expect to keep your fingers?

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

You can literally touch diamond blades while they are running and won't get cut. So the video looks way more dangerous than it actually is

[@DavidRutten]

@@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts I'm thrilled to hear that, because my behind has been clenched on your behalf for the past 13 hours...

[@davidhawley1132]

@@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts I was wondering too. I was also a bit worried about the obsidian, because they make blades from chipping it.

[@AKredhed]

@@davidhawley1132 did you get to this video after watching a hydraulic press crush an obsidian ball?

[@AKredhed]

@@DavidRutten thanks for saving me 12 hours and 54 minutes by already asking the question. . : ]

[@countrycraftscustomwoodworking]

As a woodturner myself I can not tell you how satisfying it was to watch you do what I do with stone. That was absolutely incredible, well done!!!!

[@yoururmum]

As a complete DIY noob this was also extremely satisfying

[@thestoneforestchannel]

Excellent work...although it makes me suffer a little depending on the movements you make with the saw, the blade without any protection, take good care of yourself. I am a stonemason and I also rebuild very old stone walls, I subscribe to your channel. Greetings from a stonemason, from Barcelona.

[@jamesh5460]

Wow! This is next level amazing. As a child I found a piece of obsidian and one of my dads friends made it into a 3" sphere for me and is one of my most treasured pieces.

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

That's cool, have you shined a flashlight on it? I wonder if the light would make it through even a small section. Do you remember how he shaped the sphere? Just on a straight saw or did he have a sphere machine

[@arcthelink75]

Hands down one of the coolest things I've ever seen done, or created. I want one of these but a simple goblet. Like, imagine the holy grail from Indiana Jones and the last crusade, but obsidian. My guy. Great work on this. Seriously.

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Thanks! I definitely want to make some more stuff from Obsidian, the way the light shines through is mesmerizing! I've already got a stone picked out for a goblet/chalice so it'll have to wait a bit before the next Obsidian project!

[@anthroposcenester1116]

Impressive skill with the tools, beautiful work. Such a hard material to work, but obviously worth it.

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Thanks! It turned out better than I could have hoped, I want to do some more with it someday

[@No-sc9wm]

I would genuinely like to see your approach on making an obsidian vase and bracelets and even beads

[@Berzrk-Z]

Thank you so much for sharing this step by step process! Very very cool.

[@chornk64]

I must confess that until i saw this, I would never have thought of obsidian as something to drink out of.

[@Schwerpunkt991]

Man, after that first run on the lathe just after he shut it off but it was still rotating pretty fast his shirt almost touched the edge of that obsidian. Imaging reaching over and getting your stomach sliced open by a rotating mass of razor sharp volcanic glass. I was definitely not expecting that free handing angle grinder would produce such incredible result though.

[@norasheffield8036]

As a collector of points, I would highly suggest you use gloves, long sleeves, and protective face/eye coverings when working with any stone but most especially obsidian. It has been called the “scalpel of glass” for a reason. On another note, I am majorly impressed you were able to TURN it on a lathe! Wow.

[@MrAntiKnowledge]

Obsidian is such a beautiful material.

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

I agree! I want to do more with it, I saved some of the scraps and have been trying to come up with ideas

[@cbdesign]

Impressive! Never would of known that was possible

[@diverseopalproducts]

A great use of Obsidian, I really like its chatoyancy. Job well done.

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Thanks! The shadow veining is really cool, it takes a pretty strong light to show it off though

[@ronaldgoodrich5460]

Imagine when people did this with no power tools.

[@colinabercrombie8083]

Inspiring techniques. Well done!

[@carlholdt1042]

Very cool, beautiful!

[@bloodshottomato604]

I would pay so much for a full set of these

[@SpitfiretheCat16]

the ghosts of my neanderthal ancestors are begging you to save those big sharp slices for something

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

I saved the big chunks, still working on what to do with them. I want to try knapping but it's a skill I haven't been able to pick up on my own

[@Crackpidgeonextreme]

This is pretty cool dude I've never seen this process before and it appears to require a good ammount of skill I don't feel like I could do this easily infact I feel like if I put quite a bit of effort in it wouldn't have turned out this nice good job dude

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Thanks! It took a lot of effort to get to this point, it takes a ton of time to make this too so there are plenty of opportunities to pause and make decisions about what to do next and how it should look. I bet you could do it!

[@jaymeecole1263]

You can do anything you put your mind to man! Might take practice but everything takes practice until you learn it.

[@esra_erimez]

The talent, the craftsmanship! You're amazing,.

[@shapelessed]

The talent, the craftsmanship, the stupidity of moving fingers so close to a rotating saw...

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Just imagine if I was dumb enough to touch it while it was running and film it too! kzbin.info/www/bejne/pp67qWt4a6eHfc0

[@canadiangemstones7636]

Gorgeous work in a delicate material!

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Thanks! There certainly was a learning curve!

[@tcbj2003]

Thanks, it helped me fell asleep, s satisfying to listen and watch

[@JasonCrozier]

Literally amazing

[@kalevinieminen7742]

Lovely workmanship.

[@tombryant4518]

Wow! That’s really neat!

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Thanks!

[@RockHoundingAdventures]

That was super cool to watch you make that. Thanks for sharing

[@dylancarter8378]

very cool project! keep up the great work!

[@davidmontgomery1016]

That is pretty cool. I had no idea that could be done with obsidian.

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

I was amazed how thin I was able to get it, the optical effect was a complete surprise for me too! It polished up really nice too

[@احمدالدارودي]

Good job bro make more video like this plz

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Thanks! Hoping to get more videos out soon, I'm busy prepping for Christmas but I have some cool ideas planned.

[@احمدالدارودي]

@@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts ok I wish all best to you

[@Fake-It-Till-Make-It]

@1:24 i literally shouted in fear of those fingers

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

I did have an incident recently where my thumb slipped and touched the blade. I felt obligated to make a video to educate people on how to safely work with diamond blades and stone. Please watch... kzbin.info/www/bejne/pp67qWt4a6eHfc0

[@raywilliam9001]

Beautiful job😘😍😘

[@joshschneider9766]

You can get very similar chunks of black glass from many manufacturers. Probably won't have near as much manganese in it though. Black obsidian happens when a silica seam is near some manganese or some other black pigment and the lava flow smelts it all together. We call it black glass when a person does it and inside an when a volcano does.

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

It has more to do with the cooling process than the composition, if you cool the lava fast enough there isn't enough time for crystals to form and you end up with glass.

[@justinsmall756]

would make for a cool coffee mug

[@xaytana]

Glad I discovered this channel, stone working has always had my interest, but I finally get to see stone working done with tools that any average person has, and skills similar to what woodturning requires. One stone that I'm curious about is basalt, I've only ever seen basalt worked by stone on stone, and by hammer and chisel, I have yet to see any modern methods of working with it.

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Thanks! Basalt volcanic rock but is harder than Obsidian due to the crystal structure. I'd still recommend using diamond tooling for it though. It'll just take longer to cut Basalt than Obsidian.

[@yoururmum]

Any average person has 😂😂😂I'm sorry how far in the past are you from dude how many people have a hecken metal Laith at home it's definitely not a common thing these days

[@WorldofRockhounds]

Well done!

[@michelemartinez4989]

Beautiful

[@hendriklubbe]

Amazing!

[@PeterHAdams]

WOW. Do I need to say more? I have wanted to do this with some of the local stones and a mini lathe, but was reluctant to try. I have a foredom and a microcarver but nowhere to work with a lathe. Thank you for the inspiration to push my technique.

[@michaeldesilvio221]

Extraordinary.

[@ktor538]

Very nice! 👍

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Thanks!

[@solvated_photon]

If I tried this without gloves I wouldn’t have hands 😂 obsidian is very sharp and can explode suddenly and violently. That looks like resin

[@JustIn-sr1xe]

Seeing you put your fingers so close to the running diamond cutoff wheel, made me clinch cheeks. I've seen people lose fingers to things like that.

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Not like this, you can literally touch the diamond blades I use. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pp67qWt4a6eHfc0

[@Zazuk68]

Seems like he could have started with a smaller piece or made a larger cup.

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Probably could have made it a little bigger but the original rock had some uneven depressions in it that made a lot of it worthless. It was just a rock to begin with so I'm not that torn up about wasting some

[@impoundedkota]

You are a crazy person, beautiful shot glass, but putting your fingers that close to the blade, that's wild stuff.

[@jakub.barzdo]

Not at all. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pp67qWt4a6eHfc0

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Thanks! It's not as dangerous as it looks, you can touch these diamond blades while they are running kzbin.info/www/bejne/pp67qWt4a6eHfc0

[@UsDiYoNa]

Stone turning. Wow.

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Yep, I broke a lot of stuff getting to this point hahaha

[@UsDiYoNa]

@@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts I bet. Great work 👍🏽

[@IgorKarasenko]

You are crazy - watter and electrical high voltage tools! By the way - result is great. But please in the future do more to your work safety.

[@dreamingcreek]

Nice job

[@williampermenter9413]

Wonderful . 🙂 .

[@mase7557]

Very nice sir

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Thanks!

[@rock4us2]

if your insurance company sees this, you can kiss goodbye to health cover

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

I'd just have to show them this informative safety video I made and then I'd be all good again kzbin.info/www/bejne/pp67qWt4a6eHfc0

[@mothereartha7]

Thanks so much for that, l thought l might never find anyone working hard stone on a lathe, l want to make large beads in nephrite jade, and various crystals other precious stones, without buying expensive machinery, lve seen some people giving away old lathes.

[@belledetector]

Try making a classic Staunton styled chess set in obsidian with a 5 inch King

[@aaronwitner2001]

Can you try to make a Cuzco cup for camping out of ston

[@johndobbie528]

And the pre-dynastic Egyptians didn't have power tools but able to equal this sort of cutting, makes you wonder.

[@tysmiff608]

RIGID just came out with a saw similar to the dewalt one i use the dewalt one like you have, but had a chance to use the rigid, and it really nice tbh lol

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

I've had this saw for about 7 years and it's still going strong, I'll have to check out the rigid one though

[@tysmiff608]

@@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts same the dewalt is a trooper for sure.

[@morganp7238]

impressive

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Thanks!

[@naturalstones4529]

This is awesome!!! We are also just starting out. We make stone craft videos too! I'm sure we will be able to bounce some ideas off of each other just by watching each other's videos. I'm looking forward to seeing more awesome videos from your channel! - Ben

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Thanks! I'd love to have more stoneworking buddies! I'll definitely be waiting for some cool stuff from you guys!

[@greatkingkay7954]

This is mediocre compared to lost ancient techniques.

[@MichiganRocks]

I loved this video. Is that a regular woodworking lathe? What do you do to prevent rust, just dry it off well after using it?

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Thanks! Yeah it is just a Harbor Freight wood lathe, I did some modifications to make it turn much slower down to a couple RPM though. I don't do anything for the rust, I bought it as a stone lathe so I just kind of accept that there will be rust. It hasn't affected anything I've wanted to do with it yet

[@MichiganRocks]

@@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts Thanks. I use a similar method to make beads that fit a Pandora bracelet. I drill the middle hole, then spin the bead to cut the outer shape and to polish it. I mostly use lapidary tools meant to get wet, but I do use my electric drill for part of the process too. I just dry it off and it's fine. A lathe is much bigger with more exposed metal though.

[@micahflips1928]

Does anyone have any ideas on how to Knapp the outside of the glass? This is something I wanted to do for a very long time

[@tande2236]

can you laser etch it ?

[@TheLightningStalker]

Do you remember what the second song was?

[@spasjt]

This is a recent interest of mine and I'm glad to have discovered your channel. Wish I could buy or make some of these items myself.

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Thanks! I'm working on the webpage to sell the finish products but there is a ton of time into them so they are going to be pretty expensive. If I were to sell this shot glass it would be multiple hundreds of dollars. I'm also working on a series that explains which tools to get to start working with stone, it's taken longer than I hoped though

[@spasjt]

​@@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts Few worthwhile things can be done quickly. Quality over quantity wins every time. Just take your time and make it good!

[@_nebulousthoughts]

Could you make a ring with this material?

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Not out of 100% obsidian, it's too fragile. I've made some rough rings before and it cracks when you make a fist.

[@kitchenbriks3685]

So this is how nether portals are made

[@mikegentry2612]

i have a guitar slide made of turquoise. unfortunately the O.d. has flat spots and uneven places ... If i load it on my lathe , what could you recommend to smooth and re polish it with?

[@felipepelissari9819]

Wonderful job!!! I'm impressed. But please, take care with your fingers. Use apropriate tools to hold the pieces. You go far with this skill!!

[@markfrumkin3230]

How about leaving the chuck key in the chuck as he walks away!

[@edwardv54]

If you melted the scraps would they still be obsidian?

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

It depends on how you cool it down. They would obviously become lava when molten but if you cooled the lava quickly then it would become obsidian again. Pretty much any rock becomes obsidian if you cool it in the right way from lava

[@leximatic]

What's the music?

[@RVM451]

How much would that shot glass. or set of shot glasses like that one cost?

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

I had several days of work into this shot glass so it would be pretty expensive, several hundred dollars for sure

[@anthonyfarenwald9931]

I started working with stone but have never thought to try using a lathe.. is this a special type of lathe? Do you have a suggestion for finding a suitable lathe for stone? Also is there a name for this kind of articulating hose you are using?

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

The lathe I'm using is a harbor freight wood lathe. You can use any size/type of lathe but the biggest thing you need to look for is the speed control, originally the slowest this one could go was 600 rpm, which is too fast. You want something that can slow down to 10-50 rpm range so you can let the diamond tool do the cutting. Just be aware that you will probably get rust everywhere unless you meticulously dry everything after using it. The hoses are called Any Way coolant hoses, I got them at McMaster and was able to adapt them to my water supply pretty easily. Good Luck!

[@anthonyfarenwald9931]

Thank you for the thorough info. I appreciate it!@@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts

[@MagnetOnlyMotors]

2:20 hope that motor is very well grounded? Nice work, though. Sure is a lot of sacrificial obsidian.

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

The lathe motor is actually off and just free spinning. If you can catch a glimpse at the headstock end I have a drill mounted to the spindle. It has better speed control than the lathe

[@MagnetOnlyMotors]

@@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts I did see that, but didn’t think that was driving your lathe. Interesting working with stone. I use mild steel and aluminum. Thanks.

[@analien4182]

diamond blade he's using how would you explain to me how he cut obsidian then

[@VeteranVandal]

I wasn't even aware this was remotely possible.

[@baird5682]

I'm wondering. Would it be possible to be made without electrical tools? Let's say using pre-industrial technology?

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Sure, lathes were around before electricity. For the shaping of the stone, Obsidian is actually pretty soft so you could use a harder stone grit to shape it. It would just take about 40 times longer to make

[@nerddub]

Very nice, but seems a little wasteful unfortunately :(

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Thanks! Don't be too sad, it was only a rock to begin with haha

[@MrTAGARON]

And how did such things happen in ancient times?Or is there still a reverse portal (or will there be

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Time, lots and lots of time

[@kayleecutter8020]

Doesn’t it just melt like glass ?

[@sturjmane1325]

How much would you charge for one of these?

[@dylancarter8378]

i am interested in using obsidian in an upcoming pipe project, would you say in your experience that this material is an easy one to jump into or nah? Thank you.

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

It's actually pretty soft and cuts fast so yeah it wouldn't be a bad one to start with

[@danceswithaardvarks3284]

Are you working from the rear of the lathe so that the workpiece is rotating away from the angle grinder?

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Yeah, and it's a little easier to film from that side too

[@АнатолийКузнечный]

Из бревна зделал спичку !

[@HistoryofAztlan]

Very beautiful piece. Would you consider trying to make a reproduction of the obsidian monkey vase found in Texcoco, Mexico?

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Wow, that thing is cool! I really want to work with Obsidian again, but was thinking of more ways to show off how translucent it is

[@jhonviel7381]

4 pounds of waste. geezeus!

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Don't think of it as waste, it was just a rock before. Now it's a shot glass plus a bunch of small rocks, definitely an upgrade

[@sedefarslansoy2378]

Çok güzel

[@chrisclunan5097]

What kind of lathe do you use?

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

It's just a harbor freight lathe, but I adapted it to go slower. The slowest speed stock was like 600 rpm which was passable but uncomfortably fast.

[@chrisclunan5097]

thank you! love your content @@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts

[@chrisclunan5097]

@@Bison_Hill_Stonecraftsok thanks. So when working with stone you want the speed to be a lot lower compared to woodturning? And also, what are the tools you used, especially the chuck? Do you think it’s possible to use chisels and gouges as opposed to the saw when turning the stone? With a harder stone like obsidian I see why the saw might be necessary but wondering if using standard turning tools on softer stone like marble would work. Ok this is my last question 😂 did you customize the lathe to have the water attachment for keeping the stone cool

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

@@chrisclunan5097 Yes, speeds much slower than woodworking, the lathe just keeps the piece round. The tool does all the work to remove the stone. The chuck is a Nova chuck. There are videos of people turning Alabaster or Soapstone with wood tools but I can confirm that you cannot turn marble with wood lathe tools, even carbide. And yes I hooked up the water feed so I can have continuous cooling, I initially bought a Jet lathe but decided I didn't want to trash it so I got the harbor freight one just for stone.

[@chrisclunan5097]

@@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts ok, thank you. So basically the only option is diamond tools when turning any stone that is remotely hard? How did you hook up the water system to the lathe?

[@shigaraja]

you must have balls of steel to turn obsidian. i have good notes of its ability to fragment and splinter even under simple strait cuts. i would not want any bit of that flying off at those speeds.

[@rcredmon]

Don't leave the chuck key in the lathe! Awesome work... But that is lathe 101.

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Thanks, not sure when you are referring to though?

[@atmoreguitt5902]

So, the Egyptians could do that then ?

[@faloo0]

Ancient bowl Egypt

[@chris_sirhc01]

Water with handheld electric grinder-Ive seen enough

[@heartsparkdollar]

How long did that take you?

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

I got this one done in a couple days, the shot glasses go quicker than the larger cups just cause there is less material to remove.

[@heartsparkdollar]

@@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts Thank you

[@JAKASHA420]

I have around 140 pounds of Obsidian but no pieces that big.

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

Yeah I had to get this one off Ebay and she shipped it to me from Oregon I think, I've found some smaller stuff in my travels but it's all golf ball sized or so

[@TILEROB]

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SELL IT 🤔

[@Sugar_K]

shot glass for half a bottle at a time 🤑

[@macknickelson4866]

Glad it didn't fracture... Since broken obsidian is one of the sharpest edges known to science... Ouch.

[@bosatsu76]

Excuse the mercenary in me... But after two days on this, how much did you sell it for..

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

I didn't sell it, it's in the shot glass collection and we take shots out of it every once in a while. I hadn't really thought how much I'd sell it for

[@sanguinetales]

idk why but I feel like seeing such a large piece of obsidian become a small cup feels like a waste of materials.

[@nullfield6514]

If you made more shot glasses(cups, coffee, beer, small drinks) I'd buy, not interested in anything else you're selling. comment I saw, goblets would be cool

[@Bison_Hill_Stonecrafts]

I'm working on the storefront for these artistic projects but they are going to be pretty expensive. I had a couple days of work into this shot glass so it would cost multiple hundreds of dollars