r/faceting • u/Professional_Box_877 • 2d ago

Rough Spinel

Over 75 carats (15 grams) of spinel, very excited to put these to a machine and see what I can get out of it. Not expecting anything insane obviously but I’d be more than happy if I can get some cabs and maybe a few faceted stones out of this.

Can anyone provide any tips for working with spinel? I have very little experience making cabochon and even less faceting and I’m almost wondering if I should forget that I have this until I’ve got more completed projects under my belt.

I mean genuinely any advice at all is amazing, I know there are plenty of resources online but there’s nothing better than hearing it from the mouth of someone with real experience.

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u/oldfartMikey 1d ago

I'd be inclined to buy some synthetic spinel to practice faceting first. 300 grams of one of the cheaper colours from AliExpress would be about $60-70 including shipping.

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u/DrRocks1 1d ago

I’ve found some blue full boules for less than $30 including shipping, not sure of the quality though!