Jewelry effect without sanding!
The crushed stone from Harding & Liggett is cleaned, polished, sorted, and crushed in two laboratory stone crushers* in Monument. Billie Harding and Dennis Liggett separate their turquoise by the mine of origin. The particles are sifted and combined to form a very clean matrix when used in either epoxy or CA glue. Crushed stone is customarily sold by the ounce.
Only someone who has done stone inlay knows how difficult it is to sand the inlay level with the surrounding wood. Billie began researching diamond-pad sanding several years ago, and found that this is the only known way to get a uniform surface on a curved form.
In addition to inlay work, Dennis has made hundreds of Christmas tree ornaments with crushed stone decoration. This project requires no sanding whatsoever. An ounce of crushed stone will usually suffice for about 10-15 ornaments 3″ tall.
More photos of the stone inlay work made by Dennis are found in the Hollow Forms category section of this website.
Call Dennis if you have been unhappy with other crushed stone, or if you need assistance mastering the technique. 719-481-8754
Current available inventory includes:
Kingman or Sleeping Beauty turquoise $15/oz
Elko 8 or Nacozari turquoise $12/oz
Malachite $10/oz
Lapis $15/oz
Red or Black pipestone $10/oz
Note: Demonstration notes for making the Christmas Trees are found on the “Projects” tab of this site
*Here are the two hundred-year-old crushing machines. When Dennis wore out a part on the Bico pulverizer, he found that the Bico company was still operating in Burbank, CA.
The big wheel on the crusher is about 16" dia
Bico pulverizer