Hand cabbing basics: taking rough to a finished cabochon

Cabbing starts with a trim saw to cut a slab from your rough material, then marking or templating the outline you want to cut. Shaping happens on a coarse grinding wheel, commonly 80 or 100 grit, to rough out the dome and outline, followed by progressively finer grits, often 220, then 280, then a fine grit around 600, each stage removing the scratches left by the one before it. After grinding, a pre polish step, often around 1200 grit, smooths things further before the actual polish. Final polishing happens on a felt or leather buff loaded with a polishing compound matched to the material, cerium oxide is the standard choice for quartz family stones like agate and jasper, while tougher material like jade often responds better to a diamond polishing compound. Keep the stone wet through every grinding step, this controls heat buildup that can crack a stone, and keeps silica dust out of the air.