Lapidary Tools | CRATEX Abrasives

Silicon carbide is used in modern lapidary due to its quality and durability. In case you are looking for silicon carbide abrasives of highest purity, CRATEX Manufacturing Co. offers premium quality lapidary supplies in San Diego with nation-wide shipping!

The bond used in CRATEX abrasives is made of premium grade oil-resistant chemical rubber and two bonds are available: standard and hard bond. Standard bond has a unique cushioned action, it cuts smoothly without digging into the workpiece, so these abrasives are perfect polishing, pre-polishing or sanding tools for gemstones and other materials such as glass. Hard bond is not available in kits and is perfect for light grinding.

Both bonds come in all shapes and sizes and four standard grit textures: coarse (C), medium (M), fine (F), extra fine (XF). Having the abrasives in different grits can make your job a whole lot easier, as you would work with progressively finer grades until you reach the desired polish or pre-polish. You can charge your tools with different grits to use them for different cutting, pre-polishing and polishing action.

NOTE: Standard products can be modified to meet special requirements or needs. For example, by using lower operating speeds and using a lighter pressure the action of the tools can be softened, standard shapes can be dressed and shaped into special contours, etc.

 

CRATEX tools used by lapidarists most often are listed below.

 1.  CRATEX Large Wheels

Large lapidary wheels are used for wet sanding of gem stones, smoothing glass edges and different kinds of smoothing and polishing operations on lapidary machines. Their size of the straight wheels ranges from 1"-1/2" to 6" in diameter and thickness from 1/8" to 1".

 2.  CRATEX Small Wheels

Small lapidary wheels come with straight and tapered edges and are perfect for fine work on small delicate parts such as gemstones. They are easily mounted on lapidary hand tools, such as Dremel or CRATEX Rotary Hand Piece, or flex shafts and are used for pre-polishing, polishing away scratches, smoothing, cleaning out and finishing decorative designs. They are excellent tools to prepare the gem surface for carving.

The diameter of the wheels ranges from 3/8" to 1" and thickness 3/32" to 1/4".

 3.  CRATEX Points & Cones

Lapidary abrasive points are made in cylinder, bullet and tapered shapes and are perfect for smoothing and polishing hard to reach surfaces, such as drilled holes in gemstones and edges.

 

Abrasive cones are easily shaped by using a dressing tools to match the requirements of your work, and, like points, are usually used for hard-to-reach areas of your workpiece.

4.  CRATEX Dressing Sticks

Square and oblong sticks are excellent hand tools used for shaping CRATEX rubberized abrasive bits and for dressing lapidary diamond wheels and CRATEX lapidary wheels.

 

 5.  CRATEX Kits

In case you are looking to give any of our products a try, check out one of our Mini Kit selection. There are four types of test kits: small wheel, stick, block and points. The shipping and handling are included in the amazing price of $36.58, so how could you say no to this deal?

CRATEX also offers various types of introductory and combo kits, so check out the full offer here.

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