So… I have a tight budget.
And I’m probably not the only one in the world!
But I really want to get into lapidary – stone carving and polishing – yet the vast majority of the equipment I’ve seen is either expensive, in the US, or both.
No can do. My budget is perhaps £100.
I got to wondering, what can I do with a ton? Expecting the answer to be “not much”.
You can just about get a new rock tumbler and a starter pack of grit and stones with that.
(I’ll admit I got a secondhand one for my birthday, but this blog isn’t about that, although it might get a mention every so often.)
I looked into home built systems on YouTube but so many of them were in the States and, although the ideas were great, I realised I was going to struggle to stick to my budget.
But while I was there, I stumbled across something unexpected.
People carve and polish stones with Dremel rotary tools.
WHAT??? What the actual HELL??? SERIOUSLY???
Oh yes.
Now, Dremels aren’t particularly cheap in the UK, but I did a bit more digging. And according to my research as long as I found one with something called a flex shaft, I should be able to have a go.
A flex shaft is a specific extension that you plug into a power tool, to give you a flexible length to affix your drill bits / grinding tools to.
I have small hands, so I knew I wasn’t going to be able to handle a rotary tool without one – because you can’t hold a rock with one hand to shape it when you need two hands for the power tool itself.
The first example of someone in the UK using a flex shaft, he had it attached to a Parkside bench grinder. Parkside is a made-up brand that Lidl uses for its tools.
But I couldn’t find any on ebay that met the budget I had for the tool. Considering I knew I’d want to buy rocks, and grinding bits, and polish, I could only allot half of my budget to the tool itself.
I checked Lidl’s website, but the DIY and Tools section didn’t mention the bench grinder, or a rotary tool similar to a Dremel, as being currently available.
Not were they upcoming in their future offers when I looked.
What’s a girl to do?
Head off to my nearest decent-sized store to look for something in person, that’s what.
But will I be lucky enough to find one? Tune in next time to find out!