Some of the rough gemstone material photos I posted the other day:
I have quite the amount of rough material, just no way to work it. Tried using a dremel, but it just takes too long to do anything, the saw blades are too small, and the blades and bits clog up with dust due to not having the water flowing on them. I made the mistake of ordering rough from an overpriced, under-quality source before. I learned that I should stick with my normal supplier. I get my good stuff from Jim's Gemology in Ohio (that huge chunk of smoky quartz and the amethyst spikes are examples of the stuff I get from Jim). One of these days I'd like to take a trip to Herkimer, NY and rockhound some Herkimer diamonds. If you aren't familiar with them, they're nice ultra clear pieces of quartz that people liken to diamond.