It should be pointed out that you can cab on a faceting machine, but you cannot facet on a cabbing machine. Bear this in mind if you are a beginning lapidary and budgeting your equipment costs. You can shape your cabs with the same coarse laps you use for faceting. To polish, replace the sand paper with an Ultra Lap, a piece of leather, or other polishing pad charges with your favorite compound. In this section we will describe how to cut an oval cabochon.
Most cutting begins with a slab.
Yes, that means you will need a saw. Begin by placing a template over the slab. If your material is a solid color, you are just looking for the largest piece you can cut. If it has a pattern, then you are looking for the shape and size with the most eye appeal. This is a bit of a guessing game, as the pattern will change as you round the top.