Cutting a Moroccan Geode with a Tile Saw

Moroccan Geodes seem to be the easiest geodes to buy, at least near me. Most rock shops carry them, but don’t seem to have even more local geodes like Keokuk. This week, I went to Touchstone Beads, one of my favorite shops in Springfield. I selected a medium and large Moroccan geode with a plan in mind, to cut the geodes with a tile saw.

This week at my day job, I am laying brick, which mean I have access to a wet saw! Unlike a soil pipe cutter, a saw will give an excellent clean cut on a geode. Well, if you do it right, apparently.

Cutting these geodes was a learning process for me, I’ve only ever used a hammer or had someone crack geodes for me at a show. A tile saw is unique in that the saw is stationary and the table beneath it slides along a track. Under this whole setup is a tray for water and a pump. The pump pumps water down the saw blade to catch dust and deposits it into the back tray. This is pretty ingenious especially when it comes to cutting rocks that can produce interesting dust and chips that could be dangerous.

It’s still very important to keep safety in mind, especially working with power tools! Read about my top safety recommendations here!

Round One – How Not to Cut a Geode

For my first go at cutting a geode, I selected the smaller of my two geodes. I was still hesitant about the saw, how does it not electrocute me? How do I grip a round object and not loose all of my fingers?

Needless to say, all fingers are intact. For this geode, I had the bright idea to rotate the geode. I think this would have been a fine strategy for a thin walled geode such as a trancas, but this Moroccan Geode had grown quite a lot and hade over an inch of solid crystal inside in some places.

I locked the table in place, using it to stabilize my forearms while I held the geode and rotated it against the saw. When it finally cut all the way through, I revealed an awesome geode! It’s honestly still beautiful, but you can see lines along the large parts of crystal from where I rotated the geode unevenly.

Round Two – Will This Thing Even Fit?

My next geode was a fair bit larger. This tile saw has a ten inch blade, which is fine for brick, but how would it handle this huge rock! Pretty well, is the answer apparently. There was under a half inch of clearance between the table and the underside of the saw housing.

This time, I unlocked the table meaning that it could slide all the way under the saw. This was horrifying, because, well, hands. I braced my arms on the table and gripped my geode. Slowly, I began progressing the rock into the saw.

All was well, and the rock cut easily. The water pump kept everything dust free, which was great because I can never seem to find my respirator when I need it. Borrowing respirators is not a thing I love. I shut off the saw and took a peek at my new geodes!

Cleaning My Moroccan Geodes

This was my largest failing in this whole process. Once cut open, both geodes contained amazing white quartz. I grabbed a hose to rinse off the outsides as they were covered in a fair amount of dirt. Unfortunately in this process I sprayed all sorts of new dirt into the insides of my geodes!

Needless to say, my geodes are staying a little dirty until I decide to take some time to clean them properly. Whoops.

Author: Celeste

Rocks!