Rough & slabs: where to buy
Rough is uncut stone sold for cutting and polishing: chunks, nodules and sawn slabs of agate, jasper, turquoise, opal, petrified wood and many others. Lapidaries buy it to shape cabochons, the smooth, domed stones used in jewelry, to facet clear gems, or simply to tumble. Slabs are rough already sawn into flat sheets, which saves you a big saw.
What to look for depends on what you plan to make. For cabochons, check slabs for cracks, fractures and soft spots that can break the stone on the wheel; for faceting you need clean, transparent pieces. Ask where the material comes from and whether it has been dyed, stabilized or otherwise treated.
Buying rough from the area where you collect is also a good way to learn what the local material looks like before you go looking for it yourself.
9 shops across the US that sell rough & slabs. Each one links to its own website, so you can compare them one by one.
Copper Canyon Lapidary & Jewelry
Dealer · Online or by order · Sedona, Arizona
Sedona lapidary: cutting, slabbing and stone sculpting
Lapidary supplier in Sedona selling faceting and cabbing rough, slabs, cabochons, turquoise rough, fossils and lapidary equipment, with cabbing, slabbing and polishing services.
Also sells: Lapidary equipment · Fossils
Havasu Rocks
Dealer · Storefront · Lake Havasu City, Arizona
Shop of the Lake Havasu Gem & Mineral Society, run by volunteers
Rock shop and lapidary workshop of the Lake Havasu Gem & Mineral Society, open to the public: rocks, slabs, crystals, fossils and London Bridge granite, with a club workshop, classes and field trips for members.
Also sells: Mineral specimens · Fossils · Classes & training
Jim Gray's Petrified Wood Co.
Dealer · Storefront · Holbrook, Arizona
Digs, cuts and polishes its own petrified wood near Holbrook
Large rock shop in Holbrook, close to Petrified Forest National Park, specializing in Arizona rainbow petrified wood: rough by the pound, rounds, tabletops and bookends, plus petrified wood from around the world, fossils, meteorites, minerals, rough and carvings. A free museum, and windows onto the workshop where the wood is cut and polished.
Also sells: Mineral specimens · Fossils · Meteorites · Petrified wood
Miners Rock Shop
Dealer · Storefront · Tempe, Arizona
Family shop with a lapidary lab, UV room and jewelry classes
Family rock shop in Tempe with a UV room of fluorescent minerals, geodes, fossils, lapidary rough, and lapidary supplies and equipment including faceting machines. The family works five mining claims in Arizona, and the shop runs a Facet Club with gem faceting classes.
Also sells: Mineral specimens · Lapidary equipment · Fossils · Classes & training
Natural Expressions
Dealer · Storefront · Gilbert, Arizona · Ships nationwide
Crushed stone for chip inlay, over 200 kinds; custom stone cutting
Rock shop in Gilbert selling rough, slabs, cabochons, crushed stone for inlay and minerals. You can pick your own geodes and have them cut on site for a fee.
Also sells: Mineral specimens
Raining Rocks
Dealer · Storefront · Tucson, Arizona · Ships nationwide
Meteorite shop of geologist Suzanne Morrison; ships worldwide
Rock shop run by geologist Suzanne Morrison and Ilana Brin at the historic Kino Rocks & Minerals site on the south side of Tucson, a rock shop since 1958. Meteorites and impactites, minerals, fossils, petrified wood, lapidary rough and slabs, faceted stones, cabochons and books; the shop also buys collections and lapidary equipment.
Also sells: Mineral specimens · Fossils · Meteorites · Petrified wood
T-Rocks in Quartzsite
Dealer · Storefront · Quartzsite, Arizona
Big Quartzsite rock yard: rough, slabs, geodes and knapping stone
Large outdoor rock yard on Main Street in Quartzsite. Stock includes mineral specimens such as calcite and fluorescent and rare-earth minerals, geodes you can crack yourself, rough for lapidary, carving and knapping, agate and jasper slabs, petrified wood, fossils, meteorites and tektites, tumbled stones, beads and books, plus landscaping stone.
Also sells: Mineral specimens · Fossils · Meteorites · Petrified wood
The Rock Yard (Tucson)
Dealer · Storefront · Tucson, Arizona
Over 100 tons of rough; open in gem show season and for open house
Tucson warehouse of Barlow's Gems, the cabochon business of Bruce and Debbie Barlow, open during the Tucson gem shows and on a few open-house weekends a year. More than 100 tons of rough in barrels, slabs, petrified wood, thundereggs, agates and jaspers, designer cabochons, minerals and carvings.
Also sells: Mineral specimens · Petrified wood
Other gear
Metal detectors · Gold pans & classifiers · Sluice boxes · Highbankers & power sluices · Dredges & parts · Drywashers · Sniping & crevice tools · Rocker boxes · Trommels · Picks, shovels & hand tools · Fine gold recovery · Assay & refining supplies · Paydirt · Mineral specimens · Lapidary equipment · Fossils · Meteorites · Petrified wood · Classes & training
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