Raw unfinished Jeep Chevy GMC Fordite Pieces for Cabbing, Ring blanks Inlay, Pendants, Wire Wrapping Jewelry, Resin Art, Mosaics, Nail Art, and Arts & Crafts.
Specimens
ready to cut and polish!
For
use in jewelry, ring making, handles, beads, ring blanks, cabbing, pendants,
silver/gold plating, wire wrapping, resin, tumbler crafts, mosaics,
nail art, arts & crafts, epoxy tumblers, gun scales, knife scales, DIY and
other lapidary needs!
Make
your own custom jewelry with these slabs, cut into sections for multiple pieces
or sand in spots to change color and patterns. Let your creativity take
over.
Material: Cured car paint.
Made in USA at Jeep, Chevy, GMC plants.
Fordite, also called Motor Agate or Detroit Agate, is an
entirely man-made jewel created by scraping layers of the enamel paint slag
that had been dripped into pools onto the metal tracks during painting process
of the car bodies and baked solid. Due to modern painting methods, paint is
applied electrostatically, via robots, so Motor Agate is no longer being formed
at the factories. These items are becoming rare as supplies run out.
Pieces are not polished to finish, but lightly sanded and
cleaned to show details. You will cut, sand and polish to your final
requirements. Finished product is not guaranteed. (Out of our control)
Due to the nature of the item, we cannot take returns.
Please look at photos for details. and read descriptions fully. Message me for
more info if needed.
We are also craftsmen, so we also use the product in various
forms, and we are happy with the quality and results. We make available the
smaller quantities, so you do not have to purchase more than you need. We just
like others to join us in the excitement of making awesome products from these
offerings.
Extract of an article from Fordite.com
FROM PAINT TO PRECIOUS GEM
Fordite, also known as Motor
Agate, is a unique automotive enamel material with an interesting history. The
original layered automotive paint slag “rough” was made incidentally, years
ago, by the now extinct practice of hand spray-painting multiples of production
cars in big automotive factories.
The oversprayed paint in the
painting bays gradually built up on the tracks and skids that the car frames
were painted on. Over time, many colorful layers built up there. These layers
were hardened repeatedly in the ovens that the car bodies went into to cure the
paint. Some of these deeper layers were even baked 100 times.
Eventually, the paint build-up
would become obstructing, or too thick and heavy, and had to be
removed. As the story goes, some crafty workers with an eye for beauty
realized that this unique byproduct was worth salvaging. It was super-cured,
patterned like psychedelic agate, and could be cut and polished with relative
ease!
Wow! “RECYCLE IT!” seemed to be
the resounding sentiment. And so, it was…
As word got around about this
remarkable material, it’s been said that rock hounds started showing up at auto
factories, offering to help remove that problematic paint!
Sadly, the techniques that
produced this great rough years ago are no longer in practice. Cars are now
painted by way of an electrostatic process that essentially magnetizes the
enamels to the car bodies. This leaves little, or no overspray. The old factory methods that created this incredible
material are long gone.
The Fordite “mines” are dry, so
get some while you still can!