For lapidaries & stone carvers

The rock was free. The blades were not.

Half your rough came off a rockhounding trip — cost basis: zero, plus a tank of gas. The real money in lapidary is what the saw and wheels eat: blades, belts, and hours. MadeKeeper tracks rough by the pound at what it truly cost you, and puts the consumables where they belong — in the price of every cab.

The app is live. Free during the pilot. Founding rate $19/mo, locked for life.

No card to start. Use it free through the pilot, and lock the $19/mo founding rate for as long as you stay.

How MadeKeeper maps to your rock room

Rough by the pound, honest basisBought rough logs at its price; self-collected logs at zero. Both are true — and the difference shows up as real margin on the finished cabs.
Slabs as the middle stageRough becomes slabs becomes cabs. Track the stages so the bucket of jasper slabs on the bench counts as the work in progress it is.
Blades and wheels as consumablesThe trim saw blade and the cabbing wheels wear down with every stone. Log wear per cab and your "free rock" pieces stop looking like pure profit.
Shows and the tumbler binGem-show tables, Etsy cab sales, and the $5 tumble bin each run their own channel. The event math tells you which shows are worth hauling flats of rock to.

One cab, to the penny

Say you cut a cab from self-collected jasper:

  • Rough (rockhounded)$0.00
  • Blade and wheel wear$1.60
  • Dop wax and finishing$0.15
True cost of the cab$1.75

Sell it at $28 and you kept $26.25 — but the mileage to the collecting site logs as the deductible trip it was, so "free" rock gets counted like a business expense, not a hobby afternoon.

MadeKeeper keeps notes on where rough came from alongside your purchase records — handy paperwork when collecting rules differ by land and site; knowing the rules for each spot stays your department.

Straight about what's live

Materials and true cost per piece, products (in bulk or one-of-a-kind), sales that drain stock, the was-this-fair-worth-it event math, mileage, expenses, and the year-end tax packet — all in the app today. Etsy and Square sync, your own storefront, a booth card reader, and shipping labels are building, shaped with founding makers. Nothing above describes a feature that doesn't exist without saying so. See the full live-vs-building list →

Questions lapidaries and stone carvers ask

How do I cost self-collected rough?

Log it at zero cost basis and log the trip's mileage as the expense it was. Your cabs show honest margin, and the collecting trips show up in your year-end numbers instead of vanishing.

Can I track rough through slabbing to cabs?

Yes — rough, slab, and finished cab are stages. A pound of rough that becomes six slabs and eleven cabs keeps its cost trail the whole way down.

What about saw blades and wheel wear?

Log blades and wheels as consumables with a per-piece wear share. It's small money per cab and real money per year — exactly the kind of cost the shoebox never catches.

Ready to see your real numbers?

The app is live and free during the pilot. Lock the $19/mo founding rate for as long as you stay.

More from kiln, glass, stone & jewelry