Saskrock
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2007
Posts: 1,852
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Post by Saskrock on Feb 18, 2010 21:27:28 GMT -5
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Post by frane on Feb 19, 2010 10:13:40 GMT -5
Hmmm, Well, if it works on glass and cures hard and clear, it should work on rocks, especially obsidian. I wonder how it holds up with heat though. If you put it on the stone before grinding or polishing, I wonder if it would discolor. Fran
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pebblepup
has rocks in the head
Succor Creek Thunder Egg
Member since July 2008
Posts: 515
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Post by pebblepup on Feb 19, 2010 11:09:50 GMT -5
I have been thinking about this one myself; every time I go by a sign advertising windshield repair. If you try this please share the results.
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Post by Toad on Feb 19, 2010 14:54:51 GMT -5
I usually fix my fractures with a hammer.
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Feb 19, 2010 20:53:37 GMT -5
I think it would be hard to use. How are you going to create a vacuum seal on a rock?
Chuck
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rockhound97058
freely admits to licking rocks
Thundereggs - Oregons Official State Rock!
Member since January 2006
Posts: 760
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Post by rockhound97058 on Feb 19, 2010 22:59:20 GMT -5
Any small crack I have on my stones I use red label Hot Stuff. Works great. Larger holes once in a blue moon I use 5 minute epoxy of epoxy 330, but over time this tends to yellow. Now the part about a vacuum seal. A relative of mine who made spheres on a commercial basis has a good sized Vacuum table and coated his stones with glue and sucked it down. Worked Excellent. This is out of line for this subject - But a few years ago I dealt with a guy who was determined to stabilize precious opal from my mine here in Oregon. He worked at the Hanford Nuclear Plant and used their large Vacuum chamber. He actually sucked down a piece of my opal and extracted about 1/3 the weight of the stone from moisture, but could not perfect how to replace the lost fluid with a resin base to keep the opal from cracking. It was a interesting process and he worked hard at it. But we never could master the art It's too bad, I had one company appraise one opal at $1500 per carat if guaranteed stable. But after letting it sit for a half hour the craze lines started showing!
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Post by bobby1 on Feb 20, 2010 10:34:51 GMT -5
One of the problems with putting a stone coated with epoxy or any other fracture sealing material under a vacuum is that as you get a higher level of vacuum the epoxy starts boiling and volatizing (especially if the rock has been heated before the process). If any of the epoxy has entered a fracture and then it starts to volatize it creates a bubble in the fracture so the process actually reverts back to the original problem. I sometimes put a piece under vacuum to remove any water or oil residue before treating it with fracture sealer, though. I have thought about a device where the epoxy coated piece could be put under a high pressure to force it into deep fractures. This is probably how turquoise is stabilized. Bob
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Saskrock
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2007
Posts: 1,852
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Post by Saskrock on Mar 11, 2010 1:36:25 GMT -5
I tried it out today. It really soaks in which sounds good but it uv hardens so I'm not sure if it will harden in deep. It did work to make a fracture look much better but it took a lot so it would be really expensive to do regularly. You will have to take my word for results as I forgot a before pic, and it uses too much resin to try again. Might be good if you had 1 piece you really wanted to fix.
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Post by stonesthatrock on Mar 11, 2010 10:29:01 GMT -5
well darn then i can't use it on all my st. john's material? ? lol
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