tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
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Post by tkvancil on Dec 31, 2013 10:23:05 GMT -5
I decided that I'd like to do an all Illinois tumble. This is the first polish batch of "Illinois only". There will be at least two more, with the next being all one kind of chert. I'll attempt a general ID here but if I'm off anyone in the know should feel free to correct. I call these river pebbles. Pretty common along water ways and usually well rounded already. Agate / Quartz opaque white to translucent yellow, shades of red and sometimes a blue grey are most common colors. Chert is pretty common and varied. Some is glacial till and some was formed here. These show the range of color and pattern that can be found. Crinoidial Chert. I feel lucky as the crinoid fossils and the chert seem to be of equal hardness. Rarely does this stuff undercut. I don't know what most of this is but find them interesting for one reason or another. The yellow and red one second row down center have a chatoyant quality. I find quite a few red rocks, perhaps because it's an eye catching color. The purple I believe to be Quartzite. Agates are indeed rare finds. Couple of these may just be "agate like". This is the rest of the batch not otherwise shown. These are my favorites out of the batch. Also a chance to test my new camera's macro focus. Thanks for looking. Have a Rockin' New Year !!!
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,165
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Post by jamesp on Dec 31, 2013 10:33:38 GMT -5
Great river rocks. Nothing like nature to give them a boost in the rounding dept. The purple quartzite and the crinoids. But they are all real fine. Photo 4 has typical colors from a creek around Atlanta Ga.
Those are great looking tumbled rocks.
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droseraguy
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Member since April 2012
Posts: 426
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Post by droseraguy on Dec 31, 2013 10:40:54 GMT -5
Looks like you've got it pretty we'll covered. The chert is really interesting. Makes me want to fire up the tumbler myself.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Dec 31, 2013 10:48:53 GMT -5
That first picture of the yellow and clear quartz does it for me. The whole batch is great though.
Chuck
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Post by Jugglerguy on Dec 31, 2013 10:54:03 GMT -5
That's a nice batch of rocks. They look a lot like what I find in Michigan. When I tumble plain quartz like in your first picture it's always sort of boring because of the lack of markings, but yours look really good. That might be my favorite pile. It might be because they're so free of fractures and so nicely polished. I think the crinoidal chert is interesting too. I have tons of crinoids around here, but they're all really soft limestone.
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Dec 31, 2013 13:02:14 GMT -5
Those are very nice. And your first tumble? Fantastic. I look forward to seeing more from you. Thanks for sharing.
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,341
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Post by quartz on Dec 31, 2013 14:22:42 GMT -5
Our compliments, you did a good job on a collection with great variety.
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
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Post by tkvancil on Dec 31, 2013 16:41:28 GMT -5
That's a nice batch of rocks. They look a lot like what I find in Michigan. When I tumble plain quartz like in your first picture it's always sort of boring because of the lack of markings, but yours look really good. That might be my favorite pile. It might be because they're so free of fractures and so nicely polished. I think the crinoidal chert is interesting too. I have tons of crinoids around here, but they're all really soft limestone. Thanks for the compliment.Honestly I think that they're boring for the same reason you mentioned. Wanted to include them here as a sample of what can be found here. I almost always pick them up when I see them because they make great filler. Lot of them get ground to nothing.
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
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Post by tkvancil on Dec 31, 2013 16:43:55 GMT -5
Those are very nice. And your first tumble? Fantastic. I look forward to seeing more from you. Thanks for sharing. No.....not my first ever, just first out of Illinois only. By the way the post was originally worded I see how one might have gotten that idea though. Changed and thank you.
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Post by Peruano on Dec 31, 2013 18:26:28 GMT -5
Nice shine, and diversity. I was just in Illinois for 10 days and did some stream bed searching, . . but alas brought home very few stones because of an already heavy suitcase. Some of these stones could be sliced once or twice and turned into subtle jewelry, (not precious gems, but beautiful stones). Congrats. Tom
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carloscinco
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2008
Posts: 1,639
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Post by carloscinco on Dec 31, 2013 18:41:22 GMT -5
Great batch, I like the breakdown in types. Makes it even more interesting.
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herchenx
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Member since January 2012
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Post by herchenx on Dec 31, 2013 19:09:02 GMT -5
That first group looks great, but so does the whole batch, and nice job on lighting the photos.
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Tom
fully equipped rock polisher
My dad Tom suddenly passed away yesterday, Just wanted his "rock" family to know.
Member since January 2013
Posts: 1,557
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Post by Tom on Jan 1, 2014 0:55:16 GMT -5
Really nice batch of local stones, wish we had better stuff here:(
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Post by nowyo on Jan 1, 2014 1:17:30 GMT -5
Those are all really nice. I think it's cool that they are all local self collected stones.
Russ
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Post by pghram on Jan 1, 2014 19:50:23 GMT -5
That's a great batch, nice variety. I really like the first pile too.
Rich
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Fossilman
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Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,685
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Post by Fossilman on Jan 2, 2014 0:34:47 GMT -5
Great job,like the shine....
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SirRoxalot
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 790
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Post by SirRoxalot on Jan 4, 2014 3:27:47 GMT -5
Very nice!
I especially like the first batch of clean white quartzes.
What's your procedure? Any secret to getting that killer shine?
Well done!
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timloco
has rocks in the head
Member since April 2012
Posts: 545
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Post by timloco on Jan 4, 2014 14:33:48 GMT -5
nice mix of rocks, love the colors.
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
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Post by tkvancil on Jan 8, 2014 11:11:59 GMT -5
Very nice! I especially like the first batch of clean white quartzes. What's your procedure? Any secret to getting that killer shine? Well done! Thanks. I pretty much stick to the basics for rotary tumbling. Use a Lortone QT66 for rough and 2 33B's for all other steps. 60/90 runs until I like the shape of the rocks. If they aren't what you want coming out of coarse grind they won't be what you want out of polish. I have some in 60/90 now that started September 1st. Rarely ever take one out for the next step in less than 3 weeks. Clean out and add fresh water and grit weekly. For step 2 I use graded 240 grit. This runs for 10 days. I run a 2/3 to 3/4 full barrel here with no cushioning. For step 3 I use graded 600 grit. Also a 10 day run. I use ceramic pellets to bring volume back up to 2/3 here. If I have some rock ready for 600 here I may use that for fill. Next an extended wash cycle. 24 hours with 1/2 tbs. ivory soap shavings and 2 tbs. borax. Rinse well and run another 24 hours with 3 tbs. borax. If they don't rinse out clean here I'll go another 24 hours in the borax. Polish runs for 14 days. I use the Rockshed's AO polish. Here I use ceramic again to make up for volume loss. I do a 24 hour burnish with ivory soap shavings at the end.
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Post by tandl on Jan 9, 2014 11:41:40 GMT -5
Nice to see these . great post . i find the river pebbles , which i find alot of and not only in the rivers but pretty much everywhere ,are mostly feldspar`s from glacially broken down and smoothed feldspathic rocks/granite,gneiss and the like. Some are quartz though and there is mixed quartz feldspar with other minerals too. Look for shiller in them , it may not be so obvious or You would have noticed. very small sparkles may be it . the rounding does not allow the flat feldspar crystal layers to reflect light . You speak of chatoyant, in a couple on down , i would like to see closeup`s of those .
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