mossyrockhound
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2011
Posts: 1,278
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Post by mossyrockhound on Dec 1, 2015 19:40:06 GMT -5
I don't think I've ever made a Willow Creek cab before. Here's a free-form I did today just to try it out after many years of having the material on hand. This material is so brittle that the 80 grit grinding wheel breaks off chunks of jasper when trying to shape it. Once I figured out that I needed to use a finer grinding wheel I did OK with it. It sure takes a nice polish. We got this piece when Joe Vaitkevich (sp?) was hard rock mining building stone out of what is now the Willow Creek claim. After Joe blasted the hole, he just rolled the big eggs down into the gully to get them out of his way (he only wanted the square-ish building stone). He told us we could go down in the gully and take all we wanted. We broke open a few eggs and got some pretty nice material. It was surprising to me how little jasper there was in those big eggs. A 2-foot diameter egg might have only a fist-sized piece of jasper in it.
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NDK
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 9,440
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Post by NDK on Dec 1, 2015 21:36:47 GMT -5
Cool cab and even cooler story.
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Post by mohs on Dec 1, 2015 21:58:07 GMT -5
very cool -- wild color interesting story what type of rock was the squarish ones he was using for building? breaking eggs for a little color that serious nature can be stingy in her niceness
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mossyrockhound
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2011
Posts: 1,278
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Post by mossyrockhound on Dec 1, 2015 22:34:59 GMT -5
Ed, I don't know what kind of stone it was. I didn't look close at it. I only recall it was tan-colored and they were using it for a multi-story building in Boise. Joe didn't have any power equipment and he didn't wear gloves. He stacked all that stone on a flatbed truck by hand and then drove it in to Boise. I was just a young kid at the time, but I remember thinking when I shook hands with Joe that he could have crushed my hand easily. He was of Lithuanian decent, single, and lived in a little old trailer at the top of the hill. Joe told us he got most of his beer free at the Boise bars by betting the college kids he could squeeze an unopened can of beer until until it popped. He always won, and that was before aluminum beer cans were used.
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Post by mohs on Dec 2, 2015 8:57:30 GMT -5
Ha Ha Garry! Thanks for filling in the rest of the story Joe wants to blast-- let Joe blast build all he wants He left the thunder eggs --good dude!
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,687
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Post by Fossilman on Dec 2, 2015 10:23:38 GMT -5
A very very nice cab...Thumbs up
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timloco
has rocks in the head
Member since April 2012
Posts: 545
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Post by timloco on Dec 2, 2015 19:12:25 GMT -5
Nice colors, well shaped. Are you going wire wrap or do anything with it?
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mossyrockhound
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2011
Posts: 1,278
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Post by mossyrockhound on Dec 2, 2015 21:26:54 GMT -5
Nice colors, well shaped. Are you going wire wrap or do anything with it? I think I will wrap it in gold wire. I haven't figured out yet how it should hang - straight up like in the photo, or from the high point at the top?
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timloco
has rocks in the head
Member since April 2012
Posts: 545
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Post by timloco on Dec 4, 2015 11:01:37 GMT -5
Nice colors, well shaped. Are you going wire wrap or do anything with it? I think I will wrap it in gold wire. I haven't figured out yet how it should hang - straight up like in the photo, or from the high point at the top? Either should be fine. What about horizontal?
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Post by drocknut on Dec 4, 2015 11:09:06 GMT -5
Very cool cab. I would wrap it like in the photo but as timloco said, either should be fine. Looking forward to seeing the end result.
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Post by rockjunquie on Dec 4, 2015 16:23:30 GMT -5
Great stories! I can't imagine the strength it would take to squeeze and old beer can open!
Lovely cab, great color. I would go with gold, for sure.
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mossyrockhound
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2011
Posts: 1,278
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Post by mossyrockhound on Dec 5, 2015 14:25:24 GMT -5
Thanks for your comments & suggestions. I'm having some kids over today to show them how to wire wrap. I'll wrap this piece (with some others) today and post it under the wire wrapping category if it turns out OK.
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