monna0000
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since May 2016
Posts: 243
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Post by monna0000 on May 21, 2016 15:41:14 GMT -5
Just wanted to say hi and share my "Rockstorie" I've been collecting rocks for the past 25 years (mostly at the beach, never bought a rock) for no other reasons than the fact that I just love stones. So 10 years ago my sweet husband bought me an rocktumbler(Lorton 2 x 1 kg) and I spent 5 minuts reading the manual and ran 2 unsuccesfull loads before it broke;0( and the store where he bought it had closed. So the tumbler sat in my garage and rested peacefully for the next 10 years together with my rock collection. One day I spotted a grinding wheel for sale at a place just like craiglist and I snatched it up in a hurry and got a really great deal. Once you have a wheel you also NEED to have a saw, so I bought a use tilesaw for 10 bucks, and it works ok (The blade are a bit to thick in my mind). Been using the wheel and the saw for the last 2 months now, but I find it hard to get the same shine in the polish as in the tumbler and also time consuming. Example form the wheel (crushed unknown rock) So of course I had to get my tumbler fixed and been reading almost every page in this forum, which I found 14 days ago - so hoping to se some great results this time around. This is my first batch at cleanout after 1 1/2 week, been adding grit 80 every 3 days . Still a long way to go. Batch 1 : Danish Flint (The hardest rock of them all, but 80% of all the rocks in Denmark are flint and the shine so nice in the end, just like your agats) Mohs 7 Batch 2 Danish beach rocks (YES I collect rocks but don't know any of their names, but I'm learning ) Mostly to be able to pack the tumbler correct. So I've gone from a broken tumbler and a small rock collection, to having a small workshop in just 2 months. I wonder (and so does my husband) how it all will end.
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Post by beefjello on May 21, 2016 16:06:31 GMT -5
Welcome! Neat story and some great looking rocks
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Post by mohs on May 21, 2016 16:59:59 GMT -5
Yep! Welcome to RTH! your building up the rock hobby really well that white- red and orangy veined rock-- could be a marble I have some rock that resembles it best in your endeavors mohs here what my material look like in heart form of course
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monna0000
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since May 2016
Posts: 243
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Post by monna0000 on May 21, 2016 17:27:38 GMT -5
Yep! Welcome to RTH! your building up the rock hobby really well that white- red and orangy veined rock-- could be a marble I have some rock that resembles it best in your endeavors mohs Thanks, Yes I think you could be right. Normally when we go on vacation I buy shoes, but a couple of years ago we went to Rhodos, but there was no pretty shoes so I filled my luggage with rocks from the beach instead . They are white and pink/orange/grey and I throw a couple of them in the batch. They are all nice and round so I guess it could be marble.
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Post by rockjunquie on May 21, 2016 17:53:34 GMT -5
Welcome from Virginia. Thanks for sharing your story. Sounds like definitely caught the rock bug! You have some really nice rocks where you are!
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wampidytoo
has rocks in the head
Add 5016 to my post count.
Member since June 2013
Posts: 709
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Post by wampidytoo on May 22, 2016 6:39:38 GMT -5
Welcome from north central Wyoming, a hop, skip and a jump from Yellowstone Park.
Nice rocks you have there. I do not tumble any more but love the finished product in glass bottles.
Answer to your question: It ends with death. Not from the rocks or the hobby but from old age at which time you will have way too many rocks and a big smile on your face. Your pace of picking up rocks will jump up to "gotta have more rocks, gotta have more rocks to feed my machines". Probably not to the point of kicking sand into the face of someone else picking up beach rocks but you may try to talk them into giving it to you. haha
You landed here so you are on the right track. No dumb questions here so do not have a problem with asking about anything. Jim
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Post by vegasjames on May 22, 2016 7:36:49 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum. Looks like you are doing great on your collection. The first rock looks like sugar quartz stained yellow by the iron.
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Post by Pat on May 22, 2016 11:06:33 GMT -5
Welcome from California. Neat rocks, and the collecting and exploring never end. That's a good thing!
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monna0000
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since May 2016
Posts: 243
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Post by monna0000 on May 22, 2016 14:08:42 GMT -5
Welcome from north central Wyoming, a hop, skip and a jump from Yellowstone Park. Nice rocks you have there. I do not tumble any more but love the finished product in glass bottles. Answer to your question: It ends with death. Not from the rocks or the hobby but from old age at which time you will have way too many rocks and a big smile on your face. Your pace of picking up rocks will jump up to "gotta have more rocks, gotta have more rocks to feed my machines". Probably not to the point of kicking sand into the face of someone else picking up beach rocks but you may try to talk them into giving it to you. haha You landed here so you are on the right track. No dumb questions here so do not have a problem with asking about anything. Jim Yeah I think you are right, but let's not tell my husband. WOW Yellowstone, I do envy your great nature and rocks We are going on a 6 weeks roadtrip this summer and Yellowstone was on my wishlist, but it ended up to far away from our route and end station. So maybe next time. Question: I love your agats and jasper, but do you have to go into a mine to find it or can it be found everywhere?
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monna0000
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since May 2016
Posts: 243
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Post by monna0000 on May 22, 2016 14:17:25 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum. Looks like you are doing great on your collection. The first rock looks like sugar quartz stained yellow by the iron. Thanks, I've no clue about the first one, but it was a rather large rock, but light for it's size and when I hit it with the hammer it broke easy. It's really loose inside and filled with sparkle and when you rub the crushed pieces with your hands dust and sparkel falls of. But it's not so loos that you can't work on the wheel. Does that help, looking forward to learning more about the stones I collected. There are just a handfull of books about the Danish rocks and they are not that great. Looking forward to learning from this forum.
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monna0000
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since May 2016
Posts: 243
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Post by monna0000 on May 22, 2016 14:33:21 GMT -5
This is my collection Unknown leopard rock(from the first picture) and in the back Calcite My round rocks (mostly marble from Rhodos) Granite and Gneiss, a bit boring when they are dry but I love them when they are polished Danish Flint and kvarts (takes forever to tumble and I'm sure I will regret hitting it with the hammer) Unsorted
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Post by rockjunquie on May 22, 2016 14:50:37 GMT -5
Wow! You have a great collection!
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Post by Peruano on May 22, 2016 16:23:05 GMT -5
Wow, you are way more organized with your rock bins labeled and rocks sorted than many who have been tumbling or grinding for years. Its okay to break the rules especially when you can claim you don't know them. But you are wise (lucky) to start with beach stones (1. they come already mixed up so you find a great variety); and 2. they are already polished and rounded to a certain degree so there is less work to do to bring them to a desirable state.). I find that by sawing off a thin wafer from a beach stone, I can produce an almost instant cabochon, or at least a freeform stone that can be tumbled a bit and turned into a pendent, pocket rock, or display piece. Lapidary and rock hounding can be a tactile experience. If you pick it up and it feels quite smooth to the touch, it probably will polish. If it feels gritty, or you can see crystals, it won't polish as easily or to the degree that the first one will. Pay attention to hardness, things that grind slowly will be harder and hence should be tumbled separately. If you tumble hard and soft together you will find the hard ones will polish well and the softer ones will retain a matte finish until tumbled separately. Enjoy your new toys; you have a large segment of ocean exposed to your country and hence have a large variety of lapidary materials to save from obscurity. Cheers and welcome. Tom
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wampidytoo
has rocks in the head
Add 5016 to my post count.
Member since June 2013
Posts: 709
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Post by wampidytoo on May 22, 2016 19:51:48 GMT -5
Welcome from north central Wyoming, a hop, skip and a jump from Yellowstone Park. Nice rocks you have there. I do not tumble any more but love the finished product in glass bottles. Answer to your question: It ends with death. Not from the rocks or the hobby but from old age at which time you will have way too many rocks and a big smile on your face. Your pace of picking up rocks will jump up to "gotta have more rocks, gotta have more rocks to feed my machines". Probably not to the point of kicking sand into the face of someone else picking up beach rocks but you may try to talk them into giving it to you. haha You landed here so you are on the right track. No dumb questions here so do not have a problem with asking about anything. Jim Yeah I think you are right, but let's not tell my husband. WOW Yellowstone, I do envy your great nature and rocks We are going on a 6 weeks roadtrip this summer and Yellowstone was on my wishlist, but it ended up to far away from our route and end station. So maybe next time. Question: I love your agats and jasper, but do you have to go into a mine to find it or can it be found everywhere? Too bad you are going to miss our natural wonder. Next time make it a must see but plan way ahead if you are going to make reservations. I have never dug for a rock other than freeing the portion that is stuck in the top soil. The geology of this area is: Once a sea bed, once or twice buried in hundreds of feet of ash from Yellowstone blowing up, glacier push from the north and river wash from the mountain ranges on the east and west. I have gathered Montana and other agates, coral and other sea creatures as high as 9000 feet above sea level, many jaspers, jade (nephrite), orthoclase, feldspar, several different colors of granite, many different pet woods, common opal, gold (very little from a lot of work), and uncountable unidentified and forgotten pretties. There are dino bones in the area but I have not been lucky enough to find some and break the law by picking them up. I call this place "the land of nothing but rocks" and a lot of them are not named because there are very few people here to hound them in enough abundance for them to get known like "laguna agate" or "owyhee jasper" plus the geology has stirred things up so bad anything that was in abundance at one time, in one place, is now scattered far and wide like your sea pebbles. At best we can have some idea how far they have traveled by how round and smooth they are but only a geologist in this area can make a close guess. Here is a large sandstone slab mixed in with a lot of basalt and many many other types of stone in a fifty foot high hill exposed by a river. The only way that can happen is by a lot of movement over a long period of time. My son is an artifact hunter and has just about every type of stone tool ever found from earliest man in North America. Hope I did not make you sad by showing you some of what you will be missing but I am sure your trip will be a success no matter where you go. Jim
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zarguy
fully equipped rock polisher
Cedar City, Utah - rockhound heaven!
Member since December 2005
Posts: 1,791
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Post by zarguy on May 23, 2016 1:38:48 GMT -5
Monna, Welcome to the forum from Southern Utah.
Like Jim (Wampidytoo) says, it ends when you do, because while you're alive, you will always look down & you will always find nature's wonders. Lynn
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,685
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Post by Fossilman on May 25, 2016 11:36:48 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum......Nice rocks and photos too...Thank you for sharing..
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Fritz
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since May 2016
Posts: 77
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Post by Fritz on May 27, 2016 0:43:40 GMT -5
Nice pics, welcome!
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mloganrocks
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since May 2016
Posts: 153
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Post by mloganrocks on May 27, 2016 9:55:32 GMT -5
Welcome from Oregon, I am newbie on here myself to this site. I appreciate you sharing your collection, Thank you...
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metalsmith
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 1,537
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Post by metalsmith on May 29, 2016 16:18:37 GMT -5
Welcome Monna, I'm over the water in England. How organised you are!
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rockwizz
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since May 2007
Posts: 971
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Post by rockwizz on Jun 16, 2016 8:57:39 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum.
Hope you have a great experience with everyone here.
Shoot me a message if you want to swap rocks from Utah With some from your place.
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