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Post by txrockhunter on Apr 10, 2017 7:54:43 GMT -5
Long awaited trip to Marfa, March 22nd - 24th, for a little rock hunting with Teri Smith. Spent 2 days at the Singleton Ranch and 1 at East Needle Peak (thread to follow soon). It was my first trip to Marfa and definitely exceeded expectations! Our trip just happened to coincide with another RTH'er HankRocks, who was there for the whole week. What a great guy! Great company, very knowledgeable, and very willing to share that knowledge! Hunting at Singleton is like a huge Easter egg hunt. You might have to pop an agate out with a screw driver, but never had to do any digging. Couple shots of what it looked like on the ground. 2 day haul at Singleton Ranch produced about 40 gallons of material. 10 of which is probably not very good, as I picked everything up for the 1st couple hours. Much more educated for the next trip! I'm learning a lot more now that I've started cutting some. Here's a few of the better ones...... 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. See the lion? 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. Thanks for looking! Jeremy
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Post by rockjunquie on Apr 10, 2017 7:58:43 GMT -5
Man, you got a nice haul there! Those cuts are amazing!
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Post by Garage Rocker on Apr 10, 2017 8:52:46 GMT -5
You've got to be kidding, that's just ridiculous! What a great trip. Must be a helluva good time cutting those open!
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Post by HankRocks on Apr 10, 2017 8:58:46 GMT -5
Thanks for the kind words
You are ahead of me on the cutting, been busy navigating a few saw issues. Should be going by end of week. The pictures confirm what I already suspected, we got into some very good agate. I did put 15 lbs of all small, less than 1.5 inches, into the rotary a week ago to try and take the outer skin off. Hopefully after the 2 or 3 weeks of coarse grit they will be revealing what's inside.
Look forward to another trip in the Fall.
H
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,455
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 10, 2017 9:02:08 GMT -5
Beautiful and fine photography too! Those look very like the agate nodules I collected at the Bouquet beds many years ago and I still have about thirty pounds. Never cut many due to difficulty of viceing them up. Questions for you. Are you cutting exclusively parallel to the top and bottom of the nodule above the crusty looking bottom exterior or have you had better luck with a different angle of cut? How do you put them in the vice so they won't break loose? Also. I found a lot of the plume I cut is kind of prone to being soft, porous or undercutting a bit. Do you make doublets of your cabs or use hot stuff to stabilize the plumes a bit?.....Mel
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Post by toiv0 on Apr 10, 2017 9:36:52 GMT -5
I guess its time to start cutting my booty from last fall. Nice job Jermey.
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Apr 10, 2017 9:58:11 GMT -5
Wow, you've spent a few hours on the trim saw! Looks like you did great! Looks like a really fun and productive trip! (googling Teri Smith . . .)
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notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
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Post by notjustone on Apr 10, 2017 12:11:01 GMT -5
you thinking of boxing up some of them 10 gallons of lower quality stuff you picked in the beginning?
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Post by vegasjames on Apr 10, 2017 12:54:26 GMT -5
Looks like fun and some fantastic pieces.
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bsky4463
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2013
Posts: 1,696
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Post by bsky4463 on Apr 10, 2017 13:07:14 GMT -5
KaBOOOM....some awesomeness in small packages right there. Thanks for sharing. Cheers
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Post by txrockhunter on Apr 10, 2017 16:40:35 GMT -5
Beautiful and fine photography too! Those look very like the agate nodules I collected at the Bouquet beds many years ago and I still have about thirty pounds. Never cut many due to difficulty of viceing them up. Questions for you. Are you cutting exclusively parallel to the top and bottom of the nodule above the crusty looking bottom exterior or have you had better luck with a different angle of cut? How do you put them in the vice so they won't break loose? Also. I found a lot of the plume I cut is kind of prone to being soft, porous or undercutting a bit. Do you make doublets of your cabs or use hot stuff to stabilize the plumes a bit?.....Mel Thanks Mel! 1) Are you cutting exclusively parallel to the top and bottom of the nodule above the crusty looking bottom exterior or have you had better luck with a different angle of cut? - I have been cutting parallel to the bottom / crusty part and if the fill color isn't clear, I'll cut closer to the edge. You seem to lose a lot of the detail if you don't, especially in the white / milky ones. I have cut a few rounder ones, with no defined bottom, vertically and they came out alright, but nothing like the biscuits. 2) How do you put them in the vice so they won't break loose? - I've cut them all freehand on a 5" trim saw with a .020 blade. 3) Also. I found a lot of the plume I cut is kind of prone to being soft, porous or undercutting a bit. Do you make doublets of your cabs or use hot stuff to stabilize the plumes a bit? - A good amount of the plume is soft, especially the green ones. I haven't done anything but cut a few of them, so I haven't crossed the stabilizing bridge yet. There's got to be a preferred method, as there are people making a living off Marfa agate jewelry. I'll be doing some research as I get closer to making something.
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Post by MrMike on Apr 10, 2017 17:10:19 GMT -5
Good gawd almighty that is some mighty fine material Jeremy. Wow, just wow. Any of my fellow Easterners want to get together for a Teri Smith trip?
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Tommy
Administrator
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,648
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Post by Tommy on Apr 10, 2017 17:15:31 GMT -5
Good lordy... great report and drool worthy agates. I SO have to go there now...
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,455
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 10, 2017 19:37:30 GMT -5
Thanks for the information. I think the Cajun guys I went on the field trip with said they preferred doublets but that has always seemed like a lot of trouble. Guess I'll have to pull out my tile saw and cut some of mine this summer and see what I have...Mel
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Post by aDave on Apr 10, 2017 21:01:57 GMT -5
Thanks Mel! 1) Are you cutting exclusively parallel to the top and bottom of the nodule above the crusty looking bottom exterior or have you had better luck with a different angle of cut? - I have been cutting parallel to the bottom / crusty part and if the fill color isn't clear, I'll cut closer to the edge. You seem to lose a lot of the detail if you don't, especially in the white / milky ones. I have cut a few rounder ones, with no defined bottom, vertically and they came out alright, but nothing like the biscuits. 2) How do you put them in the vice so they won't break loose? - I've cut them all freehand on a 5" trim saw with a .020 blade. 3) Also. I found a lot of the plume I cut is kind of prone to being soft, porous or undercutting a bit. Do you make doublets of your cabs or use hot stuff to stabilize the plumes a bit? - A good amount of the plume is soft, especially the green ones. I haven't done anything but cut a few of them, so I haven't crossed the stabilizing bridge yet. There's got to be a preferred method, as there are people making a living off Marfa agate jewelry. I'll be doing some research as I get closer to making something.If you don't mind, I'm going to piggyback a bit on Mel's questions. In short, I'm leaning toward a tile or trim saw to help size down tumbling rough, cut out some of the larger divots or ledges, or even possibly do some small slabs. Just don't know all the pros and cons of each type of saw yet (will be reading old threads and perhaps starting one to get more detail). How difficult is cutting freehand? Are you using any sort of guide, or just holding onto the rock? If you're just holding on, what issues do you find are most common and how did you deal with them (like blade binding, the rock slipping, etc.)? Thanks and regards. Dave
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Post by roswelljero on Apr 10, 2017 23:42:44 GMT -5
Looks like you cleaned the place out! LOL That first golden plume is to die for. If you don't mind me asking, did Teri charge you for the extra buckets or just the daily fee? On my first trip with Teri, I remember her saying the plume at Singleton runs from the bottom up. To not cut the same way as a Woodward Ranch biscuit, or you'd cut the tops off the plume. If you're cutting parallel with the bottom, are the nodules not thick enough to cut vertically? Later, jeri
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Post by HankRocks on Apr 11, 2017 7:06:12 GMT -5
1 - 5 Gallon bucket full was included in the initial $50 fee, it was $40 for each additional 5 gallon bucket measured in 1/4 bucket increments @ $10 each 1/4 bucket.
The general rule is that the Bouquet and the Plume run parallel to the bottom of the biscuit. Unfortunately the biscuits at Singleton and the biscuits from Waller/Woodward don't always follow that rule and cutting them can be a bit of a guess. In some cases you can see the color in the bottom of the biscuits and see the lay of the inclusion. I picked up several pieces where the inclusions where clearly running perpendicular to the bottom. On the other hand a larger percentage of the biscuits are flat in nature, so the longest cut is parallel to the bottom, unfortunately it can be the most difficult to make and requires it to be hand-held or glued to wood.
It's one reason I am going to coarse tumble a lot of the smaller ones, remove some of the darker rough outer skin to expose any inclusion and how to best expose it.
As Jeremy's pictures show, it was one of the top agate collecting place I have ever been to.
H
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Post by radio on Apr 11, 2017 7:58:35 GMT -5
Nice haul and some beauts in there! You know your priorities are screwed up when you look at the countryside and think, Man, I bet I could call in a ton of coyotes there!
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,455
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 11, 2017 8:12:38 GMT -5
Wow, price seems pretty reasonable. When I went on a field trip to the bouquet beds probably back in the 1970's, the fee was $35 for the hunt and first bucket and I seem to remember $25-30 for additional. I only took out a single bucketful for the day though as back then I were poor and that was a lot of money for rocks **L*...Mel
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Post by HankRocks on Apr 11, 2017 8:33:15 GMT -5
The other thing was that most of the collecting was within 1/4 mile or less of the vehicles. I may have went out about 1/2 to 3/4 mile. Next time I am going to venture further out before I pick up one agate. It is a very big place, 10 sections of land or 6400 acres, or 10 square miles.
H
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