Gadabout
starting to shine!
Member since December 2019
Posts: 48
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Post by Gadabout on Jan 9, 2020 18:02:18 GMT -5
This is the pebble beach at Grand Marais, MI, looking west. The photo is taken from the outer range lighthouse pier. In the far background is the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. This whole area is magical.
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Gadabout
starting to shine!
Member since December 2019
Posts: 48
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Post by Gadabout on Jan 9, 2020 18:05:05 GMT -5
The pebble beach at Grand Marais, MI at sunset, from last October.
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Gadabout
starting to shine!
Member since December 2019
Posts: 48
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Post by Gadabout on Jan 9, 2020 18:07:08 GMT -5
This is the pebble beach at Whitefish Point, about 50 miles due east of Grand Marais, MI. Look at all of those stones! Really good agate hunting. That friendly couple there likes to spend their time together looking for agates. That's the Canadian Steamship Lines freighter "Baie St Paul" heading into Whitefish Bay and down to the Soo locks. The Edmund Fitzgerald went down about 15 miles northeast of here.
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Gadabout
starting to shine!
Member since December 2019
Posts: 48
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Post by Gadabout on Jan 9, 2020 18:12:25 GMT -5
This is at Whitefish Point as well. It's just an eroded driftwood log that ended up with a bunch of water washed stones nestled in it. The waves put them there. Just amazing.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Jan 9, 2020 19:53:56 GMT -5
Wow, great pictures! Rockhounding heaven. Thanks for sharing!
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Jan 10, 2020 6:39:04 GMT -5
What are you waiting for knave. Wow, thanks for the requested photo Gadabout. Incredible. By the way re-melted granite is gneiss I believe; it often tumble polishes well. Perhaps study how to ID gneiss if you don't already know how.
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Post by fernwood on Jan 10, 2020 6:47:52 GMT -5
Welcome for about 1.5 hours South of you. Yes, Wisconsin Granite is a tempting tumble. I was able to get a good shine on some, with minimal undercutting. But, there was lots of experimenting to get there.
Lots of great advice already received, so I have nothing else to add.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,681
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Post by Fossilman on Jan 10, 2020 11:12:05 GMT -5
Yuppers 1200 is considered a polish....
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Post by RocksInNJ on Jan 10, 2020 14:45:34 GMT -5
OMG look at all those colors. That’s just mind blowing. I could just sit in one spot and fill a five gallon bucket without moving. I’d be in heaven if I ever came across something like that. Thanks for sharing the awesome pics.
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Gadabout
starting to shine!
Member since December 2019
Posts: 48
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Post by Gadabout on Jan 10, 2020 16:12:09 GMT -5
RocksInNJ, that is one of 2 popular ways to pick rocks here. Set up a low chair and just sit in one spot, and with a trowel you just dig away and sort through what you dig up. The other way is to very slowly walk the beach and scan for the telltale signs of an agate. I like to walk the beach and get my feet wet. I've only found one agate so far, but that's primarily because I spend too much time looking at all the other pretty rocks. It is a heavenly place, what with the sound of the waves and the feel of that cold water and that beautiful lake. People are very friendly too.
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Post by RocksInNJ on Jan 10, 2020 18:09:34 GMT -5
RocksInNJ , that is one of 2 popular ways to pick rocks here. Set up a low chair and just sit in one spot, and with a trowel you just dig away and sort through what you dig up. The other way is to very slowly walk the beach and scan for the telltale signs of an agate. I like to walk the beach and get my feet wet. I've only found one agate so far, but that's primarily because I spend too much time looking at all the other pretty rocks. It is a heavenly place, what with the sound of the waves and the feel of that cold water and that beautiful lake. People are very friendly too. Oh yea, the chair method would be me lol. Then scoot over a couple of feet, relax and pick some more. That’s utterly amazing. I can’t even imagine being at a place like that.
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Gadabout
starting to shine!
Member since December 2019
Posts: 48
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Post by Gadabout on Feb 16, 2020 17:53:48 GMT -5
To Pat , aDave , jamesp , RocksInNJ , whyofquartz , knave , pauls , manofglass , fernwood and anyone else who helped. After taking all of your advice, buying new grits and adjusting the tumble schedule a bit, I finally ended up with a good batch. This time I only included quartz or rocks with similar hardness, and did the course grit for 2 weeks this time. I was a little unsure before doing the polish step because the rocks didn't seem to be shiny enough after the pre-polish, so I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw them after the polish. As a final step I ran them for a few hours with a burnish of borax and ivory soap. I'll post some pics of a few of my favorites. hey actually look much shinier in person than in the pics. PS - I originally posted this on the wrong thread, so I deleted that post and put it here. So if any of you got a double message from me, sorry about that.
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Gadabout
starting to shine!
Member since December 2019
Posts: 48
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Post by Gadabout on Feb 16, 2020 17:55:22 GMT -5
All of these stones were picked from Lake Superior beaches in Michigan's upper peninsula
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Gadabout
starting to shine!
Member since December 2019
Posts: 48
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Post by Gadabout on Feb 16, 2020 17:56:48 GMT -5
My favorite. This is apparently a type of agate that they call a "skip an atom." The swirls and colors are incredible. It got ground down a bit more than I wanted it to because of the failed first attempt and having to go through the entire process a second time, but it'll still make a nice necklace for the granddaughter.
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Gadabout
starting to shine!
Member since December 2019
Posts: 48
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Post by Gadabout on Feb 16, 2020 18:00:27 GMT -5
These two were made for each other.
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Gadabout
starting to shine!
Member since December 2019
Posts: 48
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Post by Gadabout on Feb 16, 2020 18:02:15 GMT -5
Green quartz. Perfection.
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Gadabout
starting to shine!
Member since December 2019
Posts: 48
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Post by Gadabout on Feb 16, 2020 18:04:36 GMT -5
Not sure what this quartz is mixed up with, but I like the contrast of the black & white.
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Gadabout
starting to shine!
Member since December 2019
Posts: 48
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Post by Gadabout on Feb 16, 2020 18:07:51 GMT -5
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Gadabout
starting to shine!
Member since December 2019
Posts: 48
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Post by Gadabout on Feb 16, 2020 18:08:55 GMT -5
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Post by fernwood on Feb 16, 2020 18:12:03 GMT -5
They turned out great.
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