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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 26, 2015 10:41:53 GMT -5
The whale bone is 5 miles south at Point Conception. A brutal all day hike in and out. Rangers will confiscate bone and any other fossils as well as Indian artifacts but generally don't care about rocks and sea shells. Best collecting is in the winter after a storm.
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 26, 2015 10:35:56 GMT -5
I was going to ask buffer speed as well.
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 26, 2015 10:33:08 GMT -5
Yes on full loads. Use 30% filler for "normal rocks" and 70% for flats or cabs. Damp not wet for all vibes. Have a LOT of patience first few loads. Vibes are tricky at 220 (first step). As slurry forms the load slows. You need to add literally a few drops of water at a time to restore initial movement. If you are using for polish only after running the rotary maybe not such a big deal.
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 25, 2015 18:38:08 GMT -5
Rotation is critical too when sourcing feed motors.
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 25, 2015 15:37:15 GMT -5
Slow feed is always better. Make sure you keep blade well dressed with faster feed. Barranca made the Star Diamond saws for a while after MK bought Star Diamond. They called them SS18, etc. You might contact BD and see if they use the same feed motor on the current saws as your saw if the speedy one doesn't work.
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 23, 2015 16:51:04 GMT -5
Yes. I don't know what their micron rating is. Most AO "tumbling grade" polish is in the 3-4 micron and will polish most hard stones. If it is sub-micron it will work on a wider range of rocks.
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 23, 2015 9:55:39 GMT -5
Easiest foam padding is the pipe insulation available at any hardware. Your wheel sequence is backwards for most people. Most go left to right but it is your machine.
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 20, 2015 15:18:22 GMT -5
If you buy the Ultra Vibe it has to be Industrial model for rocks. Mini sonics are good too.
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 20, 2015 10:16:44 GMT -5
The fun is in the hunt.
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 19, 2015 10:07:21 GMT -5
It's a great place to visit. I thought it would be all thunder eggs from their claims. Huge piles of everything from everywhere. They cut a lot of spheres so have a lot of scrap rock from coring preforms that were interesting. The older John was still alive when I was there and he was quite a character. I see John Jr. every year at Tucson. Nice people.
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 17, 2015 10:34:36 GMT -5
Thanks for the information. I was curious what happened to them.
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 16, 2015 14:09:52 GMT -5
Very nice find. We have small limestone concretions with micro size bugs but nothing like that. I have a few of the sandstone concretions my parents collected many years ago. I I had a pile of sandstone pseudomorphs after quartz crystals but foolishly sold them all early on.
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 11, 2015 19:29:38 GMT -5
Make sure amber is real. They sometimes mount it over green or other colors or paint the backs. I was on a jury years ago for a few days. It was interesting but a lot of waiting around. My wife was called not long after OJ Simpson trial. When asked if anyone thought they should not be called she went off on the trial system protecting the guilty and on and on. Judge threw her out. Last time I went they came in after an hour and a half of waiting and sent us home because they settled. Time before I made it into jury selection and told the judge I would love to serve if we can finish in two days because I was off to sell at a gem and mineral show. He said "go sell lots of racks, you're excused".
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 11, 2015 19:19:55 GMT -5
Mick was next to us at Tucson. He had nothing new as far as I could see. He had two shipping containers at the docks in L.A. and unable to get them due to the strike. They finally settled the end of show and he had to turn them around and send back to AU. He is supposed to bring in a lot of rough next year. I walked Desert Gardens quickly but really didn't see anything new at the Aussies. I mostly was visiting with dealers rather than shopping rocks though.
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 11, 2015 19:14:53 GMT -5
I lived at the time I ordered mine about an hour and a half from Diamond Pacific. It was cheaper to pay shipping than gas to pick it up. It was packed with the stupid peanuts. Took a long time to remove and after months of use one would occasionally appear. They get static charged from the plastic or something to add to the fun. Remove peanut and can't get it off your hand. I had forgotten that until you mentioned it.
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 11, 2015 11:14:11 GMT -5
Make sure you have at least one good spare tire. I put a more aggressive off road tread on a truck I had and a rock went right through the tread opening to puncture the tire. A trip to Blythe for tires wasn't part of our weekend plans. It is a really rocky road in to Hauser and I think someone sharpens the rocks.
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 11, 2015 11:10:00 GMT -5
Happy birthday Tony!
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 10, 2015 11:47:57 GMT -5
The older Genies had a center valve to direct water to one side or other. Now both geysers get air all the time. One works but both really supply a lot of water which is better for the wheels but make operating a little messier. I broke mine in by cutting windows to show the rock club when I was field trip leader. Going from SC to Genie the first few ended up much smaller than I intended.
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 9, 2015 12:13:16 GMT -5
We used to collect buckets of them at Lavic siding before they put in the new tracks. Now the tracks are too smooth. I've heard people collect them at the road crossings here in Newberry. A guy from our old rock club called the rail road years ago and was passed on to a glass company back east. They told him they shipped glass that way across country because it was easy to load and transport. After arriving in the west it was used to manufacture whatever kind of glass products. It bounces out of open cars wherever the track is rough. Fun to collect and one club member faceted one for fun. The old "freight loading" story was pretty much the accepted story though.
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 9, 2015 12:04:08 GMT -5
Bobby pretty much covered dopping. Dop pots are best used to heat wax and stone and then turn off. Every time you heat wax it loses a little strength. If you ever overheat wax it is no longer useable. I used the alcohol lamp when I started and it works fine. Heat the wax and stone. The scientific method of determining if stone is hot enough was to keep a small dish of water next to dop pot. If you could pick up the stone without wetting your fingers it wasn't hot enough. My dop station was my dad's old set up. An inverted metal coffee can with front cut out to allow placing alcohol lamp inside. I used a small copper pan for the wax in center of coffee can end in center and heated stones around the outside. Really cold water or getting stones too hot while polishing could cause stones to release but it was not much of a problem. Something about the smell of the dop wax heating felt like tradition or something.
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