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Post by bobby1 on Sept 3, 2019 0:13:06 GMT -5
I made a barn owl box and hung it on my shop. Usually, there is a mating pair in there in the spring and early summer. They do a great job of getting all the pesky gophers in my yard. This last year they did such a great job that the pair didn't come back this spring. The owls are strictly nocturnal so you rarely see them around. I do get a ladder and peek in on them when the little ones are still in the nest. Bob
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Post by bobby1 on Sept 3, 2019 0:07:15 GMT -5
Have you ever been in the lava caves in the Lava Beds National Monument near Tulelake, California? I went there many times when I was growing up. Bob
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Post by bobby1 on Sept 3, 2019 0:00:28 GMT -5
Adrian, I'm looking forward to seeing the photos. I run into them at their annual show in San Jose every year. I still use photobucket for all of my photo postings. Bob
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Post by bobby1 on Sept 2, 2019 23:56:44 GMT -5
California has to scatter the beehives around a lot because there are so many hives. They are starting to keep a lot of them here over the winter now because shipping the hives all over really stresses them out. In February and March, they have to have enough bees to pollinate 1,000,000 acres of almond trees. In our area (south East of Sacramento) they are plowing up seasonal pasture in the rolling hills of the Gold Country to plant more almond trees. They are planting about 50 to 60 thousand acres of new trees every year. It may slow down a bit with the tariffs on China causing them to not buy as many almonds as usual. Bob
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Post by bobby1 on Sept 2, 2019 23:43:51 GMT -5
A few years back when I was still working I had the job decommissioning a 600,000sq.ft. biotech R&D building. After we eliminated the onsite security staff and there were few people around the feral hogs took over and during the night they rooted all of the manicured lawns into shreds. We were trying to keep the landscaping looking good because we were trying to rent out the property. I couldn't hire hunters with guns to take care of them because the property was in the city limits. (San Jose, CA pop 1 million). I was allowed to get bow hunters to come in but they were marginally successful. Those hogs were very resourceful and wary. The bow hunters got maybe 6 or 7 little ones over a period of a few weeks but the fact that they were hunted drove them away for quite a while. Long enough for us to get it rented. When there was a 24-hour presence of people the hogs stayed away permanently. Bob
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Post by bobby1 on Aug 15, 2019 18:11:37 GMT -5
I just submitted my monthly "Bench Tips" article for Rock and Gem Magazine. It was on heat treating agate. I use a burnout kiln for casting flask burnout activities. It is an older unit that doesn't have an electronic controller for the heat adjustment. Generally, most solid color rocks don't do much in the color-change category. I focused on heat treating agate slabs. It requires that the agate to have been exposed to a lot of iron during its formation. If the rock exhibits orange to red colors it probably has enough iron in it to change to redder or sometimes a brown color. I had one small slab that had orange color on the surface but a milky color inside. I had great hopes for the whole thing to turn red with heating but, alas, nothing beyond the skin color darkening a bit. Obviously, no iron had migrated beyond skin deep. The rest of the slabs did have significant darkening. I put an aluminum tray in the chamber and added sand to the bottom and stacked the slabs with 1/2" of sand between the slab layers and equally on top of the slabs. I turned the rheostat dial to the lowest position and let the chamber heat up slowly. It reached 275 within about 6 hours so I turned the dial up one increment and went to bed. The next morning it was at 375 so I left it for 3 hours and turned the dial up one more increment. After about 3 hours it rose to 475. I left it there for 3 hours then I turned the oven off and went to bed. The next morning it was fully cooled down so I removed the slabs. With the one exception, all of the slabs had darker red colors. Two important things: 1. don't hurry the heat up or cool down cycles or you will fracture the materials. 2. Never open the oven door during the cycles for the same reason. Bob
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Post by bobby1 on Aug 14, 2019 20:50:06 GMT -5
I would cut the open face to see if anything can be found on the interior. It would expose the most pattern if there is any. Bob
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Post by bobby1 on Aug 12, 2019 12:57:25 GMT -5
Our units run very quietly. I'm not sure what would make them noisy.
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Post by bobby1 on Jul 26, 2019 1:49:02 GMT -5
Definite yes! on Epoxy 330. Also going on 35+ years of making opal and other materials as doublets and triplets. Keep the surfaces clean and don't Whip bubbles into it when you are mixing the two parts. Bob
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Post by bobby1 on Jul 26, 2019 1:41:40 GMT -5
This one that had been sitting on the bench for a few months waiting to be finished. It is 3" across. A crazy Mexican Crazy Lace. Bob
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Post by bobby1 on Jul 23, 2019 2:24:02 GMT -5
Our club supports the local Junior College lapidary and jewelry classes by supplying saws and maintenance. We recently bought a 24" HP saw and an 18" Hp saw. We bought them both with the everclean system. We struggled to get them to work but when we found out that we needed to run the saws with a very low viscosity oil then they worked great! We use a plastic bag instead of the paint can. Just make sure to fill the bag with oil before starting the unit. We also bought them have a 12" and 14" HP saws. We scoop the oil out of them and put it into the big saws so they will clean the oil. We have the class instructor to turn the cleaners on just as soon as she comes into the class. She lets them run until the end of the day. Bob
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Post by bobby1 on Jul 18, 2019 21:59:36 GMT -5
You might want to get a lapidary blade for your sawing. The one that you are using leaves a rather coarse pattern. Bob
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Post by bobby1 on Jul 18, 2019 1:19:53 GMT -5
Our club, The Mother Lode Mineral Society in Modesto, Ca, supports the lapidary and jewelry classes at the local junior college, Modesto Junior College. Last year we bought a 24" and 18" HP saws with the Everclean systems. Instead of using the paint cans we use heavy-duty plastic bags to collect the oil sludge. They work great but you must remember to fill the bags with oil before starting the system. If you don't they just twist up into a knot. Bob
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Post by bobby1 on Jul 17, 2019 21:41:47 GMT -5
Here is a photo of the various wheel that I use in my carving. You can see the screw mandrels on the left. There are the Mizzy wheels, multiple shapes of polishing and sanding wood wheels and the various grinding wheels. Bob
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Post by bobby1 on Jul 17, 2019 19:29:41 GMT -5
I work a lot with obsidian including cabochons, polished slabs and carving. It is very prone to chipping when you are using diamond burs or silicon grinding wheels such as the 1" Mizzy wheels. I do a lot of dry sanding (with the appropriate breathing masks) and it works great for getting the coarse grinding or saw marks out. I also use 1/2" wood dowels mounted on screw mandrels. I shape them with a coarse file and then wet them and roll them in various tumbling grits for sanding. I use the same wheels with cerium oxide for polishing. Here is a 1-1/2" high vase that I carved a few years ago. Bob
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Post by bobby1 on Jul 14, 2019 16:05:23 GMT -5
Look on the edge and cut it parallel to the lines, usually at an angle to the top and bottom surfaces.
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Post by bobby1 on Jul 8, 2019 1:35:50 GMT -5
I mount my cabs like this one on a larger dop stick than usual but it still is done only by hand. Bob
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Post by bobby1 on Jul 6, 2019 0:11:57 GMT -5
OOPS, I messed up and the comments didn't post. I diligently follow the line that I mark from the template. When I grind I never go into the line only just to it. If you grind into or beyond the line you don't know how far you have gone so any corrections are very difficult. This one is Willow Creek Jasper and it is 3" across.
Bob
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Post by bobby1 on Jul 6, 2019 0:07:31 GMT -5
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Post by bobby1 on May 16, 2019 20:33:06 GMT -5
A few days ago I finally got around to slabbing a Piranha (Brazilian) agate rock that a friend had given to me many years ago. It delivered up many great slabs. This one is 7-1/2" across. Bob
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