RocknCritter
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2008
Posts: 489
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Post by RocknCritter on Nov 24, 2015 13:04:21 GMT -5
Don't think Wavellite would take a good polish. You'd probably start pulling crystals & ruin the whole piece. Just clean it with soapy water & a soft brush, and display it as is. Actually, the cabs cut from wavellite are stunning. I cut some 7-8 years ago and don't remember any particular problems. However, each stone is different........ wavellite cabochons
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RocknCritter
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2008
Posts: 489
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Post by RocknCritter on Nov 23, 2015 23:39:10 GMT -5
Possibly wavellite. Definitely not seraphinite or victoria stone. Have you tested the hardness or streak?
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RocknCritter
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2008
Posts: 489
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Post by RocknCritter on Nov 15, 2015 10:46:22 GMT -5
Life's tough. It's even tougher when your stupid.
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RocknCritter
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2008
Posts: 489
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Post by RocknCritter on Nov 11, 2015 12:02:08 GMT -5
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RocknCritter
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2008
Posts: 489
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Post by RocknCritter on Nov 7, 2015 8:36:28 GMT -5
Really cool.they kind of resemble cat turds covered in kitty litter.sorry couldn't resist. "Catskatolite"
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RocknCritter
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2008
Posts: 489
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Post by RocknCritter on Nov 6, 2015 17:32:59 GMT -5
I've watched that video - Alchime - many, many times. I wish we had flying conditions like that in Colorado.
We have lift access at the ski area so it's pretty easy to fly multiple times in a day if the conditions aren't on. CBMR is one of the few in the state that allows paraglidng and hang gliding and it's certainly a beautiful place to fly. It only took me 15 years(!) to negotiate winter access. We normally catch lift and bench back to the peak. However, the drone had a limited range for filming so we stayed close to launch for the videographer.
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RocknCritter
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2008
Posts: 489
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Post by RocknCritter on Nov 6, 2015 17:23:36 GMT -5
These are pretty darn cool. A guy was walking his dog along Sand Creek in downtown Colorado Springs, CO and started noticing all these spherical pieces of quartz. He took a few to a jeweler I know there for an evaluation. At first, everyone dismissed them as most likely tumbled concrete balls. On closer examination, there were little sparkles of pyrite. So they cut one open. What the heck. It's only a few minutes on the saw. Inside was a matrix of pyrite surrounding the quartz. In some ways, it's similar to to the marcasite (pyrite?) in quartz from Nipomo, CA except with a clear to white quartz instead of the smoky quartz from Nipomo. The next weekend, they all went back and collected as much as they could. A few days later, during a second visit, they got a huge surprise: The city was doing flood plain reclamation work. The collecting site was gone that fast. A search up and down the creek bed in the vicinty did not result in any more material being found. They had an XRF analysis performed on several pieces and discovered there were even small traces of gold and silver - 1 ounce of silver and 1/10 of an ounce of gold per ton. A few of the pieces even looked like limb cast replacements. In the end, they sorted what they had into three grades - fine grain, coarse grain and the limb casts. While I have all three grades, I have only had time to cut the coarse grain. It takes a nice polish with diamond or cerium oxide. Other popular polishing compounds should work as well. There certainly isn't much of the material and I know folks who have just sliced them into specimens, cabbed it and one guy was making a few small spheres. All of these pieces for sale are coarse grain. #1 4.2 oz. 1.5"x2" $11 #2 11.2 oz. 2.25"x3" $28 #3 11.8 oz. 2"x3" SOLD #4 13.5 oz. 1.25" to 2.5"x4.5" $34 #5 14.5 oz. 2.25"x3" $36 #6 18.5 oz. 1.5" to 3"x3.5" $46 #7 20.3 oz. 2.5"x3.25" $100 #8 52.5 oz. 4" to a point x5.5" $131 Shipping for #'s 1-5 is $6.00 and $12 for #'s 6-8.
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RocknCritter
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2008
Posts: 489
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Post by RocknCritter on Nov 6, 2015 15:13:25 GMT -5
It's that time of year. Since I attend a lot of gem shows, I have a habit of sometimes buying more rough and slabs than I can cut. All pieces are photographed wet. If anyone is interested, we'll figure out shipping later based upon carrier preference, quantity, etc. Alabaster - origin unknown. 1 lb. 3 oz. 3"x4.75"x2.5" to a point. It's a nice purple pink color but the yield is going to be a little low because of the point. Priced accordingly. $15 Red Amber from Sumatra. Approxiamtely 1 lb. $20 Serpentine from Washington state. 2 lb. 11 oz. Nice variety of green colors with some dark purple spots and white areas. It's a little soft and will need to be stabilized for best yield. $15 White Agate - origin unknown. Each slab is 6"x6". I forgot I had these. A couple of years ago, someone asked me to slab this agate. They wanted the slabs as a "canvas" for artwork. They'll work well for inlay also. $10 each. I'll be posting some more goodies as time allows. If anyone as any questions or needs more pixs, just let me know.
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RocknCritter
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2008
Posts: 489
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Post by RocknCritter on Nov 5, 2015 14:39:53 GMT -5
For #2: Streak? If it's as slightly orangish-red as the pixs on my monitor, possibly breithauptite.
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RocknCritter
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2008
Posts: 489
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Post by RocknCritter on Nov 4, 2015 20:05:36 GMT -5
I'll be exhibiting at the 22nd Street Show in booth C-3. Stop by and we'll talk gemstones, weather and flying!
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RocknCritter
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2008
Posts: 489
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Post by RocknCritter on Nov 4, 2015 20:02:17 GMT -5
Way cool! Another rockhounding pilot. I've been flying paragliders since 1990 and was even air crazy enough to have worked for 10+ years in the industry as an instructor, tandem pilot and manufacturer/designer/consultant. Flying took me all over Brazil and eventually reignited my love of gemstones. There are certainly aspects of the lifestyle I miss. With all the gem shows, traveling, etc. I don't get to fly quite as much as before. Here's a short vid from last winter.
I'm flying the black/white/blue glider.
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RocknCritter
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2008
Posts: 489
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Post by RocknCritter on Oct 1, 2015 18:26:53 GMT -5
RocknCritter I know this may sound noobish, but do you have a different wheel for different compounds such as cerium, tin ox, zam, diamond paste etc..? Yes, definitely use a different wheel for each compound Noobish? Don't worry. While RTH isn't perfect, the members are generally humble and down to earth. I posted a question on another forum about a very unusual mineral specimen. The only answer I have received was blantantly incorrect and the whoever responded came across as an utter snob. RTH rules!
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RocknCritter
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2008
Posts: 489
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Post by RocknCritter on Oct 1, 2015 9:15:55 GMT -5
ZAM works great on the marble from the Yule Quarry in Colorado. You get a nice water wet finish. Avoid cerium oxide since it will under cut.
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RocknCritter
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2008
Posts: 489
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Post by RocknCritter on Sept 16, 2015 20:47:45 GMT -5
My all time favorite gemstone find from the Tucson gem show. Wish I could aford a piece.
opal dino bone
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RocknCritter
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2008
Posts: 489
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Post by RocknCritter on May 18, 2015 21:52:47 GMT -5
Since we heading into another election cycle and the politricksters of both parties are starting to make another set of promises they will never, ever keep (while simultaneously lining their own pockets), it's time for a new amendment to the Constitituion of the United States: Mandatory Drug Testing for all politicians. Once a day we inject them with sodium pentothal. Yes, that's right "truth serum". If they object to the idea or concept, it's simple, they're liars.
After the admedment is passed, the plan is extended to all bankers, lawyers, realtors, journalists, insurance agents, corporate chiefs and doctors. While this may sound like a joke, I'm absolutely 150% serious.
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RocknCritter
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2008
Posts: 489
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Post by RocknCritter on Apr 15, 2015 18:18:15 GMT -5
Judging from the image my guess -- and it's only a guess -- is it's an automatic faceting machine: attach your dopped stone, punch the right buttons, hit the "on" switch and off she goes, cutting the first set of facets for the planned design. I can only speculate that laps have to be manually changed for sanding and polishing unless the lap shown is segmented for those operations. Also at some point the stone would have to be re-dopped to cut the opposite half of the gem, either crown or pavilion. Maybe they have a robot to do that too, LOL. The Germans make a variety of automatic and semi-automatic faceting machines. If this is one of them the price is ridiculously cheap. It's about the same as a low-range American-made manual faceting machine. Even with mid-range American machines estimated start-up costs for machine, laps, dops etc. will be 4 to 5 K. Then comes the *really* expensive part -- clean, facetable rough. This is more or less what I was thinking. On the USFS forum, someone else noticed this monostrosity. There's some thought that it might be originally an optics polishing machine that has been modified for faceting. With at least 17 (!) buttons visible and NO INSTRUCTION MANUAL, I'm sure the first results will be over the top
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RocknCritter
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2008
Posts: 489
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Post by RocknCritter on Apr 15, 2015 9:53:10 GMT -5
Well, I've been to Brazil eight times. Seven of the trips involved some gem buying. We did a little collecting near Pancas for some aquamarine in the stream beds. Pancas is definitely off the beaten path. I ended up giving away what I did find and have a small regret I didn't keep at least one specimen. Near Mariana, the topaz mine use to let people collect their own Imperial Toapz for a fee. I don't know if it's still possible yet definitely worth investigating. I have also heard of people collecting in the creeks around Oro Preto which is on the way to Mariana. Have fun. I'm envious.
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RocknCritter
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2008
Posts: 489
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Post by RocknCritter on Apr 14, 2015 20:13:45 GMT -5
Seen one of those in a museum,a guy made it himself............Cool machine!!!!!!!!!!!! Cool. So can you explain what this thing does? Is it some type of semi-automatic faceting machine? I showed the listing to some folks last weekend at the Golden Spike Gem show. A lot were laughing. A lot.
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RocknCritter
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2008
Posts: 489
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Post by RocknCritter on Apr 14, 2015 20:11:39 GMT -5
Yes and no. I took faceting lessons two years ago and got through a couple of stones. Since then, I've been super busy either remodeling and selling my old house or remodeling the new place. I'm hoping to maybe buy a faceting machine this fall and pick-up where I left off. How about yourself?
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RocknCritter
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2008
Posts: 489
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Post by RocknCritter on Apr 11, 2015 21:05:22 GMT -5
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