minerken
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2013
Posts: 466
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Post by minerken on Aug 21, 2020 10:19:10 GMT -5
So a friend sent these pics of a stone his girl friend has and asked me to I.D. for him/her. It appears to me to be some fossil with agate filling. He said it was purchased in Kansas not that that means it came from there. I have never seen any example of it before so does anyone have any clues.
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minerken
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2013
Posts: 466
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Post by minerken on Sept 15, 2019 19:34:59 GMT -5
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minerken
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2013
Posts: 466
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Post by minerken on Sept 15, 2019 17:25:02 GMT -5
I think it's dangerous to pronounce turquoise untreated just by eyeballing it. The Zachery Process is simply undetectable without destructive testing. No one can say exactly how much turquoise is treated these days but the amount is so great I just assume all I sell is treated. You are probably right I may have been too presumptuous. So that begs another question if you assume all is treated how do you set a price i.e. do you just charge the same treated or not? Does natural turquoise have a higher value or not. This is exactly why Turquoise is not in my "wheel house" I don't want to deal with something that deceptive.
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minerken
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2013
Posts: 466
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Post by minerken on Sept 15, 2019 16:18:08 GMT -5
minerken check you e-mail I sent you something. Thanks good info will archive for future reference for sure
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minerken
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2013
Posts: 466
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Post by minerken on Sept 15, 2019 11:24:17 GMT -5
So a good friend of mine sent me some turquoise to kind of sort of evaluate. Now turquoise is not in my wheel house but I feel confident that I can at least least authenticate it. It was sold to a client of his, actually gifted I think, and come in a small case marked Blue Diamond Mine 387.5 carats. It took only a glance for me to conclude that this was natural turquoise not stabalized ,enhanced or treated in any way and a very pleasing color. I am not familiar with all the mine varieties of Turquoise so Blue diamond was new to me. A quick search on ebay turned up a few results and after comparing it I think that it is probably typical for that mine. Brian is not looking to buy it the client wants him to do some wrapping and or smithing for resale. He would like to come up with a fair and reasonable trade value for his work i.e. she wants to trade a piece or so for his time etc. After comparing it to ebay samples I came up with a retail value of around $5/c but I am just not familiar enough to feel confident in that valuation. Here are a couple pics I took and are pretty good representations of color matrix etc. Disregarding his efforts and material costs ( that will be up to him) can anyone or everyone give us an idea of what you would consider a trade value ie $/carat for this material.
Biggest at 57mm x 20 + mm
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minerken
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2013
Posts: 466
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Post by minerken on Aug 3, 2019 12:45:40 GMT -5
My first impression was the same as Tommy 's and I think that there may still be some validity to it. I have tumbled lots of Montana''s and never had that happen. FWIW I think that the pebbles are the culprits I think they are causing micro impact craters I use only ceramics the 1/2" cylinders diagonal on each end 75% +. Flats are terrible for sticking together from surface tension so finding that just right slurry can be problematic I think it is better to check them every so often and break them apart than to have to loose of a slurry.
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minerken
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2013
Posts: 466
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Post by minerken on Aug 3, 2019 11:11:37 GMT -5
If that's the case then you are probably right binding up some place anyway.
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minerken
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2013
Posts: 466
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Post by minerken on Aug 3, 2019 10:43:51 GMT -5
Start capacitor may be fried.
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minerken
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2013
Posts: 466
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Post by minerken on Jul 17, 2019 20:09:55 GMT -5
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minerken
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2013
Posts: 466
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Post by minerken on Jul 17, 2019 20:03:36 GMT -5
rockjunquie that's one of those cheapo's from Kingsley about all I use unless I have some primium stuff which is not very often.
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minerken
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2013
Posts: 466
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Post by minerken on Jul 17, 2019 17:22:18 GMT -5
Had to go out and look at mine. I don't believe you need to buy the whole assembly
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minerken
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2013
Posts: 466
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Post by minerken on Jul 17, 2019 13:20:11 GMT -5
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minerken
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2013
Posts: 466
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Post by minerken on Jul 17, 2019 13:08:13 GMT -5
Since you have a rock rascal, what is the best way (easiest way) to clean it besides the plug. I have a hard time getting the sludge out. I don't know of an easy way. I use a narrow putty blade and take the saw blade off. I know the drain plug is too small IMO and have considered drilling it out and making it larger. Cleaning it is probably the biggest drawback of the saw but aren't they all a PITA really.
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minerken
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2013
Posts: 466
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Post by minerken on Jul 17, 2019 11:39:24 GMT -5
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minerken
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2013
Posts: 466
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Post by minerken on Jul 17, 2019 11:12:49 GMT -5
I would strongly suggest looking at this system. I started with one of these and although a little awkward compared to a full blown system it works very well up to about 30 x 40 cabs. You should be able to easily replace the SiC wheel with a diamond (with bushings), and other nova or genie type wheels.The spin on polishing head works well with SiC disks and polishing pads. You will never out grow the need for a trim saw so there is no loose there and they are good saws. Check e-bay and I'll bet you can find a good deal on one of these.
from the rock shed (Rock Rascal)
combo saw grinder image
Model T 6" Combination Lapidary Unit
$440.00
Model T - 6" Combination Lapidary Saw and Grinder *Made in USA
A portable combination unit complete with a 6" Pro-Slicer Diamond Blade, 6" silicon carbide grinding wheel, 6" aluminum head with sponge rubber pad, wet or dry silicon carbide sanding discs and a 6" felt polishing pad. It is powered by a 1/4 hp motor. One side cuts and trims, the other side grinds, sands and polishes. This is a good unit for faceters or anyone needing a complete, compact, portable lapidary unit to grind, cut and polish small stones.
See our shipping notes at the bottom of the page.
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minerken
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2013
Posts: 466
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Post by minerken on Jun 26, 2019 12:08:38 GMT -5
I have to agree with greig. Personally I buy the cheapest 6" blade I can, usually from Kingsely North and they seem to just go and go. I do use the stiffer blade though.
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minerken
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2013
Posts: 466
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Post by minerken on Jun 26, 2019 11:37:44 GMT -5
If I remember my mineralogy correctly, there are iron minerals that are green. Digging in to some dim memories but I seem to remember ferric iron is red/orange and ferrous iron shows up as a green mineral. I believe it has to do with the valence/charge on the particular assemblage. Could explain the smell? absolutely correct, common in marine sediments it depicts the oxidation state environment at the time of formation oxidation vs reduction where ferric iron is Fe2O3 and the ferrous is FeO. Not saying green MEJ is common just the process.
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minerken
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2013
Posts: 466
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Post by minerken on Jun 15, 2019 9:14:48 GMT -5
That is probably the nicest fire agate I have ever seen done.
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minerken
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2013
Posts: 466
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Post by minerken on Apr 29, 2019 16:14:28 GMT -5
to answer the question yes they bought out the owners. They also put the salvage rights up IIRC you signed up for a house paid a buck and had rights to salvage all you wanted before a destruction date, first come first serve.
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minerken
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2013
Posts: 466
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Post by minerken on Apr 29, 2019 13:10:08 GMT -5
Well now forum rock sex talk hum. Let me clarify something what I am talking about is not a single operation the Butte district is composed of many mines the Leonard being a shaft designation for only one. The Butte Hill as it is sometimes called is only a small area in the district. Most of these individual mines on the hill were actually connected at some point in time with underground tunnels/drives. The whole of the system is very complex although it is mostly known for copper ores it is said that recovery of precious metals gold, silver etc more than paid for the mining operations. As I said I have a very fond spot in my heart for Butte but I am far from being an expert. Back to rock sex it has been said that at one time there where 10,000 miners and 10,00 whores in Butte.
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