stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 24, 2014 11:05:17 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum lagniappe.. There's a few posts on using either a dremel or drill to hold diamond burrs or cut-off wheeels to shape/pre-shape/drill stones. Usually in the "Home made Equipment" area. I used a dremel to make a grooving tool for wire wrapping. Just remember to use water and wear a dust mask! Also used one with a 2 1/2" cutoff wheel to preshape stones prior to tumbling until I made a diamond stone grinder out of five 4 1/2" diamond cut-off wheels stacked. And I like your forum name..
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 24, 2014 1:14:48 GMT -5
We have CNG "gas stations" for autos here now. Not many, but some. Biggest problem is city or town regs keeping them from inside city limits. Big pressurized tanks scare people I guess. The folks driving the cars/trucks that use the CNG have to drive 15-25 miles to refuel. The Honda conversions get 60+ mpg when they only got 30-40 on normal gasoline. Looks good except for the distance between "gas stations". Fracting and horizontal (circular possible if I was paying attention properly) drilling has increased gas pressures and availability quite a bit from what used to be done....and also can screw up up the water table as it has shown here. All this local drilling and especially the support companies have provided enough jobs to keep central Arkansas from hardly feeling the recession. Enough increased road use tax from fuels to keep Little Rock busy improving the upper class areas roads and accesses to the freeways and downtown too. They have made so much extra fuel tax funds that there are even fancy motifs on the overpass support pilings on the 430-630 interchanges. It would be rough to have just plain concrete on those that the upper crust would have to stare at driving to downtown LR at 9am to go to work....(it's just a pet peeve of mine to see the tax dollars spent on these damn things,,,ok?) If I had to make a choice of which one would screw up people the most... between a business going plumb crazy if they were unregulated and exploiting in a harmful way or the govt entities spending folks into the grave...I would put my money on the govt screwing me first....ohhh...wait! I done won that bet.. never mind :/
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 23, 2014 19:53:00 GMT -5
They fought the Alaskan Pipeline tooth and nail. failures and spills have been few. "They"..both in Canada and the US will fight this one too. Currant administration in both countries will knuckle under to the loudest voices on the leftwing media. There's a proven track record of fast spill containment. Both can be accomplished. As long as neither side is given total sway. Remove regulations on strip mining and there would be a deep and wide rip across most of Arkansas with owners leaving the mess for the local/fed govts to clean up after depleting the ores and resources. But by the same token...clamp down so hard it's never possible to dig a garden in your own yard without filing an EPA report listing all the possible worst case scenarios and your food prices will skyrocket. Ditto for dwindling gas/oil well production as wells age. Quite frankly I don't want to live in a cave, although I more then likely could way more successfully then 99.999% of all the tree-huggers. It's balance we need....priorities to set. We need energy production..period!....and ways to get it refined and to market. We also need safe ways to do this with regs in place to contain the doo-doo happening and who is responsible for costs involved. We need jobs...decent paying jobs...minimum wage or volunteer jobs reseeding a burnt forest are ok for the tree-huggers. I hope they take all the open spots.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 21, 2014 22:41:08 GMT -5
I agree..Exxon and crews showed up the next day with the booms and got started...just after they knuckled under to the EPA chuckleheads sent over to investigate and "co-ordinate". EPA morons should have let the Exxon emergency spill crews do their thing. It vastly overwhelmed the local spill emergency folks from fire departments and even FEMA/ADEM resources available locally. Big spill. But you can't hardly find a black muddy ball anywhere now. They cleaned it 99.9999% up. I was amazed. Only problem now is the drop in property values for the folks who were allowed back into their homes after a couple of months..values dropped 40%. And I ain't sure what Exxon will do with the 4 or 5 maybe 6 homes they bought where the worst was. Only thing I am sure of is...the vulture lawyers are stacked 10 deep and still circling. And cackling gleefully while rubbing their hands together. It was very close to the same area in Mayflower... or the very same area.. that got wiped off the map by this years April 27th F4 tornado. Those folks just didn't catch a break.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 21, 2014 22:03:03 GMT -5
Don't know what color the turbine pumper was, I stayed away from that road..just tried to ignore the 75db sound level inside my house. It was about 1/4 mile away. It soon stopped and they took it home I guess. There were probably 20 families living within a half mile of it. I don't know what HP/thrust rating it was, but it was kinda loud. It's bad enough with the huge multiple diesel fracting rigs when they are 1/8 mile away. But that jet engine was nasty loud.
Biggest problem with Mayflower crud spill was NOBODY knew who's line it was or where it ran...or even how to shut it down. Last time they did some work on it was down in Maumelle when they moved a section of it for a lake. And that was back in the late 60's or early 70's. It's an old old pipeline. I think all the old timer oil folks who knew where and what it was had either died off or retired years ago. Although...Exxon knew it was somewhere and was still using it. Arkansas has a lot of OLD oil production in the south...gas production now across the middle northish area. I'm betting there will be more attention paid now to drilling/transporting regs coming from our illustrious representatives in downtown Little Rock. And refresher courses on which pipeline runs where..there's Ammonia lines..Bromine lines and crud pipelines all over this state... with 2 nice little 30" or 36" new gas high pressure collection lines running through Arkansas just about one mile north of my place now. I'm betting our PSC is still burning the midnite oil to get back up to speed on just what runs where now....maybe.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 21, 2014 15:24:23 GMT -5
Spills are going to be a fact from time to time....we are human and don't make stuff totally indestructible. And by the same vein, the oil companies should be held responsible for clean up. And monitoring conditions of equipment. But I hold no sympathies for anyone who would knowingly sabotages a pipeline or pump station in the name of "Green Power"..none...it's criminal and should be prosecuted....and the offenders if caught be put to cleaning up the mess...without protective gear! I do believe in recycling...if nothing else just to keep more trash out of landfills. I don't litter..look in my floorboards almost anytime.. lol I keep a fairly low carbon footprint...just to avoid higher costs to my pocketbook. But just for a recent example... this is a "small" spill that happened about 30 miles from where I live. Original release by oil company stated that approx 200-400 gallons of crude "may" have been released. Latest estimates put it between 4,000 to 7,000 BARRELS. A rip in the Pegasus Pipeline about 22 foot long and over 6 foot deep underground occurred lengthwise in the pipe. Pipeline was buried many years ago and now has houses built on top of it .. records lost or ignored...who knows now. The rip/split was from metal fatigue...or overpressure? Anyway...it occurred. Took months for everybody from EPA to Exxon emergency spill crews to clean up. It was barely contained in a cove of the lake before it got out into a 680 acre lake. And over 1/2 mile from it's start inbetween a couple of folks houses. Those 5 or 6 homes closest have not as of yet 1 1/2 years later been released for human habitation. Oil and crude spills are not a good thing no matter how ya look at it. This one cost millions and millions to clean up. The oil company involved has not paid all costs yet. And SURE screwed up traffic on I-40 for weeks with all the lookie-lou's and idiots slowing down to take their 50th look at what was going on. Mayflower oil spill 2013We do need to take care of this old rock we live on....it's the only one we have. But we need priorities set...not necessarily humans first...bur for damn sure not a painted desert tortoise or spotted gecko first before human survival.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 20, 2014 23:57:27 GMT -5
All of the crap water they pump out or is forced out of the wells falls under EPA regs once it hits the surface. There's a lot of contaminants in it. Every thing from Lead to Bromine appears in the water coming out of the wells here. They "normally" get to re-inject the stuff back down into the earth at the injection wells drilled specially for it...and DEEP wells too. About 15,000 ft deep. My only gripe with them doing it here was dropping it into the known to them fault line. In stable areas it normally presents no major problems. Now they have to gather it here and truck it to Oklahoma to the stable rock areas... now. The fracting at low drill depths has caused a few problems locally....it's "legal" though. The thing I never cared for is the insistent gas companies refusal to admit anything...ever! Even caught with their pants down on video. But I guess that's a definite legal safety option. Lots of "smaller to not-so-small" infractions by the sub-contractors for the major companies were blown off by the majors saying.."that's not us...that's our sub's" That's not even a legal cop-out. Drilling business around here is done on the "if ya color mostly within the lines and just sometimes go outside...it's legal". And the biggest problem is ..there wasn't many laws affecting fracting. It was new technology. Hadn't been done much even in the southern Ark oil fields. Hadn't been much drilling since the big oil boom down by Smackover, Ar. They did drill and originally find the Fayetteville Shale back in the mid-late 60's here...but the drilling was straight down. The new technology allowing down and then horizontal drilling and fracting is fairly new. The whole drilling tower is computer controlled now...with 24/7 satellite links back to the main offices. (I know this cuz I wired over 20 trailers with auto deploying 2 way sat dishes on top of them) And that jet engine powered fracting pump will never be active back in Ar. It got outlawed from causing over 90db noise levels inside people's homes 1/4 mile away. They knew it would make that kind of noise and tried to use it anyway..that idea fizzled. Sure made a short 2 day job of fracting 3 wells on the same pad though instead of maybe 2 weeks with the 5 to 8 huge diesel engine pumps. They (driller companies) do keep the roads up where they break them down out on the secondary and gravel roads now. After getting a lot of large bills sent to them by the counties involved. Those 100K+ pound drill towers can mess a road up quick. It's getting better....but only by being forced by the law. It shouldn't have to be a forced compliance...they are making millions from this gas. But they would rather spend $100,000 on lawyers then pay a little $1000 fine or do what is required by law. They just use brute force tactics they know they will get called sharply on...when they know better. I care little for their business model. And unfortunately...it's the big major companies that anyone in the business (or is slightly conscious even) will know. Fortunately our Arkansas politicians know who elects them. But overall this gas boom has been good for the local economy. The recession wasn't as bad here. And there's been thousands of new-ish jobs opened. But there has been a price that still hasn't been faced or even quantified yet. The gas/oil folks have cleaned up their act since the days in the 40's-50's-60's since they left a 1/4 mile dead black soil circle where they drilled...even without a gusher well. It's getting better. But still has problems. The next low-boy driver that backs up onto my embankment and unloads a huge track-hoe and tears up the whole hillside is gonna still be laying there when someone comes looking for him..of course the drilling company denied any responsibility of course. They still deny causing the earthquakes..it's an act of nature...right? It's just not a good business model.. In my opinion of course.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 19, 2014 13:48:18 GMT -5
The gas drillers didn't drill water wells around for the fracting/drilling water. They bought and brought water from creeks, ponds..lakes from local farmers. Pumped it up to 1 1/2 miles away too. Quite an engineering job at times. The gas and oil bearing blue shale layers are about 1000 feet down..to 1500 feet down around here...just above that is very porous red shale and very tilted broken sandstone and limestone layers ..just above that is the Rubidoux Sand water bearing layer (well water) with more tilted sandstone above that. The fracting chemicals are up in the groundwater now..most water wells around here are from 150 ft to 300 ft deep and that trip up thru the porous layers went fast into the local well water. And no...they do not have to release info on proprietary fracting chemicals used in Arkansas..Okla..Texas...Wyoming and some more states...period! Lawsuits for over 20 years have proven that. I live in Arkansas...right in the middle of the Fayetteville Shale Play. The really deep injection wells where they pumped the waste water back down were located smack dab in the faults they found when doing the seismic testing. The gas companies knew the faults were there, the state did not..neither did the USGS...it's just easier pumping into a cracked up rock then solid. It caused earthquakes. I am so happy to live less then 1/8 mile of a "new" known fault line. It was "illuminated" by the earthquake line in 2011 to 2012...probably just co-incidence that it has those 2 injection wells smack dab on top of it ain't it? The larger earthquakes mostly stopped within days after the PSC outlawed all injection well use in the whole state. The 2 injection wells within one mile of my place are now just $7M+ each flat spots. And it's all due to money and saving money and what lengths some companies are allowed to go. Because just like any company in the last 40 years...the gas and oil companies will stretch laws to the max. Ask some Silicon Valley folks how good their groundwater is now. Not oil/gas related strictly...but greed none-the-less. Bean counters are going to be the ruin of business. But transcedental is wrong in one thing...the gas/oil folks were smacked plenty hard by the State and Fed EPA folks on "above ground" infractions around here. Waste water trucks with the dumps open was one thing they got fined plenty over but it never stopped until the drivers were personally fined. So was leaking crap from trucks and drill rigs. Also rain water runoff from pad sites. After 3 months most of the drillers cleaned up their act. Support companies are still another matter....even now. I worked with most of the major driller companies from day one almost..everything from remodeling large offices to hooking power up at the drill sites...for over 5 years. I've made some money with them. But I'm not a fan from what they do until forced to do it right.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 19, 2014 12:58:10 GMT -5
I used my large 3" diameter metal T-post driver turned upside down on the ground and one of my steel 5' long digging bars to whack some rocks a bit smaller a few weeks ago. A few drops of the bar and it breaks fist sized rocks a bit smaller. Several drops and it WILL make small gravel! Not as precise as a hammer can accomplish usually...but faster. I just raise the bar and let it drop...not letting plumb go (loose hands just around the bar) so ya can control the bar after it hits bottom and wants to tip over. It also contains the busted rocks well. No flying all over. Safety glasses still required though.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 19, 2014 0:34:32 GMT -5
A few folks pepper spray him/her it will make that bear want a lot less to even see humans. The old fashioned Mace spray will even quicker. But it looked to me like someone had taken a ham n cheese sandwich along for the hike... if it had been a sardine sandwich..pepper spray might not have worked even.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 19, 2014 0:25:07 GMT -5
My wild dog (that Fox) isn't much threat to my cat...she's backed down 2 pitbulls already, one was known for being a cat killer. She rules this yard. Only thing she seems skittish of is coyotes. She will stay on the porch close when she hears a bunch of them....probably for good reason. But the coyotes won't come within 100 feet of this house....again, probably for good reason. Coyotes and Skunks are about the only wild critters I don't have much use for. But I tolerate the Skunks. mostly.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 19, 2014 0:12:29 GMT -5
We have 3 natural gas wells within 1/4 mile of my place...fracting caused hundreds of small earthquakes....the injection wells where they put the nasty water back in really really deep caused several not-so-small earthquakes. I had a 4.R one day..two days later a 4.7R which will shake your eye teeth when less then one mile of epicenter...and hundreds of smaller but definitely! feel-able earthquakes...State suspended their rights to use injection wells... earthquakes pretty much stopped. But even before they were drilling in this area and everyone was sooooooo glad to get the drilling money in circulation... I warned folks about the fracting process and their water wells... water table has dropped over 75 feet locally... many wells went dry. And what wasn't dry had funny taste and smells to water. Some within 1/8 mile of the drill sites are totally unusable even for livestock or gardens. Folks tried to force state to make drillers release fracting compounds they use in the water/sand mixture they use....NO DICE! It's a proprietary method. State went hand in hand with drillers. EPA won't force the drillers to release info...it's used "deeper" then the limit on ground water chemical allowances and even though some of the chemicals have been known for years and are on the classified list as possible to known dangers...it's allowed. Biggest problem I have with the whole deal is...the mineral rights to this 5+ acres was sold off 40 years ago and I haven't got my piece of the action LOL... except earthquake action...and dozens of large driller rigs going by daily. County did force the drilling companies to fix this gravel road though after they tore it all up..it's a downright nice chip-seal smooth road now. All of which proves absolutely nothing....except money talks louder to politicians then their voters. Except we DID get the injection wells shutdown but only through starting lawsuits on the little appointed state fellers but then we are still back to the money talkin...this time it would be their own personal dollars though.. Fracting ruined the underground water here...no doubt..no question to that. It will take decades for that to heal where it's usable.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 16, 2014 21:47:45 GMT -5
I don't have a dog here..I do have a fox that barks at me if I don't set out some dog food or scraps for her at least every other day though. She's a bit skittish and won't let me get within 30-40 feet though. I do have a cat ...she's an outdoor cat. She rules this yard. lol
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 16, 2014 17:49:38 GMT -5
The save the planet folks have some good points...the conservationists have allowed us to have large national parks to use and enjoy. Many state parks. I believe in recycling..and do. But it's the CO2 folks and global warming thieves I have a problem with... and folks who would rather see humans go extinct...except themselves of course...then admit they know very little about the true impact of any minuscule man made effects. If it sounds like it may fit their personal agenda..it's included blindly in the bucket too. Their "Ice core" data is taken out of context...actually for over 90% plus of the time recorded in the cores taken from ALL over the world...this old ball of rocks has been well warmer then it is now. We are just coming out of a very cold spell in time....the green folks just show data from 1900 till now to educate us peons on what is going on....and make their theory plausible....and it's NOT my data....it's theirs! It's the money grubbing scientists that ride the latest media fad I have a problem with. It's the media that will sell a story at any cost I have a problem with. It's politicians who sell their pet theory to gain media attention and $$ I have a problem with. Farmers in most of Cali Imperial Valley have been supported with welfare water from govt support from since back in the 30's...with "allotments" that are like the "govt" tobacco allotments. Hard to get unless you are a corporate entity with large deep pockets or friend to those in power. I have little sympathy for Cali water problems...they have been living artificially for years. Talking about something not green! And while golf courses, resorts and cities are allowed to keep watering like there's nothing wrong...and plain citizens and farmers are rationed severely I have little respect for the voters in that state. This little ball of water and rocks is all we have...we do need to take care of it..But we need to actually SEE some priorities taken care of first.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 16, 2014 11:13:18 GMT -5
Won't cause any argument with me...been telling folks to not believe every word they hear coming from "the highly learned...but $$ seeking" exploitists getting the news coverage. It's a high dollar income for some folks...the blindly following masses are just Lemmings who would follow any one that expounds a "Green Theory and it's all man's fault".
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 14, 2014 18:55:12 GMT -5
I use borax (and 2-4 drops of dish soap) between every stage to clean the stones and barrels. But I'm thinking it could possibly polish too. Borax contains Boron..Mohs hardness of 9.5..that's just below diamonds!. Couldn't tell ya if it breaks down in to a bit of that atomically....but borax dissolves in water quite nicely or we wouldn't have the huge deposits of Borax in Calif. And softer substances will certainly wear lots harder stuff down...just slower. Cerium oxide has a mohs hardness of 6..it polishes garnet....slowly! Also polishes Jasper and Agate (mohs 7) nicely. I'm tending to think borax does help *clean*..(Burnishing is actually the plastic deformation of a surface due to sliding contact with another object.) and does a slight bit of actually polishing/wearing away. I'm also thinking a mild soap (a surfactant) with the borax in the cleaning cycle will help keep the smaller grits in suspension in the water so it will wash out better....just like your clothes in the washer.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 12, 2014 0:08:39 GMT -5
Well...it seems to be about the same time ..June 13-15 Rock show
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 11, 2014 9:03:55 GMT -5
That air reconnaissance will work poorly until bad weather..then not at all. But never fear..the bill for it will show up in petroleum prices.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 11, 2014 8:55:35 GMT -5
Oh yeah...I have a kitchen. Usually keep a mostly stocked up pantry too. I even cook up a mess of Paella once er twice a year. I have cooked recipes (successfully I might add) from all around the world.... except blubber..can't imagine how to use that stuff. I'll pass.. and just stick with using pancetta. I also have a lot of dishes to wash every few days....and counters to clean and disinfect...and bamboo floors to sweep and mop. And that's just the kitchen and dining room. I also have 4 loads of laundry to do a week....and I do NOT know how one man can make that much dirty laundry...doesn't seem possible. I also get the extreme privilege of mowing and trimming up this 2+ acres of yard in the warmer weather. The wooded 3 acres can take care of itself. I am forced to do all the grocery shopping...although reluctantly at todays prices. Ditto for clothes, shoes, socks, and shorts....for razor blades to roller skates. Pay bills.. ohhh heck...I almost forgot I'm single now. And can't afford maid service..... Might explain why I get to accomplish all this by myself. All this also cuts deeply into my stone finding, sawing and polishing and fishin time...unfortunately. But giving up on eating good foods doesn't seem to be a viable option at the present time.. So I persevere.. mostly.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 10, 2014 23:08:24 GMT -5
I just pigged out on some rather good Curried Chicken. The more/less southern India type.... sweeter type with Coconut Milk and Yoghurt. But with more then a light touch of Madras Hot Curry in it. And lots of Garam Masala. All slow simmered and then slopped over some decent Basmati rice. And there wasn't anyone around that could say "And I helped".. I make this type or a similar Curry about once a month. From scratch...except I didn't make the Madras or Garam powders...or the coconut milk...or yoghurt.... but I mixed and sautéed heck outa them. It will put a good feeling in a full belly. And...yes... I cook for myself like this 2-3 times a week. I spoil myself with good foods. I forgot to start the bread dough earlier in afternoon...so the Naan bread was conspicuous by it's absence..
|
|