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Post by woodman on Apr 24, 2019 22:43:32 GMT -5
Probably just keep it the way it or give it away!
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Post by woodman on Apr 24, 2019 22:09:04 GMT -5
Your slab has motivated me to dig out all the dendritic burro creek I got and fire up the saw this weekend, hopefully they are half as nice as your slab. Post some photos when you get some cut! BE INTERESTED IN WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!
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Post by woodman on Apr 24, 2019 14:03:13 GMT -5
I also go with the Burro Creek sunset agate. Pretty whatever it is.
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Post by woodman on Apr 23, 2019 17:40:11 GMT -5
Picked up pretty good size chunk of an unknown agate in Prineville a few years ago. Got around to taking a few slabs off of it and g ot thins one polished today.
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Post by woodman on Apr 20, 2019 21:14:40 GMT -5
Here is another Buchanan I cut today. Noticee the crystal points in the close up.
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Post by woodman on Apr 18, 2019 20:51:45 GMT -5
I would say all the way thru
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Post by woodman on Apr 18, 2019 20:28:38 GMT -5
Now you're just teasing us. I find it irresistible to put a window somewhere so I can glimpse the treasure inside. OK, I lapped a face and polished it. did not take all of the defects out and photo is not the best. Looks like I did not get all the polish cleaned off.
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Post by woodman on Apr 14, 2019 11:14:11 GMT -5
These are a bit different.
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Post by woodman on Apr 14, 2019 9:46:14 GMT -5
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Post by woodman on Apr 13, 2019 20:30:32 GMT -5
woodman Bob, do you have a dome shaped head on your rig, and what RPM are you running? No, mine is flat, 100 % wool carpet on top of 1/2 inch carpet pad material. the larger the diameter the slower the RPMs that you ant to run. mine is about 36 RPM.
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Post by woodman on Apr 12, 2019 20:35:42 GMT -5
I find that 100% WOOL CARPET Works the best for polishing.
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Post by woodman on Apr 11, 2019 20:58:44 GMT -5
Today's egg, another unknown Richardson's
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Post by woodman on Apr 11, 2019 12:06:52 GMT -5
Got this Richardson's Ranch egg cut yesterday.
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Post by woodman on Apr 7, 2019 18:24:19 GMT -5
Got this one off the polisher today !
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Post by woodman on Apr 3, 2019 20:01:23 GMT -5
To remove the nibs left by a slab saw all i usse is a 4 inch diamond blade on an angle grinder. works great for shaping also.. search thru all my posts and you will find photos of my flat lap and polisher. on the real large slabs I do use the hand held polishers and diamond pads to prep and polishing pad with cerium oxide to polish. You can never have too much equipment. have fun! Thank you Woodman. This is the route I'd like to take. Would appreciate knowing which angle grinder models you've used reliably. I'd like to find an angle grinder that has a good variable speed range. I have read several of your posts in the past on hand-held polishers, it helped me develop my present system of sanding/polishing large slabs. All I use for 4 inch angle grinders are the cheap ones from harbour freight. don't need variable speed on them
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Post by woodman on Apr 3, 2019 13:18:16 GMT -5
I drove dealer loaner a few weeks ago and found all the electronics to be very distracting. the only thing I really liked was the blind spot warning system. The worst was the orange light telling me to keep both hands on the steering wheel.
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Post by woodman on Mar 30, 2019 17:11:10 GMT -5
Check web site to se if Richardson's diggings will be open, first of april may not be, especially this year. They always have tons of rocks at the shop which is always open.
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Post by woodman on Mar 29, 2019 13:14:43 GMT -5
Tom - Thanks for the tip on 8". What specific equipment do you recommend? There is an 8" Covington variable speed grinder-polisher for around $930 shipped. I have not used this type of equipment. I'd like an economical option if I can find it, but I realize the bigger the wheel the better for most applications. I have ruled out flat laps for polishing the slabs I have. They are mostly rare material, some stress fractures which I seal. My understanding is that flat laps are great for thick slabs or faced nodules that can be weighted down, and this is not safe for the slabs I have so I have opted for a handheld polisher method. This requires a flat slab though, with the saw nibs removed, so I need to remove them prior to polishing, and also grind around the edges helps chipping during polishing. I was hoping I could get away with a handheld grinder of some type as opposed to a large Covington and wonder if there is some mid-range option I can consider. Larry - The slabs I am polishing range from 13" down to 2.5", but most are 6-11" in length and 4-8" in width. Many are 1/4" thick, but some are closer to 4mm and some are 6-7mm. Mostly Mohs scale 6.5-7 material. For the size of slabs you are talking about, a bull wheel would work it you are capable of holding the heaver slabs while sanding on them even a 13 inch slab can get heavy depending on how thick it is. I start slabs on my flat lap to remove saw marks, then move to a bull wheel with 100 grit belt, then to 220 grit belt, then go to a 400 grit belt. at this stage they look pretty good but do not have a good polish. I then take them to my rotary polish machine and run them until I am happy with the polish. Like I said before, I knock off the nibs with 4 inch diamond blade on angle grinder before I put them on the flat lap. hope this gives you some idea of how I process slabs!
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Post by woodman on Mar 29, 2019 9:49:06 GMT -5
To remove the nibs left by a slab saw all i usse is a 4 inch diamond blade on an angle grinder. works great for shaping also..
search thru all my posts and you will find photos of my flat lap and polisher. on the real large slabs I do use the hand held polishers and diamond pads to prep and polishing pad with cerium oxide to polish.
You can never have too much equipment. have fun!
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Post by woodman on Mar 19, 2019 21:47:28 GMT -5
woodman , in the bottom photo what are those parallel lines running from 10 o'clock to 4 o'clock? They're not saw marks are they? I also notice there's a bit of a chevron pattern hiding in there? They are saw marks, i was sharpening the blade and got these marks, the others are water lines. when i finished sharpening it, it was cutting a lot smoother.
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