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Post by tims on Feb 21, 2024 1:48:06 GMT -5
Those are nice and great polish. Hi from NE wyo
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Post by tims on Dec 4, 2023 20:06:51 GMT -5
that 10th one down, with all the pinks and oranges and big tan face and little quartz river running across the top of it, stole my heart. thanks for sharing.
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Post by tims on Dec 4, 2023 19:55:51 GMT -5
some stunners there thanks for sharing
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Post by tims on Dec 4, 2023 19:46:54 GMT -5
fun seeing them all rough and imagining how they might shape up. those are beautiful raw. thanks for sharing.
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Post by tims on Dec 2, 2023 18:57:38 GMT -5
Nobody has talked me out of starting this batch. I keep looking at the big nodules and wondering if I’m doing the right thing. all i know is if i keep drooling like this i'll die of dehydration.
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Post by tims on Nov 19, 2023 20:57:41 GMT -5
I have similar issues with some material, especially tepee canyon agate and some local Black Hills jaspers. Want to blame micro fractures. Some finish great, others hit a certain stage, usually pre or polish, and come out looking like they jumped off a cliff.
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Post by tims on Nov 19, 2023 20:49:02 GMT -5
Love #5. Several really beautiful stones there and all look great. Thanks for sharing!
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Post by tims on Nov 9, 2023 20:58:33 GMT -5
Beautiful depth in that green moss. Your dugways are neato. Thanks for all the eye candy
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Post by tims on Nov 4, 2023 4:46:10 GMT -5
Love the red fortification agate right in the center. Pretty selection of moss agate too. All Michigan stuff?
Thanks for sharing.
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Post by tims on Oct 10, 2023 1:54:25 GMT -5
Nasty reflections in the photo but hey no fractures. Little fiery red one.
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Post by tims on Oct 7, 2023 16:29:40 GMT -5
Broke it, glued it, cabbed it. Far from perfect but whatever. It has a vug of kinda cruddy looking tan calcite (i think) crystals that i may clean out of there.
I like the colors in that one! How are you going to clean out the vug? Yeah good question. It was very full of the tan crystal before i put it to the wheels and many came loose and fell out then. Might try digging them out manually. Also considering an acid bath but not sure the glue would appreciate that. This piece is turning into a "things you should know better than to try" project so i'll keep trying stuff until i know better.
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Post by tims on Oct 6, 2023 15:41:23 GMT -5
Broke it, glued it, cabbed it. Far from perfect but whatever. It has a vug of kinda cruddy looking tan calcite (i think) crystals that i may clean out of there.
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Post by tims on Oct 2, 2023 10:55:58 GMT -5
Nice selections! how wide is the tape for a sense of scale? "For size reference, the tape is one inch or 25.6 mm. "
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Post by tims on Sept 28, 2023 22:11:02 GMT -5
At least an hour, probably closer to 2. That's just time with the rock touching the wheels. 2 wheel arbor and mix of drum and wheels in assorted widths and from 6 to 10" diameter.
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Post by tims on Sept 5, 2023 21:55:23 GMT -5
the quartz in particular looks splendid and the photos really add charm to the stones.
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Post by tims on Aug 25, 2023 20:23:02 GMT -5
velodromed did your tepee agates arrive in that batch? Crud, somewhere along the line I must have either gotten them mixed up with graveyard agate, changed my mind, forgot to order them or…I really don’t know. I’ve had a lot of concussions and it shows at times. I'm guessing option 1 since i couldn't find tepees listed on the Richardson's website Looks like you've got enough goodies to keep you busy for awhile nonetheless, thanks for sharing.
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Post by tims on Aug 25, 2023 20:05:32 GMT -5
velodromed did your tepee agates arrive in that batch?
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Post by tims on Aug 19, 2023 15:23:24 GMT -5
Thanks velodromed . Like Jason i'm really curious to see the rough as well as your progress and results. They say you learn more from failure, so here are some pics of my fails from this load:
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Post by tims on Aug 19, 2023 13:40:37 GMT -5
Thank you for posting these, tims . I saw just in time to include some with my Richardson rocks order. The don’t look easy to polish but I love a challenge! Do you have any suggestions? Like is there anything you did during the process that you wish you hadn’t, or is there anything that you didn’t do that you wish you had? I see that you rolled them for three weeks in stage three grit, so no course or 2 stage? How do you think these would hold up and a vibratory tumbler? Many thanks! My suggestion would be to roll them as gently as possible, for as short a time as possible. 3# meant a 3 pound tumbler ... I rolled those in 80SiC for about 5 weeeks, then 10 days in 80 AO, a week in 500 AO, then a week in polish. Cracks and chips started developing at around 2 to 3 weeks in stage 1. I used small and medium ceramics (approx 1/5 of the load) from start up to polish, then swapped the ceramics for marbles i've used many times that have shrunk to 1/4" to 1/2" for polish stage. I have no idea how these would polish in a vibe ... it might be gentler than the rotary, or they might hate the vibratory action and fracture even worse. Curious to see your process and results.
I've thrown many tepees in with previous 12# loads and lost many to breakage, but a few have tumbled in loads with fairly large rocks (3"+) and came through unscathed. Some look completely free of fractures to start and literally come apart in the tumbler. Some look iffy but turn out fine (a very few). They're difficult to predict.
FWIW a friend of mine is currently running her first ever load, a batch of tepees we hounded together. She got a Natl Geo tumbler used from some rando at a gas station for $20 and started the batch week before last. That thing runs a fast speed for stage 1 and i thought it would just destroy her load, but she only ran stage 1 a few days and from pics it looked like her stones had smoothed out pretty well (not rounded out completely but smoothed) and the chip / fracture issues seemed far less severe than mine after a month plus. Really curious to see how her batch shapes up and polishes, and if she nails it on her first try i'll make her give me detailed notes after i cry in shame for an appropriate time.
Best of luck, and hope to hear how your batch progresses.
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Post by tims on Aug 10, 2023 15:37:25 GMT -5
Noooo. Wow it really came apart, my sincere condolences. FWIW that's a pretty wrap even with nothing in it <3
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