geoff59
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Post by geoff59 on Dec 7, 2022 13:17:44 GMT -5
Not long ago, I purchased a few pounds of agate rough I saw online, not knowing what to expect really. First off, the seller calling it “crazy lace” agate, even though it is from Georgia. The seller states me mines it himself. But I liked the looks of the rough in the photos. Well, this morning, the first batch came out of a 3 lb can, after it’s first week in 60/90, and I am now much more confident in this rough, and the potential it has. So far, I am concerned only about the reddish stone on the left margin in the top photo, looking to me like it will likely break in to a few pieces as this tumble goes onward. I thought I’d share my progress. Later on I will take a few pieces of the rough out, and add a photo of them to this thread. I guess I’ll try and make a progressive, step by step thread of this rock, for better or worse. Why not? It is all back in the can, with a fresh load of 60/90, on for another week or so.
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hypodactylus
spending too much on rocks
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Post by hypodactylus on Dec 7, 2022 13:30:18 GMT -5
Those are very nice! I like them!
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pebblesky
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Placed another order in rockshed. Happy 2024 everyone!
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Post by pebblesky on Dec 7, 2022 14:17:27 GMT -5
I am also keeping an eye on this "Summerville, Georgia Agate" for a while. They look beautiful to me as roughs.
I love the wet look of your tumbles! The bands are so intriguing. I'd be interested to see how they polish. From the photos available online and in RTH, I have an impression polishing these might be challenging.
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khara
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Post by khara on Dec 7, 2022 14:20:48 GMT -5
Very nice. 👍 Pretty material. I’ve seen that seller as well. Seems the material should have a different name. I’ve never used that tumbling media. Been several years but I always used grits. How do you like the media? Is it more cost effective than grit, is that the draw?
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geoff59
spending too much on rocks
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Post by geoff59 on Dec 7, 2022 18:16:29 GMT -5
Posted by pebblesky3 hours ago I am also keeping an eye on this "Summerville, Georgia Agate" for a while. They look beautiful to me as roughs. I love the wet look of your tumbles! The bands are so intriguing. I'd be interested to see how they polish. From the photos available online and in RTH, I have an impression polishing these might be challenging. 88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888 Here: when this rough showed up, I was curious as well. I took this piece out and put it through just a week of step 1. Then, I used a diamond bit on a dremel, along this one face, to smooth it out some and see how it looked and worked. Both good, I’d add. Then, it went back in the tumbler, in #220 for 10 days, followed by a week of #500 prepolish, and finally a week in TXP. The result is quite good, very glossy, almost glass-like, these 2 cellphone pics don’t do it justice. I was more than a little surprised! So I’m confident about the end result for anyone who buys some. I wasn’t even seriously trying. Of course now that I say that, Murphy will probably try to butt in. And the seller, maybe his next couple,or weeks will be a little better than normal too 😀. The single piece seen in these 2 pics, it’s either back in to step 1, or more likely I will put it to the flatlap and see how it does there. What might I create?
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Post by jasoninsd on Dec 7, 2022 18:17:32 GMT -5
Good golly those look gorgeous...because I'm a fortification junky! LOL
So, these look like they could be Summerville Agates...from Georgia. I've cabbed some...and if I remember correctly, they're a lot softer than an actual Crazy Lace Agate..
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brybry
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Post by brybry on Dec 7, 2022 18:27:32 GMT -5
From my understanding of the research I did to track down Summerville Agate, there is a shelf of banded agate that runs from the northwestern half of Ga, the north eastern side of AL and up into the southern to mid Tn.
Summerville Agate is a common name for it but in reality, it's due to a road construction company in Summerville GA, that mines it for road/driveway gravel and underlayment for road ways. The owner allows rockhounding on Sundays only and let's folks take as much as they want. It ranges from banded with common opal type host rock to banded with agate type host rock. Can find nodules too.
Not saying this guy doesn't mine it himself, he very well could but it could be a marketing thing and his " mining" is picking them out of the piles at the gravel yard.
Going back in Jan btw.
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brybry
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Post by brybry on Dec 7, 2022 18:33:24 GMT -5
Good golly those look gorgeous...because I'm a fortification junky! LOL So, these look like they could be Summerville Agates...from Georgia. I've cabbed some...and if I remember correctly, they're a lot softer than an actual Crazy Lace Agate.. A lot of folks just go and fill buckets without grading it. You likely got a chunck of opalized instead of agatized. You would be surprised how much I passed over the day I went. Could a filled a dozen monster dump trucks. If the host rock is an off yellow and it breaks into small squares or rectangles, it's the crappy opalized stuff.
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pebblesky
fully equipped rock polisher
Placed another order in rockshed. Happy 2024 everyone!
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Post by pebblesky on Dec 8, 2022 1:09:39 GMT -5
Posted by pebblesky3 hours ago I am also keeping an eye on this "Summerville, Georgia Agate" for a while. They look beautiful to me as roughs. I love the wet look of your tumbles! The bands are so intriguing. I'd be interested to see how they polish. From the photos available online and in RTH, I have an impression polishing these might be challenging. 88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888 Here: when this rough showed up, I was curious as well. I took this piece out and put it through just a week of step 1. Then, I used a diamond bit on a dremel, along this one face, to smooth it out some and see how it looked and worked. Both good, I’d add. Then, it went back in the tumbler, in #220 for 10 days, followed by a week of #500 prepolish, and finally a week in TXP. The result is quite good, very glossy, almost glass-like, these 2 cellphone pics don’t do it justice. I was more than a little surprised! So I’m confident about the end result for anyone who buys some. I wasn’t even seriously trying. Of course now that I say that, Murphy will probably try to butt in. And the seller, maybe his next couple,or weeks will be a little better than normal too 😀. The single piece seen in these 2 pics, it’s either back in to step 1, or more likely I will put it to the flatlap and see how it does there. What might I create? It looks super slick!
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jimmie
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Post by jimmie on Dec 8, 2022 5:25:57 GMT -5
I’ve tumbled a bunch, it’s pretty dang cool. Yours turned out very good!
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Post by rockjunquie on Dec 8, 2022 5:47:19 GMT -5
Those are gonna be outstanding! I do love the fortification. I never heard of Georgia "crazy lace", so thanks for posting this.
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waterboysh
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Post by waterboysh on Dec 8, 2022 10:06:35 GMT -5
From my understanding of the research I did to track down Summerville Agate, there is a shelf of banded agate that runs from the northwestern half of Ga, the north eastern side of AL and up into the southern to mid Tn. Summerville Agate is a common name for it but in reality, it's due to a road construction company in Summerville GA, that mines it for road/driveway gravel and underlayment for road ways. The owner allows rockhounding on Sundays only and let's folks take as much as they want. It ranges from banded with common opal type host rock to banded with agate type host rock. Can find nodules too. Not saying this guy doesn't mine it himself, he very well could but it could be a marketing thing and his " mining" is picking them out of the piles at the gravel yard. Going back in Jan btw. That's a shortish road trip for me. We usually go camping in northern GA sometime in the spring so I think we could try and go. Do you have any more info about the place?
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geoff59
spending too much on rocks
Member since October 2022
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Post by geoff59 on Dec 8, 2022 10:59:01 GMT -5
Very nice. 👍 Pretty material. I’ve seen that seller as well. Seems the material should have a different name. I’ve never used that tumbling media. Been several years but I always used grits. How do you like the media? Is it more cost effective than grit, is that the draw? Actually, I don’t know. I’ve never used anything but 60/90 for step 1, that I can recall, except back when I first got going with prepackaged grits “for a complete tumble step by step”. Unless it was something soft that starts at #180 or #220 as the first step. The only stuff I’ve experimented some with is different prepolishes, and final polishes.
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brybry
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Post by brybry on Dec 8, 2022 13:47:44 GMT -5
From my understanding of the research I did to track down Summerville Agate, there is a shelf of banded agate that runs from the northwestern half of Ga, the north eastern side of AL and up into the southern to mid Tn. Summerville Agate is a common name for it but in reality, it's due to a road construction company in Summerville GA, that mines it for road/driveway gravel and underlayment for road ways. The owner allows rockhounding on Sundays only and let's folks take as much as they want. It ranges from banded with common opal type host rock to banded with agate type host rock. Can find nodules too. Not saying this guy doesn't mine it himself, he very well could but it could be a marketing thing and his " mining" is picking them out of the piles at the gravel yard. Going back in Jan btw. That's a shortish road trip for me. We usually go camping in northern GA sometime in the spring so I think we could try and go. Do you have any more info about the place? Rockhounding Sunday only, take as much as you want, don't mess with the equipment, drop off a liability agreement in the mailbox behind the office. I have the address at home, I'll try to remember to send it tonight.
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lapidarycentral
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Post by lapidarycentral on Dec 8, 2022 15:47:47 GMT -5
That is pretty neat! Did not even know this existed! I ordered some on eBay after seeing this, can't wait to try it!
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quartzilla
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Post by quartzilla on Dec 8, 2022 17:23:23 GMT -5
Great to hear about a rockhound friendly quarry. So many places are off limits due to liability and frivolous lawsuits.
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waterboysh
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Post by waterboysh on Dec 12, 2022 9:40:43 GMT -5
Rockhounding Sunday only, take as much as you want, don't mess with the equipment, drop off a liability agreement in the mailbox behind the office. I have the address at home, I'll try to remember to send it tonight. I've done a little research and not sure what's going on with this place. The name is Patty Construction Quarry. They don't seem to have a website. I found several Internet discussions where people said you have to message them on Facebook and they'll send you a waiver to fill out. But the only Facebook page I can find is called Patty Construction and says they are permanently closed. The page was last updated 9 months ago.
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brybry
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Post by brybry on Dec 12, 2022 14:26:51 GMT -5
They are open. I had to download my own liability waiver. Unless the owner died or something catastrophic happened, they aren't closed.
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geoff59
spending too much on rocks
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Post by geoff59 on Dec 13, 2022 9:43:32 GMT -5
The info on the locale and access is being noted! Tomorrow, I will be opening this batch up again, which will be the end of week 2/step 1. I will be posting again soon.
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brybry
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Post by brybry on Dec 13, 2022 20:41:16 GMT -5
Rockhounding Sunday only, take as much as you want, don't mess with the equipment, drop off a liability agreement in the mailbox behind the office. I have the address at home, I'll try to remember to send it tonight. I've done a little research and not sure what's going on with this place. The name is Patty Construction Quarry. They don't seem to have a website. I found several Internet discussions where people said you have to message them on Facebook and they'll send you a waiver to fill out. But the only Facebook page I can find is called Patty Construction and says they are permanently closed. The page was last updated 9 months ago. My wife reminded me that my trip there was roughly 2 months ago.
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