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Post by Bob on Feb 5, 2023 21:58:39 GMT -5
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rocknewb101
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2022
Posts: 1,368
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Post by rocknewb101 on Feb 6, 2023 8:47:09 GMT -5
very pretty - nice shine and shapes!!! I love the oolitic rocks - I'm always amazed at how the different patterns are formed - there's almost endless possibilities!
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hypodactylus
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2021
Posts: 467
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Post by hypodactylus on Feb 6, 2023 11:45:28 GMT -5
Closeup of the oolitic chert piece.
Love this piece! Not sure why, but I am very drawn to orb/eye shapes (and just round things in general, I guess). Very nice!
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dshanpnw
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2020
Posts: 1,071
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Post by dshanpnw on Feb 7, 2023 20:57:40 GMT -5
A very interesting batch. All of them are very nice, but I like the psilomelane. Metallic looking rocks are really neat. The oolitic is great. Thanks for sharing.
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Post by Bob on Feb 14, 2023 12:30:11 GMT -5
A very interesting batch. All of them are very nice, but I like the psilomelane. Metallic looking rocks are really neat. The oolitic is great. Thanks for sharing. Almost all of the psilomelane-laden rocks from that desert trip years ago are done. There are a few more that need some trimming to get rid of some big holes first. So it will probably be another year before they are all done. When they are, I hope to take a nice photo of them all together. They do attract attention from people who are over to my house. People reach for these first, and then remark about how heavy they are. One of my goals at the Quartzite show last month was to perhaps buy some pure psilomelane w/o breaking the bank, as I've only had some very tiny pieces of it in the past. But I wasn't really expecting to find any. Wow I came upon a vendor who only deals with it! It became clear after visiting with him that psilomelane is his world. I got some lemon size pieces from him and am doing some test first tumbles in 220 and 80 as I was afraid of losing too much in 60. He said it can be brittle too. I'm seeing some truly gorgeous patterns but all need some trimming. He knows perhaps more than anyone else I know about this material, but he claims that no way these rocks found in the desert that look this way can be mostly psilomelane. Yet a published desert rockhounder who lives in the areas says that they are. I hope to send photos in the near future to both of them to get this all settled out. One piece is quite large, over 20lbs I think, and tumbling it is proving to be a challenge. Hiking for a few miles carrying that thing was fun.
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