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Post by velodromed on Jul 27, 2023 20:18:55 GMT -5
This one is really interesting. I see quartz, feldspar and a lot of dark red coloring inside. I’m used to finding quartz and feldspar here in central Texas…but not combined like this with such dark red coloring (heavy iron oxide?). It’s been through several course tumbles now and I think it’s nearly done. I don’t want to lose to much of the ‘shallow characteristics’. I can’t wait to see how it polishes up in the vibe.   |
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Post by velodromed on Jul 27, 2023 20:27:06 GMT -5
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Post by velodromed on Jul 27, 2023 20:37:27 GMT -5
‘The Kidney Bean’ I can’t believe I’ve been tumbling this cool piece of Jasper off and on for well over a year! It’s one of the first rocks that really caught my eye when we began rock hunting. It’s taken so many course cycles to get to this point that it’s lost over a 1/4th of its size. For the most part it’s done now. I could try to get a few more of the imperfections out but will probably leave it be.   |
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Post by velodromed on Jul 27, 2023 21:15:31 GMT -5
We found two of these back in May and I’ve been tumbling them off and on since. Even though they look like Montana agates, they are not. The kid and I found both here in San Antonio, inside fossilized coral or sponge chunks (we think) that we found at construction digs. So cool what we find literally in our own back yard!  |
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Post by velodromed on Aug 4, 2023 15:38:24 GMT -5
Roadside Find I found this one on the side of the road near my house. It looks like a Jasper with banding and vaguely reminds me of a Bahia. I just threw it in a barrel and can’t wait to see how it tumbles. The first two pictures are dry, the third wet.  |
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Time
starting to spend too much on rocks
Making something positive out of COVID restrictions by learning to create jewelry out of stones.
Member since September 2021
Posts: 154
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Post by Time on Aug 4, 2023 15:58:50 GMT -5
Looking good! I mainly tumble my finds from West of Austin and am starting to get some better results. Many of the stones I have tumbled so far have had too many fractures to spend more time on but another hounding outing is in the works. Seeing what showed up after tumbling is the main reward since I don’t really have a market for tumbled rocks.
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Post by velodromed on Aug 5, 2023 8:47:41 GMT -5
Looking good! I mainly tumble my finds from West of Austin and am starting to get some better results. Many of the stones I have tumbled so far have had too many fractures to spend more time on but another hounding outing is in the works. Seeing what showed up after tumbling is the main reward since I don’t really have a market for tumbled rocks. Thanks! We’ve only managed two rock hounding trips in the last year (one to the Llano River, and the other in Washington, state) because of surgeries and other issues. Luckily, San Antonio tends to import tons of rocks from all over Texas to use for construction. So we get to hunt rock all over town. And then there are construction digs where we find amazing rocks and fossils hidden inside calcified crud. I love the petrified wood that we find all over and is amazing. I recently found one that’s the size of a fireplace log. It was buried in a dirt parking lot just the tip sticking out. I have bought a lot of rock and enjoy tumbling different agates and such. Natures Treasures there in Austin is a blast to explore and we must’ve spent two hours there. But the stuff we find is way more exciting so I tend to photograph and spend more time on it. And there are a lot of issues with cracks. I just let my rebel 17 turn and churn. About 20% of what we find gets thrown in the yard after a few tumbles, but much of it is really good. |
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Time
starting to spend too much on rocks
Making something positive out of COVID restrictions by learning to create jewelry out of stones.
Member since September 2021
Posts: 154
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Post by Time on Aug 5, 2023 9:10:13 GMT -5
The rocks I find are the most fun also. I acquired a 4 wheel cabbing unit so the money I spend on rocks is on slabs that I like. I have enough of those for some time since practice cabbing will have to wait for cooler days. An early morning outing to gather up some tumbling rocks is going to happen pretty soon though.
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Post by velodromed on Aug 5, 2023 10:13:49 GMT -5
The rocks I find are the most fun also. I acquired a 4 wheel cabbing unit so the money I spend on rocks is on slabs that I like. I have enough of those for some time since practice cabbing will have to wait for cooler days. An early morning outing to gather up some tumbling rocks is going to happen pretty soon though. I would love to get a cabbing machine and will someday. It just looks like a lot of fun, something I can get into. I need to get a better saw first though. Thinking a rock rascal round Christmas time. This heat is a killer. Too hot to look for rocks, too hot to run my RC cars ugh. I used to love the heat, but now it makes my skin feel like it’s melting off.  |
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Time
starting to spend too much on rocks
Making something positive out of COVID restrictions by learning to create jewelry out of stones.
Member since September 2021
Posts: 154
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Post by Time on Aug 5, 2023 11:30:05 GMT -5
The rocks I find are the most fun also. I acquired a 4 wheel cabbing unit so the money I spend on rocks is on slabs that I like. I have enough of those for some time since practice cabbing will have to wait for cooler days. An early morning outing to gather up some tumbling rocks is going to happen pretty soon though. I would love to get a cabbing machine and will someday. It just looks like a lot of fun, something I can get into. I need to get a better saw first though. Thinking a rock rascal round Christmas time. This heat is a killer. Too hot to look for rocks, too hot to run my RC cars ugh. I used to love the heat, but now it makes my skin feel like it’s melting off.  If I am going to be doing outdoor activities I need to be done by 10:00 am. I have had a couple of close calls with heat strokes and don’t want to take a chance on having one. I may get a better saw one day but my tile saw does the job right not. The cab machine I have was just one of those blind luck deals. The man I got it from was a jeweler that just burned off the business and packed it up about 15 years ago. He was cleaning out his shop area and was ready to let it go. |
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ikelakes420
off to a rocking start
Member since August 2023
Posts: 2
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Post by ikelakes420 on Aug 5, 2023 14:09:36 GMT -5
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ikelakes420
off to a rocking start
Member since August 2023
Posts: 2
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Post by ikelakes420 on Aug 5, 2023 14:10:15 GMT -5
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Post by velodromed on Aug 7, 2023 6:43:30 GMT -5
My family has been collecting rocks for the last year or so and having a blast. That’s how I got into the whole tumbling thing to begin with. There’s not much here in San Antonio aside from limestone, but we do hit rock yards, make occasional trips to nearby rivers and have run across a few interesting finds. Instead of posting them one at a time separately, I figured I’d just run this little thread and post a picture here every now and then. First off, petrified wood! I love petrified wood most of all and we have found some nice pieces overtime. I recently got a 7 inch tile saw and like to cut small slabs from ones that fit. Here’s some of what we’ve found, cut and polished recently. We used to have a lot more, but seem to be giving it away nearly as fast as we finish it.      If you were trying to respond, nothing came through on either attempt. |
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texhex
starting to spend too much on rocks
Rocks 10 - TexHex 2
Member since August 2023
Posts: 149
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Post by texhex on Aug 8, 2023 20:59:28 GMT -5
I am just West of Austin also. It it about a 2 hour round trip but I plan to go over to Llano and see what river rocks I can find that are keepers. I live just east of Austin and find lots of petrified wood. If you know anyone who lives on ranchland or out in the country, look around pond areas, or areas that have dry creek beds. |
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texhex
starting to spend too much on rocks
Rocks 10 - TexHex 2
Member since August 2023
Posts: 149
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Post by texhex on Aug 8, 2023 21:06:38 GMT -5
I love finding Texas petrified rock also, but I am torn about polishing my petrified rocks. Please understand this is an opinion about the rocks and not geared towards you or your rocks. When the rock polished completly and not the polished "with character" stage, I am happy. But I do not like the polished "with character" rocks. It just looks like a job half done. I would rather keep them raw that to not have a chance at a complete beautiful 100% shine.
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Time
starting to spend too much on rocks
Making something positive out of COVID restrictions by learning to create jewelry out of stones.
Member since September 2021
Posts: 154
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Post by Time on Aug 8, 2023 21:53:50 GMT -5
I am just West of Austin also. It it about a 2 hour round trip but I plan to go over to Llano and see what river rocks I can find that are keepers. I live just east of Austin and find lots of petrified wood. If you know anyone who lives on ranchland or out in the country, look around pond areas, or areas that have dry creek beds. It would be great to know a rancher who didn’t mine me rockhounding on the property but I don’t. I mainly hunt along road sides, stream beds under bridges, and some of the public access lake areas. I need to start looking at construction sites but it’t too hot fro me right now. |
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Post by velodromed on Aug 8, 2023 22:07:03 GMT -5
I love finding Texas petrified rock also, but I am torn about polishing my petrified rocks. Please understand this is an opinion about the rocks and not geared towards you or your rocks. When the rock polished completly and not the polished "with character" stage, I am happy. But I do not like the polished "with character" rocks. It just looks like a job half done. I would rather keep them raw that to not have a chance at a complete beautiful 100% shine. The key thing is having enough to do whatever you want with it. All together we have close to 50 pounds of petrified wood. My biggest piece is fireplace log size. I polish the ones that seem good for it and stop the process when it’s as good as I think it can get for each piece. It may be a quarter of the way through, halfway through, completely done and polished smooth… it all depends on the piece. Often I like to be able to tell the piece was actually wood and not just a pretty rock, especially if it’s a limb cast. Petrified wood is not going to always do what you want and polish flawless and smooth, like a nice Botswana will. Many pieces will have flaws, issues, undercuts etc and you have to stop when you think you’ve gotten all you can out of it. If you try to polishing all pieces to perfection, you’ll often end up with tiny pieces of polished rock. It’s definitely better to leave them untouched in that case. |
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dillonf
fully equipped rock polisher
Hounding and tumbling
Member since February 2022
Posts: 1,622
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Post by dillonf on Aug 9, 2023 6:24:22 GMT -5
Hi Velo,
Looks like you got another batch of winners! Those ones that look like Montana moss agate are really cool. Looks like we got a decent group of hounders in the Austin/San Antonio area. We should plan a meet and greet once this heat subsides.
I just turned over some of the pet wood you gave me. It will run another 2 weeks. I'll get some picks when it comes out. I'm hoping I can move most of it into 220 after these next 2 weeks.
Petrified wood is not going to always do what you want and polish flawless and smooth, like a nice Botswana will. Many pieces will have flaws, issues, undercuts etc and you have to stop when you think you’ve gotten all you can out of it. If you try to polishing all pieces to perfection, you’ll often end up with tiny pieces of polished rock. It’s definitely better to leave them untouched in that case.
Petrified wood is not going to always do what you want and polish flawless and smooth, like a nice Botswana will. Many pieces will have flaws, issues, undercuts etc and you have to stop when you think you’ve gotten all you can out of it. If you try to polishing all pieces to perfection, you’ll often end up with tiny pieces of polished rock. It’s definitely better to leave them untouched in that case.
Couldn't agree more with this! It is true even with store bought crushed rough that often has deep fractures and bruising. I've been experimenting with different methods to minimize undercutting, and I am having more success with rotaries than with the Lot-O which surprises me. I haven't quite dialed it in yet, but I'm getting better.
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Post by velodromed on Aug 11, 2023 12:45:10 GMT -5
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dillonf
fully equipped rock polisher
Hounding and tumbling
Member since February 2022
Posts: 1,622
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Post by dillonf on Aug 12, 2023 7:03:42 GMT -5
Good looking stuff! The yellow and grey one is very interesting.
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