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Post by Bob on Dec 11, 2023 16:22:09 GMT -5
All were purchased unless noted. Tin oxide polish. Lessons learned: Rutilated quartz is touchy because of the way the ends of those rutile fibers penetrate the surface which often ruins an otherwise nearly perfect piece. Judge when to stop and move on by repeated cycles in 600 grit. That way, when you get it just right, very little material will be removed in the 1,000 before polish. When these are done right, they can be breathtaking. Also about 1/3 the material when purchased in fractured and doesn't turn out well so I discard of give these away.
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Post by Bob on Dec 11, 2023 16:24:20 GMT -5
Forgot what this material is called! May be very low quality pink angelite. Know it looks like rhodonite but I'm pretty certain ins't. It tumbles poorly and i don't want to get any more of it. Crystal quartzes. Close up one of my favs of rutilated quartz.
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chris1956
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2022
Posts: 1,258
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Post by chris1956 on Dec 11, 2023 16:25:01 GMT -5
Those look great! Thanks for posting. What is the blue and white material?
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Post by Bob on Dec 11, 2023 16:27:45 GMT -5
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Post by Bob on Dec 11, 2023 16:32:37 GMT -5
Some dark jaspers or cherts found on right of ways in central New Mex. Some have gorgeous patterns. Tecovas jasper/chert I found in Texas.
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Post by Bob on Dec 11, 2023 16:36:31 GMT -5
Mostly unakite. Some Kambaba "jasper" and think at least one dragon's blood jasper. Amazonite. Aventurine. The one between the 2 yellow ones I think is really quartzite. Misc., almost all purchased. Some lapis lazuli, green jasper, Mookaite, pet wood, Dalmatian stone, Kambaba "jasper", tiger's eye, spiderwoman "jasper", prehnite, picture jasper, hematite, and other misc. Arizona petrified wood I purchased at Quartzite show last year. Like a piece of candy! I love the color of this rock! Have no idea where I found it but it wasn't purchased. It's kind of blue green and don't think I've ever seen anything like this before. Given the other things with it it might be from the Rio Puerco River valley in New Mexico.
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Post by Bob on Dec 11, 2023 16:39:53 GMT -5
Not defect free so being discarded but is a gorgeous rock I found on Lake Superior. Very unique crystals in it. Have tried and tried but porous holes just keep coming.
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Post by Bob on Dec 11, 2023 16:43:56 GMT -5
Those look great! Thanks for posting. What is the blue and white material? Low quality lapis with lots of calcite.
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pebblesky
fully equipped rock polisher
Purchased another UV mini bowl for tumbling
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,442
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Post by pebblesky on Dec 11, 2023 16:53:41 GMT -5
That highlighted rutilated quartz is gorgeous!
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pebblesky
fully equipped rock polisher
Purchased another UV mini bowl for tumbling
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,442
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Post by pebblesky on Dec 11, 2023 16:55:21 GMT -5
The Amazonite also has great colors!
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rockbrain
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2022
Posts: 2,539
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Post by rockbrain on Dec 11, 2023 18:13:08 GMT -5
A lot of beautiful rocks but that piece of rutilated quartz is outstanding! Wish I could find some like that for cabbing.
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Post by Starguy on Dec 11, 2023 19:24:36 GMT -5
That’s a great looking batch Bob. Twelve pounds polished in one batch is quite an accomplishment. That’s a lot of rocks. I like the Yangtze River agates. They’re definitely my favorites. I seem to remember you arriving at tin oxide after testing several polishes. Is that what was used here? Despite being a mixed batch, your polish is excellent on all of the different types of rock. You didn’t scrimp on the shaping either. It’s a really impressive batch. Thanks for sharing your results.
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dshanpnw
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since December 2020
Posts: 896
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Post by dshanpnw on Dec 11, 2023 20:53:54 GMT -5
So many to like and love. The rutilated quartz is quite stunning and the Yangtze River agates are really nice. Thanks for separating them into groups. I do like the Arizona pet wood, it's perfect! They are all gorgeous.
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dillonf
fully equipped rock polisher
Hounding and tumbling
Member since February 2022
Posts: 1,595
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Post by dillonf on Dec 11, 2023 22:08:15 GMT -5
Awesome tumbles- they look great! Love that rutilated quartz and Amazonite! Such beautiful colors.
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Post by Bob on Dec 11, 2023 23:18:45 GMT -5
That’s a great looking batch Bob . Twelve pounds polished in one batch is quite an accomplishment. That’s a lot of rocks. I like the Yangtze River agates. They’re definitely my favorites. I seem to remember you arriving at tin oxide after testing several polishes. Is that what was used here? Despite being a mixed batch, your polish is excellent on all of the different types of rock. You didn’t scrimp on the shaping either. It’s a really impressive batch. Thanks for sharing your results. OMG accidentally wrote alum instead of tin! Have corrected it.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Dec 12, 2023 16:50:43 GMT -5
That Lake Superior rock looks like some sort of granite. It’s a very nice granite, but it looks like it has some granite tumbling qualities.
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hypodactylus
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2021
Posts: 434
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Post by hypodactylus on Dec 13, 2023 13:12:57 GMT -5
Very nice! I really like the river agates and the close-up rutilated quartz!
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Post by Bob on Dec 13, 2023 14:42:19 GMT -5
Very nice! I really like the river agates and the close-up rutilated quartz! I went to the famous agate markets in Yichang, a city a bit west of Wuhan. I brought back about 100lbs. When they are shown for sale, they are often underwater or else splashed with water when you are looking at them. It didn't take long for me to find out why. Most are fractured deeply. My imagination tells me maybe they are rolled under tremendous forces in the sediments of the Yangtze, but who knows. Their sources have never been found. Apparently when the Three Gorges Dam (not far from Yichang) was excavated some really special material was found but I can get no one to reveal the real story. In 2025, I will be spending more time in that general area and hope to find out why people seem to dodge this topic when asked. Also, I visited an agate processing facility near Nanjing which was impressive and a woman I met there took me into the "secret" agate fields where I had to wear a disguise because I was a foreigner. Had to promise never to reveal certain things about some things I saw. Later from the USA, I bought some agates from her online too. When I got them I was surprised that they were almost fracture free, yet I was suspicious because they had a funny feel to the surface. When asked about this, she told me she soaks them in mineral oil and then wipes the surface off! Sneaky. This made me mad because it had not been revealed on her online listings. When I tried to have my wife explain in Mandarin that we westerners consider this adulteration of a product if not revealed, she honestly didn't seem to understand. I don't think she understood that some cultures consider that unethical. So what I did was saw off the bad ends past the fractures, or, sawed completely through the fractures, or, kept them going in processing and did the Opticon treatment of those I couldn't bear to saw. So that's why many are small and odd shapes. Many agates there even though small are just gorgeous and often complete even though smaller than a golfball and usually spherical or nearly so. If you Google "chinese fighting blood agates" and look at images, you will see some truly spectacular colors in them. Some of those that are the most colorful sell for up to $1,000!
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Post by velodromed on Dec 13, 2023 15:23:59 GMT -5
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Post by Bob on Dec 13, 2023 15:38:20 GMT -5
Bob Thanks for showing me that giant Tecovas Jasper in your other post. Ever ever since you first started talking about this stuff and been looking for it. Could either of these be considered Tecovas Jasper? They look different from the other jaspers I find around here and have a mix of soft and hard spots, like you had mentioned it does. Ever since you talked these, months ago, I think, I can’t get them off my mind and have been looking. Hmmm...that looks very much like some things I find almost every time I do some outing anywhere between western Oklahoma and Arizona. I don't know what it is. I've tried to tumble it many times because the red/orange color appeals to me, but I'm trying not to pick it up anymore. Most pieces are riddled through with air pores. The cherts and jaspers, including Tecovas and some others in this part of the US, are actually kind of known for being reliably solid. So their "rind", that is the weathered surface, is usually much more slick and doesn't have that crumbly look like this rock does. I predict if you tumble this you will not be happy with it.
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