rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
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Post by rollingstone on Dec 1, 2007 16:04:10 GMT -5
My tumbling has really slowed the past few months, but I have been getting back into it a bit and trying to finish up some of the backlog of partly finished stones kicking about. This is the first thing out of my tumblers in a couple months, and I'm really pleased how it turned out. This is the biggest stone I have ever tumbled in my 6 lb barrels -- it started out at 480 grams, or a bit over a pound. I ran it for awhile with some Lakers and similarly hard stuff, but it was beating them up so I switched to pea-sized garnets which I guess kind of averaged out the size of the load... very tiny plus very huge = medium sized for an average? I'm not sure what the weight is on it now, as it's back in the tumbler for a burnish, but I don't really think it can get much shinier so I'll post these pics from when I took it out of polish. It ran for 60 days in 60/90, many recharges 7 days in 120/220 10 days in 500F silicon carbide 13 days in CPP polish Here's a before picture (shown wet) and then some finished pictures (all finished pics shown dry). Before:  Same side, polished:   The other side:  An end view:  Thanks for looking! -Don |
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Post by Bikerrandy on Dec 1, 2007 16:07:55 GMT -5
Dude, that's the coolest thing I've ever seen!! I always use AO, what's CCP? Where do you get it? Have you ever used AO? Do you like CCP better? That's a beautiful shine, great job on the pics!!
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller 
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,496
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 1, 2007 16:15:21 GMT -5
Wowee Don! That is friggin spectacular! I've never even attempted a stone that large but your's sure came out well. Incredible shine too. Now there's something else I've got to try *L*. So many projects, so little time....Mel
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Post by stoner on Dec 1, 2007 16:17:01 GMT -5
AMAZING! It would take the king of tumbling to polish a 1lb chunk of anything, and you did this chunk of SCJ justice. That is one gorgeous stone. Would you send that to me so I can cut it up for cabs? Just kidding!
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Post by cina on Dec 1, 2007 17:29:06 GMT -5
WOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by Lady B on Dec 1, 2007 17:48:35 GMT -5
'Tis BEAUTIFUL!!! I especially like the end view. Shadows and contrasts suggests tow birds (ravens?) facing each other beak to beak--and I always love any stone that has a hidden picture in it.
What a beautiful shine!!!!
Lady B
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Post by akansan on Dec 1, 2007 18:30:35 GMT -5
Gorgeous. Just gorgeous.
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Post by LCARS on Dec 1, 2007 19:00:43 GMT -5
That's impressive Don, one for the display case for sure.  |
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Post by stonesthatrock on Dec 1, 2007 19:37:48 GMT -5
that is amazing. Its so beautiful. I don't do tumbling so thats way bigger then anything i would try to do.
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luv2hound
freely admits to licking rocks
I try & I try, but dang it! Those rocks just keep ending up in my pockets
Member since June 2007
Posts: 890
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Post by luv2hound on Dec 1, 2007 23:05:39 GMT -5
Wow! This is amazing. So shiny and beautiful.
~~Mitzi~~
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Trilobite
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since March 2007
Posts: 77
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Post by Trilobite on Dec 1, 2007 23:32:59 GMT -5
I am stunned.........
I have just optically drank deeply of Ignious Ambrosia....
It does not look real.
What size tumbler did you use?
What other 'fill' did you use?
My best stones so far would be filler for that earth heart.
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Post by parfive on Dec 2, 2007 0:44:50 GMT -5
 **blown away** |
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Post by parfive on Dec 2, 2007 2:09:13 GMT -5
Oh, by the way, Don . . . you just won the ROCK OF THE YEAR award!!!
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adrian65
Cave Dweller
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,790
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Post by adrian65 on Dec 2, 2007 2:30:59 GMT -5
What more could I say? Very hard to type anything when blinded by the awsome shine of that rock!
Adrian
PS. Just curious, how much does it weight now?
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Post by texaswoodie on Dec 2, 2007 8:14:31 GMT -5
Well, I've finally gotten used to putting my sunglasses on when I look at your stones, but this one blinded me with the glasses on. Magnificent!
Curt
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,113
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Post by stefan on Dec 2, 2007 8:30:36 GMT -5
ahhhhhhhh finally some Don SHine!
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rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
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Post by rollingstone on Dec 2, 2007 16:14:02 GMT -5
Thanks everyone for the extremely flattering comments! To answer a few questions:
Randy, I'm not entirely sure what CPP is, but I believe it's just a fancy name for AO. It's what they carry at my local rock shop and it's all I've ever used. I think KD uses it too, not sure where she gets her CPP from. I've done some looking on the net, and it seems that it's probably a brand name of AO, though I haven't found any definite proof of that.
Ed, you probably would cut it into cabs! But at least I know they'd all turn out great.
Lady B, I hadn't noticed those shadows, but you are right, it does look like two ravens.
Trilobite, this was done in a 6 lb Lortone rotary barrel. Initially I had Lake Superior agates and Botswana agates in with it in coarse grind, but it was pretty tough on them, so I switched to pea-sized or smaller purple garnets and they seemed to smooth things out nicely. I'll try to get some pics up of the garnets in a day or so.
....Earth heart... I like that!
Adrian, it now weighs 310 grams, so it lost 1/3 of its mass. Some of that was from a small rough edge I chiseled off early in coarse grind, but most of it was just from 60 days of coarse grinding.
Thanks again,
-Don
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erbojones
has rocks in the head
Member since October 2006
Posts: 659
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Post by erbojones on Dec 2, 2007 16:23:22 GMT -5
That is a stonker!!
Amazing polish and great shape - wow!!!!
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Post by cpdad on Dec 2, 2007 18:46:08 GMT -5
thats what im talking bout ;D...you da man....nice!...kev.
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Post by Condor on Dec 2, 2007 19:36:58 GMT -5
Holy caca! That is one nice stone. Great job.
Condor
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