conib

Hi Constance, welcome to the forum.
I think the lace agate is as good as anything to start with. It takes a long time to shape though, at least the stuff I had did so you'll need a lot of patience for it. On the other side, it does take a great shine.

Cher

hi constance and welcome. lace agate would make a good first batch. the worst you could do is rush it through and then you can always go back. i think the 1st couple of batches are the hardest as you want them to hurry along. what kind of tumbler do you have?

kim

Welcome, Connie B!! Lace agate is a good batch for a newbie, you won't be disappointed.

i wanna see a pic of Mr. B (the cat).

KD

Hey, thanks everyone for the wecomes, you are all very kewl.


Cher, you gave me a a good pointer in the Lortone vs. Thumblers thread a few days ago. I'm going with your Lortone advice for my rotary tumber when I buy it.

And howdy back at 'cha xenaswolf! (of course I enjoyed watching Xena and Hercules back when I had cable TV) Anyway, currently we're living in a rental house in Bothell -- we chose it because it was close to where René works (Woodinville) and it was cheap for the space. But -- theoretically -- it's only temporary digs. We still can't decide on where we'd really like to live, there are so many great places around here.

And Kim, rockyracoon (excellent avator pic BTW), I don't have a rotary tumbler -- yet -- but I do have a second-hand Geo Sonics MT-4SV Mini-Sonic. I'd like to try using the hopper that came with it for rough. I've cleaned it up (when I got it everything was pretty much covered with dried-on slurry, inside the chassis even) and I'm thinking I'd like to try to do a first-stage using it.

But ... I've been wondering if as a newbie I would be better off starting with a rotary tumbler ...

Hi krazydiamond, aka KD, that is *some* bug in your avatar pic -- what is it, and did you take that shot? Anyway, here is a recent (Aug. 8) picture of The MB:



Stefan, thanks for the "lace is ace" vote of confidence. I'm looking at purchasing some of the White Lace Agate from the Rock Shed -- although if it turns out that someone here has good lace agate for sale I'd definitely like to know about it, or if there are other recommendations, I'd be very interested in hearing about them.

mister b is very handsome. definitely a ruler of households.

kim

welcome to the board from Michigan where we still had 80 degrees today

Hello again

Good news ... I scored an "antique" but unused dual 3-lb Thumler's on eBay. It's got metal barrels that in the listing photo look like tin cans. The woman at Kingsley North said I should wait to see it before ordering replacement barrels for it, because those original barrels are probably rubber-lined but also the tops may screw on -- and that would be a Good Thing, apparently. Before I spoke with her I was thinking that I would have to replace the barrels, but maybe not? We shall see, cross fingers.

Joe, you may be right about Mr. B not liking his photo ops. He does sit still for them but he never seems to put his sweet face on, only what I call his "Winston Churchill" face. And Kim is right about "ruler of households", that's for sure.

Thanks for the welcomes Terry664 and yeahda1. And thanks also to sandsman1 for the heads-up about the swap and sell pages. I checked them out and I just sent an email to offbeat about his Mexican Crazy Lace. Day-before-yesterday I ordered 5 lbs of the white lace agate from Rock Shed and so far I am very pleased with their service -- they sent an order confirmation as well as a ship confirmation with tracking info, so I'm a happy camper.

-- Constance