Post by oriongal on May 7, 2007 19:59:35 GMT -5
At New Year's, I took a trip halfway across the world to visit someone dear to my heart. You may wonder what that has to do with rocks, and at the time I'd have said, "absolutely nothing..."
But I had two different people make a request that I pick them up a rock or two from where I was going (Oman). No particular request for any type of rock, "just a piece of Mother Earth...", they said. Good thing, too, because I certainly couldn't have identified anything beyond 'it's a rock' at that point.
So as I walked the beach with my significant other, we picked up a rock or two. And then three or four. And then...well, we picked up so many of them that I couldn't bring them all back with me (too much weight for the airline). All different kinds and colors, and even now I still don't know what all I have.
I got home with a couple of handfuls of my favorite ones, gave the requestors theirs, and then wondered what I was going to do with the ones I'd kept. Ah, I have a small tabletop fountain at work, they might look nice there. So there they went.
And then, a few weeks later in Walmart, I saw a sale on Smithsonian rock tumblers. I thought, "hey, it might be neat to tumble some of the rocks I brought back..." I knew it was a cheap tumbler, but I didn't care - after all, I only had a handful of rocks to be tumbled, why buy an expensive tumbler when I've only got this one little load of rocks to do? So I brought the rocks back home, and into the tumbler they went.
Of course, you all know very well what happened after that...
(how come these things don't come with warning labels??)
That initial batch had a few good ones come out of it, even being a completely clueless novice (Mohs hardness? What's that?) I managed to have a few turn out with a decent shine, and maybe sometime I'll take those through again and see if they can be improved.
So, one Mini-Sonic and another rotary later, and more batches of rough queued up than I can process in probably several months' time, I find myself here...avidly soaking up all the advice, tips, tricks, pitfalls and general wisdom contained herein. And I must confess that I'm well and truly hooked.
(but why don't these things come with warning labels??)
But I had two different people make a request that I pick them up a rock or two from where I was going (Oman). No particular request for any type of rock, "just a piece of Mother Earth...", they said. Good thing, too, because I certainly couldn't have identified anything beyond 'it's a rock' at that point.
So as I walked the beach with my significant other, we picked up a rock or two. And then three or four. And then...well, we picked up so many of them that I couldn't bring them all back with me (too much weight for the airline). All different kinds and colors, and even now I still don't know what all I have.
I got home with a couple of handfuls of my favorite ones, gave the requestors theirs, and then wondered what I was going to do with the ones I'd kept. Ah, I have a small tabletop fountain at work, they might look nice there. So there they went.
And then, a few weeks later in Walmart, I saw a sale on Smithsonian rock tumblers. I thought, "hey, it might be neat to tumble some of the rocks I brought back..." I knew it was a cheap tumbler, but I didn't care - after all, I only had a handful of rocks to be tumbled, why buy an expensive tumbler when I've only got this one little load of rocks to do? So I brought the rocks back home, and into the tumbler they went.
Of course, you all know very well what happened after that...
(how come these things don't come with warning labels??)
That initial batch had a few good ones come out of it, even being a completely clueless novice (Mohs hardness? What's that?) I managed to have a few turn out with a decent shine, and maybe sometime I'll take those through again and see if they can be improved.
So, one Mini-Sonic and another rotary later, and more batches of rough queued up than I can process in probably several months' time, I find myself here...avidly soaking up all the advice, tips, tricks, pitfalls and general wisdom contained herein. And I must confess that I'm well and truly hooked.
(but why don't these things come with warning labels??)