|
|
Post by bobby1 on Feb 25, 2008 1:02:47 GMT -5
I'm remodelling my master bathroom. I frequently find an excuse to dash out to the garage to get "something". Actually its to reset the slab saw for the next cut. This afternoon I was slabbing a small Montana Agate piece. This was the best of all the slabs (there were 4). I decided to rest up a bit from the bathroom work so I cabbed this piece tonight. It is 2" high. I still need to seal the fracture with Opticon, though.  Thanks for looking. Bob |
|
|
|
Post by Titania on Feb 25, 2008 8:35:52 GMT -5
Pretty, Bob! I love the shape, and the pattern you've captured is fantastic! Nice job!
What'cha doing with the remodel? Tiling? Replacing everything or working with what's there?
|
|
huffstuff
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since August 2007
Posts: 1,222
|
Post by huffstuff on Feb 25, 2008 10:16:27 GMT -5
Hmmm, I guess I forgot to press "post."
I like the freckles!
Amy
|
|
|
|
Post by bobby1 on Feb 25, 2008 10:41:02 GMT -5
Titania,
The remodel is a new shower pan, new tile, resurface walls, new floor, paint. Its a lot of work but I'm getting ready to sell the house, move out of the nightmare traffic in the Bay Area and retire to the Sierra foothills. I bought a house there last August, no traffic, nice views, slow and relaxing. It doesn't have a workshop built there, yet.
Bob
|
|
|
|
Post by stoner on Feb 26, 2008 13:51:06 GMT -5
Sounds like you remodel a bathroom the same way I remodeled my bath and kitchen; go to the garage to get a tool and come out an hour later with a cab or two instead of the tool. Will Opticon make it so the fracture is invisible?
|
|
|
|
Post by akansan on Feb 26, 2008 14:01:08 GMT -5
I love the combined brown streak with the smaller "freckles" as huffstuff called them. It's a gorgeous cab. Hey, when you two finish your remodels, wanna come out to Kansas and hit my bathroom and kitchen? I'll be tackling them over the summer.  |
|
|
|
Post by Titania on Feb 26, 2008 14:12:58 GMT -5
I love the combined brown streak with the smaller "freckles" as huffstuff called them. It's a gorgeous cab. Hey, when you two finish your remodels, wanna come out to Kansas and hit my bathroom and kitchen? I'll be tackling them over the summer. Hahaha!! Do you pay in rocks? I sling some mean grout! |
|
181lizard
Cave Dweller 
Still lurking :)
Member since December 2005
Posts: 2,171
|
Post by 181lizard on Feb 26, 2008 18:45:26 GMT -5
Knock! Knock Mr. Bobby! Are ya still here? LOL
I have the same question as Ed...I've heard of people using opticon but never actually seen it's usage. Will it make that little crack totally dissapear? Do you use it before you finished with the cab or after AND...for us regular folk...if we purchase a cab that it's been used on, would we be able to tell?
|
|
|
|
Post by bobby1 on Feb 26, 2008 22:37:51 GMT -5
Some answers about Opticon. Here is the cab after treatment. The fracture is nearly invisible and you can only find the remains if you knew where to look.  I sometimes use it before cabbing if I suspect that the material has too many fractures and won't hold up to the stresses of cabbing. Usually I use it after cabbing if the fracture isn't too massive. If you purchase a cab that has been treated and the seller doesn't disclose the treatment, it is unlikely that you will ever notice. Here is the cab turned sideways. I think it looks like a bird's head.  Bob |
|
|
|
Post by Cher on Feb 26, 2008 23:10:58 GMT -5
Wow, it really does a great job on fixing those fractures, you can barely see it.
|
|
|
|
Post by rockds on Feb 26, 2008 23:16:28 GMT -5
Hey Bob nice work on the cab, I too love the Opticon - work wonders. I really like the polkadot look of the bottom corner. Any chance we could get a pic of the slab??
|
|
|
|
Post by parfive on Feb 26, 2008 23:18:18 GMT -5
That's an impressive repair, Bob.
Can you elaborate a bit on using Opticon:
Do you heat the stone first?
Do you just apply it to the stone and it wicks in, or dip the stone?
How about any excess on the surface of a finished cab? Do you have to go back one wheel to remove it, and then re-polish that section?
Rich
|
|
|
|
Post by Tony W on Feb 27, 2008 1:43:48 GMT -5
Beautiful cab of some great material. Can't see the crack. I was using some opticon yesterday and even wearing a cannister mask I was smelling it Don't think I'd want to use it too often. I soaked a few stones in a jar overnight, and I even had to put the jar outside  T |
|
|
|
Post by Titania on Feb 27, 2008 7:44:06 GMT -5
Wow, that crack really did heal nicely! I'm also curious about exactly how to use Opticon. I have some on its way, and really have no idea how to use it.
|
|
|
|
Post by bobby1 on Feb 27, 2008 8:26:32 GMT -5
I'll post some pictures of the Opticon process a little later today. Back to the beginning: Last Friday afternoon on my way back home from work I stopped at a rock shop on the way. (Back home from work actually means driving from Sacramento to San Jose - 120 miles). In a box of $4.00/lb rocks I found the Montana Agate piece and an ancient stone tool. I paid $3.00 for both. Here is a picture of the remaining slabs from the Montana piece after I used the best one for the cab. There are at least two more cabs left in the slabs.  I am always on the lookout for stone tools left from our native ancestors in piles of rocks. I like to rescue them from the saw or tumbler. I have been collecting these for the last 25 years and I have about 100 of them, only two of which I know exactly where they came from. Most rockhounds are focused on the lapidary aspects of rocks and are not attuned to looking for the archaeological aspects of rocks, thus they never see these tools for what they are. Once you start looking for them they turn up rather frequently. Here are some pictures of the one I got last Friday.     Sorry for getting so far off track. Bob |
|
181lizard
Cave Dweller
Still lurking :)
Member since December 2005
Posts: 2,171
|
Post by 181lizard on Feb 27, 2008 12:40:17 GMT -5
Holy Crap! Like any of us really needed ANOTHER reason to go back over the same rock pile we've paw'd through a gazillion times. sheesh...
In all honesty...great info on this thread!
|
|
T
