Post by ace on Sept 18, 2008 13:16:52 GMT -5
Hey,
wanted to introduce myself and tell why I am here. We are from Eastern Ky. and looking to get our first rock tumbler. My oldest daughter who is 10 now, has always been a rock hound. Since she was probably 2 y/o she has always been fascinated with "pretty rocks." You always had to check her pants pockets before you washed them, because if you didn't there was a good chance you were going to hear a lots of clunking noises from the washer and dryer. She is more selective about what she picks up now, but she is still always looking.
This past August we took a short vacation to the Boone / Blowing Rock NC area. We had heard about a "gem mining" place in Spruce Pine NC that was supposed to be pretty good. We had always talked about taking the kids to something like that. Yes, I know that these flume mining places are not true rock hounding places, however for amateurs and 2 of them kids, it was a very good place to start.
We decided to go with their special, which included a large bucket of rocks to sort thru and included cutting 2 stones. Of course these places are usually tourist traps and over priced. However we spent about 1-1/2 hours going thru the bucket at the flume. And about another 30 to 45 minutes sorting the stones into different types and letting their staff go thru and find good ones to have cut and faceted. We all had fun doing this and surprisingly the 4 y/o stayed interested most of the time, even though she was in need of a nap. But she did get to play in the water without getting in trouble so she had fun too. They found 2 good stones to cut and we decided to get 2 more also.
We came home with quite a large bag of stones. That is what brought me here, was I have been looking for info about what to do with these stones. Although, we have some neat looking rough stones, I would suspect most of it is not gem grade, but would be suitable for tumbling a lot of it. I am still watching ebay for a reasonably price used tumbler, but right now, a reasonably price one is not to be had. Used ones are going for close to new price, so for now I will wait. Plus I could use some info about which stones are good for tumbling and which are not. Also I need to post about the vibratory tumbler I have. I bought it a long time ago when I was reloading to polish the used brass cases. From what I can read is it could be OK to use for the polishing stages with stones.
OK enough talk, here are some pics.
Randy
this is the wife and kids
This is me, somehow I ended up being the "Bucket Master" which meant I had to keep everyones sorting screens filled up. And yes I was having much more fun than it looks from my expression.
Here are the stones that we had cut.
This is a few of stones we brought home.
And this is bucket of all the stones we brought back and we have them separated into different types in zip lock bags.
wanted to introduce myself and tell why I am here. We are from Eastern Ky. and looking to get our first rock tumbler. My oldest daughter who is 10 now, has always been a rock hound. Since she was probably 2 y/o she has always been fascinated with "pretty rocks." You always had to check her pants pockets before you washed them, because if you didn't there was a good chance you were going to hear a lots of clunking noises from the washer and dryer. She is more selective about what she picks up now, but she is still always looking.
This past August we took a short vacation to the Boone / Blowing Rock NC area. We had heard about a "gem mining" place in Spruce Pine NC that was supposed to be pretty good. We had always talked about taking the kids to something like that. Yes, I know that these flume mining places are not true rock hounding places, however for amateurs and 2 of them kids, it was a very good place to start.
We decided to go with their special, which included a large bucket of rocks to sort thru and included cutting 2 stones. Of course these places are usually tourist traps and over priced. However we spent about 1-1/2 hours going thru the bucket at the flume. And about another 30 to 45 minutes sorting the stones into different types and letting their staff go thru and find good ones to have cut and faceted. We all had fun doing this and surprisingly the 4 y/o stayed interested most of the time, even though she was in need of a nap. But she did get to play in the water without getting in trouble so she had fun too. They found 2 good stones to cut and we decided to get 2 more also.
We came home with quite a large bag of stones. That is what brought me here, was I have been looking for info about what to do with these stones. Although, we have some neat looking rough stones, I would suspect most of it is not gem grade, but would be suitable for tumbling a lot of it. I am still watching ebay for a reasonably price used tumbler, but right now, a reasonably price one is not to be had. Used ones are going for close to new price, so for now I will wait. Plus I could use some info about which stones are good for tumbling and which are not. Also I need to post about the vibratory tumbler I have. I bought it a long time ago when I was reloading to polish the used brass cases. From what I can read is it could be OK to use for the polishing stages with stones.
OK enough talk, here are some pics.
Randy
this is the wife and kids
This is me, somehow I ended up being the "Bucket Master" which meant I had to keep everyones sorting screens filled up. And yes I was having much more fun than it looks from my expression.
Here are the stones that we had cut.
This is a few of stones we brought home.
And this is bucket of all the stones we brought back and we have them separated into different types in zip lock bags.