bushmanbilly
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2008
Posts: 4,719
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Post by bushmanbilly on Nov 12, 2008 18:16:21 GMT -5
Just want to say Hi! Very nice site, very interesting and well put together. Being into rocks most of my life. Mainly interested in Amber and fossils, but if it looks good and is a rock. I'm in. I want to buy a cab machine, but don't really know whats good or bad. Is a flat lap better than a cab. I would like a unit that grinds, shapes, and polishes. Any ideas for this newbie.
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bushmanbilly
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2008
Posts: 4,719
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Post by bushmanbilly on Nov 12, 2008 18:36:46 GMT -5
Answered my own question in 5 mins. A D.P. Bigfoot a good choice?
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Post by Bikerrandy on Nov 12, 2008 19:00:49 GMT -5
If you can afford one, a Genie from Diamond Pacific is probably the best, it's what I have and I'd sell the car before I'd sell the Genie. ;D
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Post by Condor on Nov 12, 2008 19:37:11 GMT -5
Welcome to the boards BMB. I love your country.
Condor
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Post by johnjsgems on Nov 12, 2008 23:02:02 GMT -5
Welcome aboard. Flat lap machines are a great choice for starters. They will grind, sand and polish both domes and flats for 1/4-1/2 the cost of a machine with wheels though less conveniently. The Big Foot is a pretty nice compact machine though overpriced in my opinion. Dealer discounts are limited in an effort to hold price down so nobody offers very good discounts. If you decide on a flat lap stick to Ameritool or High Tech Diamond. Both are used professionally and built well.
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Saskrock
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2007
Posts: 1,852
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Post by Saskrock on Nov 13, 2008 0:33:12 GMT -5
Nice to have someone else from Saskatchewan on here. You will need to come down to Estevan for a visit if you like amber and fossils. There are both here but the amber I have found is pretty tiny, some nice fossil shells though. Some nice agates and jasper too. What are you finding around Kindersley?
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flatlander
starting to shine!
Member since May 2007
Posts: 27
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Post by flatlander on Nov 13, 2008 12:09:44 GMT -5
Hello back from Saskatoon. If you search lapidary on Saskatoon Kijiji (www.kijiji.ca) you will see a guy from Melfort has some arbors with diamond wheels for sale. Look to be in decent shape, and certainly cheaper than a Genie. Don't often see that kind of thing show up used around here. Finding spots to rock hound in Saskatchewan is hit and miss, with all the till, but I just came back from mule deer hunting in Maple creek. A one hour search through the highways pit turned up 6 good sound sawing sized pieces. Let me know how it turns out. Regards, Doug
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bushmanbilly
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2008
Posts: 4,719
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Post by bushmanbilly on Nov 13, 2008 16:38:01 GMT -5
Hay Flatlander, Estavan is to far. Around K-town you find Dirt lol. I serch the S. Sask. riverhills near the border with my boat. Not really good at IDing rock. posted some pics in the rock id section. I found these at Sandy Point on highway 41 going to Med. Hat Alberta. The Pet. Wood there is real good stuff, very hard and quartz like.I have a pic on ebay. What did you find at Maple Creek? As for Amber next spring I,m going the serch west of Lake Dief. because of the dam. The amber can no longer make it to Ceder Lake in Manatoba. Thanks john for the info. Bikerrandy I your GMC is Hot. I had one of them. To bad beer got the best of it.
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bushmanbilly
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2008
Posts: 4,719
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Post by bushmanbilly on Nov 13, 2008 19:51:14 GMT -5
Saskrock how small is the amber. You have a pic, is it cretaceous? Planing a trip to Eastend next summer if there is time I might swing buy. I used to work drilling rigs around Radville, but never made it to Estavan to see the coal mines.
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Saskrock
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2007
Posts: 1,852
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Post by Saskrock on Nov 14, 2008 1:44:22 GMT -5
The amber I have found here is really small. This is a pic of my biggest piece, its in a chunk of coal and is maybe an 1/8 inch. The only reason its a keeper is because it is from here. Montana like agates,jasper,petwood,fossil shells and dentric mudstone are the big finds here. Let me know how you do at Lake Dief. I have had the same thought about amber dropping out there but have never been to check. You can always do this with the mud you find. Not quite rock but similar. www.dorodango.com/
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Post by rockrookie on Nov 16, 2008 6:56:18 GMT -5
welcome to the board !!! all the way up in deer (buck) hunters dream land ! hopefully i can make it there ,hunting sometime and hunt for the big BUCKS . and come home with a box of rocks to shine up ,too . --------------------paul
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bushmanbilly
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2008
Posts: 4,719
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Post by bushmanbilly on Nov 16, 2008 14:07:40 GMT -5
Thanks rockrookie. The hanson buck was taken not far from here. About 50 miles. We have to many deer, they give away free tags here in some zones. We want our wolves back.
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Post by rockrookie on Nov 17, 2008 19:51:19 GMT -5
i'm drooling now . i'd love a chance to hunt SK. maybe someday .thx ------------paul ------------big racks are one thing, but 300+ lbs of buck with a big rack is amazing !!!!-------------paul
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bushmanbilly
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2008
Posts: 4,719
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Post by bushmanbilly on Nov 17, 2008 23:37:47 GMT -5
Paul this is my brothers. He has last years sheds as well. About 270
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Post by rockrookie on Nov 18, 2008 19:48:24 GMT -5
that is a great buck !!!-----------paul
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flatlander
starting to shine!
Member since May 2007
Posts: 27
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Post by flatlander on Nov 19, 2008 20:09:57 GMT -5
The area around Maple Creek is the only area in Sask that was not covered by our last glaciation. All the rock around there is river rock, that is rounded by water and ice. I was hoping to find some Montana Agates. The montana agates are found in the Yellowstone area, (and throughout Montana) and are "yellow stones" when vieiwed against the light. I look for clearish / green/ yellow rocks, sort of melted on the outside. Usually unbroken they look like potatoes, with indentations like they were cast in a mold (which they were). When you cut them open they are mostly clear with black or brown "mossy" inclusions. (The exterior appearance is similar for other agates as well).I suspect the real source of the Montana agates would be up ice, like in Saskatchewan. The problem is if the source is here it is buried under layers of glacial till. So... no Montana Agates, but still I found some brecciated agate, black through brown, I haven't polished any yet, but it looks great as it comes off the saw. There is plenty of what some here might call picture jasper, with lots of blues and purples. I brought home a couple of the neatest ones, and it should take a polish. I will email you a couple of photos. I dragged home lots of rocks, and cut them open before I started to get the hang of what is what., and am still learning. I do find agates around here, sometimes in the most unexpected places. I was draining the water system under our cabin, when my son picked up a rock about the size of my head, and asked if it was a "good rock", it was not only a good rock, it was a fabulous rock full of opaque sections and reds. A rock that I have been tripping over for years! I know of a spot by Outlook where you can find lots of petrified wood, not too far from you. Regards,Doug
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Saskrock
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2007
Posts: 1,852
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Post by Saskrock on Nov 20, 2008 1:10:08 GMT -5
You can definantly find "Montana" type agates in Sask. I find them in Estevan all the time but they are local not glacier drops. check this out
Montana Agate Information:
Montana Moss Agate is one of the alluvial agates. Found not in-site, but in the Flaxville gravel deposits scattered over a large area encompassing hundreds of square miles. The beauty of this is that they cannot be claimed, mined and dug-out by a few enterprises but will be available, in smaller numbers, to public and collectors for tens and hundreds of years to come. The fresh exposures do get hunted quite diligently each year, but new agates are always found by the persistent collectors.
Montana Moss Agate, a name given to the beautiful chalcedony found, most abundantly, in the alluvial gravels of the Yellowstone River, would probably be better named Yellowstone Agate, because it's genesis was centered in the Yellowstone Park area. The actual tremendous volcanic activity that produced the conditions necessary for the formation of agate, spanned hundreds of miles and millions of years.
Although it's genesis centered in the Yellowstone park area of Montana and Wyoming, this volcanic activity ranged from the eastern Rocky Mountain front in south-central Wyoming to the western front of the Black Hills and north across eastern Montana and into Saskatchewan and Manitoba Canada.
Eastern Montana was mostly a shallow inland ocean, almost a swamp with huge forests lining it's shores and islands of volcanoes spewing forth lava to entomb parts of the forest in lava and ash. The bowels of the Yellowstone bulged and roared and flowed mountains of lava that decimated thousands of acres of mighty redwoods and sequoias for hundreds of miles around. This decimation continued for hundreds of years with layer upon layer of forests growing up and then being driven down under the ponderous weight of all the mega-tons of lava and ash. The hot lava devoured most of the wood in it's rush to cover the trees, but some of the shape and ingredients of the limbs remained trapped in the cooling lava. When the time of volcanoes and lava was subdued and the rains came, mineral laden silica-water flowed into the cavities and pockets left by the dying trees and bubbling lava. As flow after flow slowly filled the pockets with liquefied silica, Montana Agate was born.
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Post by LCARS on Nov 20, 2008 2:51:02 GMT -5
Yay, another Canadian member, welcome!
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rockwizz
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since May 2007
Posts: 971
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Post by rockwizz on Nov 20, 2008 10:24:36 GMT -5
Welcome onboard. Hope you have a good time with all of us here in the forum
Ozzy
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