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Post by connrock on Apr 28, 2009 10:59:10 GMT -5
This is one of my latest pieces. The prehnite was collected and cabbed by a friend from AU who was nice enough to give it to me.  connrock |
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adrian65
Cave Dweller 
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,790
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Post by adrian65 on Apr 28, 2009 14:38:03 GMT -5
Beautiful pendant, mr. Tom! Is that friend of yours the same person who owes those jaw-dropping petriffied woods/cones?
Two more questions:
- What's written on the bail?
- if the wire is gold filled, how didn't damage the gold coating while soldering?
Adrian
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Post by connrock on Apr 29, 2009 5:13:32 GMT -5
Hi Adrian, Yes that is the same person who has that beautiful "wood". You won't believe this but,,, He just bought a 40 acre farm and keeps stumbling over petrified wood specimens as he walks around!So far he has found agate,jasper,pet wood and carnelian on his farm and ,,,,,,,,, THIS TOO,,,,,,  Can you imagine finding something like this in you own back yard??? Here is Darren and his son Jayden,,,,, They stopped at these road signs to take a photo to send to me!  OK now it's question and answer time!! lol The bail has "STER" (sterling) stamped on the front and TK (my initials for Tom Kuzia) stamped on the back. I bought the STER stamp but had to make the TK stamp because the cost to but it was WAY too high foe me to afford. I used Very Easy silver solder to solder the gold filled wire and also used heat sinks. I used the Very Easy solder because of it low silver content and very low melting temp. I used the heat sinks to try not to over heat the gold filled wire.I also "painted" the gold filled wire with BIC White Out,,,  This keeps the solder from running onto the gold filled wire. The bezel is soldered with Hard (high temp) solder so by using 2 pieces of 10 mm square steel (like key stock) about 50mm long clamped to the gold filled wire (like a sandwich) very close to the bezel I used a hot flame to melt the Very Easy solder as fast as I could without causing damage to the gold filled wire and also to not un-solder the bezel. Hope this helps. connrock |
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adrian65
Cave Dweller
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,790
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Post by adrian65 on Apr 29, 2009 7:03:44 GMT -5
Wow, what a lucky guy he is! To be able to pick such beauties on his own land! Thank you for the detailed explanations, I don't silver-smith yet but what you told here it's worth to be stored in some small drawer of the mind, for just in case.  Adrian |
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Post by Bejewelme on Apr 29, 2009 13:50:12 GMT -5
Tom:
We have been collecting at the railroad tracks besides the quarry out here and Prehnite is the mineral we are looking for, we have found some gemmy pieces and some good mineral specimens. Tony just made a cab and it is the most beautiful shade of green, and very gemmy. I want to find more to share with people on here since it is so unique. Your is beautiful as well, it is that same pale green with an almost opal like sheen.
Amber
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Post by Tonyterner on Apr 29, 2009 13:59:45 GMT -5
Tom your skills are really improving and I'm impressed with your design too. Your friend is very lucky. So far we have only found one piece of prehnite worth cabbing but we are just picking up what falls off the railroad cars so the pickings are slim. Keep up the good work bud.
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Post by connrock on Apr 30, 2009 5:54:55 GMT -5
Adrian,
I hope that your small drawer in your mind is easier to find in the future then mine is! lol
All the drawers in my mind now have a LOT of dust in them!
Amber,
Australia is rockhound heaven with some of the most beautiful material on earth.
Here I am stuck in CT which is rockhound hell with a bunch of granite and fractured quartz!!
I hope you and Tony find a real beauty along the RR tracks.
Tony,
Thanks,
Why do the RR cars have prehnite in them and where are they coming from?
connrock
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Post by Bejewelme on Apr 30, 2009 6:27:02 GMT -5
There is a huge quarry and I guess they seperate the materials and load them on the cars, Prehnite is the one mineral that the quarry is known to mine, but it is very elusive. As you walk you can find patches of the different materials, Tony found a gem of a piece and cabbed it, if he would just take a darn photo, and I found a nice specimen. We took some to the local gem club for ID. We have to go after a rain, when the rocks are wet, so we will be going back. Here is the thread of our previous trip! forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/index.cgi?board=Pictures&action=display&thread=29533&page=1Amber |
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Post by connrock on May 1, 2009 5:31:27 GMT -5
Amber,
That was a great trip!
I laughed when you said the cable was small!
There's not a human being on this earth that could break that size cable!
Probably not even 1000 people or more!
Thanks,,,
connrock
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Post by Tonyterner on May 6, 2009 11:15:19 GMT -5
Tom I told her the same thing. I guess she trusted my engineering judgment, I guess my education finally paid off, since she went across. I'll post a pic of the cab once I get the photo tent all set up again.
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RockyBlue
fully equipped rock polisher
Go U.K.
Member since June 2006
Posts: 1,719
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Post by RockyBlue on May 7, 2009 19:38:54 GMT -5
Another great one Tom!...........Rocky
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Post by frane on May 21, 2009 15:30:12 GMT -5
THat is such a beautiful cab and setting! Your skills are amazing!
Fran
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Post by connrock on May 22, 2009 5:52:08 GMT -5
Sorry for this late reply.
I just don't get around here much any more.
Tony,
Before we went to nylon slings we used wire cables and still do on rough castings a fabricated material.
Most of the cables were quite old and have taken a "set" in many directions.What a trip trying to rig a 30-50 ton piece with them!
The nylon is good but I always cringed as they stretched while lifting with the overhead cranes!
We had a VERY awkward piece of machinery and it took me several attempts to get it in the correct position for assembling it to the main frame.It was about a 20ton piece.
I didn't work one Saturday and my boss phoned me asking me how I had finally hitched it for a proper lift.
I told him there was NO way I could explain it over the phone and to leave it until Monday when I would be back to work.
When I walked in Monday the piece was laying on the cement floor with a huge hunk of the cement gouged out!
The nylon slings were cut and the piece was in VERY bad shape,
That afternoon the boss called us all together giving us a safety talk about the proper ways of hitching!!!!He then told us were all to go and watch a safety video on the subject.I shouted out as loud as I could "You go watch it,,,,,You're the idiot who dropped the piece"!!!!
I NEVER watched that video!
Never broke a sling either,,,,steel or nylon!
Rocky,
Thanks buddy and I hope you're felling better!
Fran,
Thanks,
Yes sometimes I even surprise myself on the outcome!
I just light the torch,close my eyes and let-er-rip!!!What happens after that is what id called "creativity"! lol
connrock
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pporky
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2007
Posts: 1,932
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Post by pporky on Jul 2, 2009 3:12:14 GMT -5
I like it Australia is rockhound heaven, Sure there are plenty of great spots for hounding but its a big country and some areas are pretty barren, like swan hill, I think a trip to Queensland will be my next, I would like to get some agate creek agates and more wood .PPorky
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