Post by tkrueger3 on Aug 5, 2009 14:59:06 GMT -5
After 4 weeks in the rotary, 2 in 60/90 and 2 in 120/220, I dumped the labradorite into the vibe. Added tons of ceramic and rubber fillers, and added some aventurine and some softer odds and ends that were laying around - all of which is to be filler for the labs. Ran it in the vibe with 500 AO for 36 hours, dumped it, cleaned it, then 3 hours in the vibe with borax.
Then I took these pics.
First, the whole batch:
The green aventurine:
The peach aventurine:
The odds-n-ends:
And, finally, the labradorite:
One up close to see the flash and the impact scars:
After drying out some, I see that a lot (most) of the aventurine has impact scars, and most of it needs to be broken and started over by itself if I'm ever to really use it for anything besides filler.
The labs do have a few scars, but not bad. Almost all of them show some or a lot of flash. Trying to get them to sit in a position where I could take a picture of the flash was a no-win situation, so I gave up. I do wish I had a bunch more ceramic fillers to replace the non-labradorites in the batch, but I don't, so this will have to do for now. (Or, alternatively, a LOT more labradorite that is past the 120/220 stage!)
So now the batch is back in the vibe with 1000 AO. I'll check it every few hours to make sure it's wet enough and turning well, but it will run for at least 24 hours straight before I take anything out for examination.
Thanks for any input,
Tom
Then I took these pics.
First, the whole batch:
The green aventurine:
The peach aventurine:
The odds-n-ends:
And, finally, the labradorite:
One up close to see the flash and the impact scars:
After drying out some, I see that a lot (most) of the aventurine has impact scars, and most of it needs to be broken and started over by itself if I'm ever to really use it for anything besides filler.
The labs do have a few scars, but not bad. Almost all of them show some or a lot of flash. Trying to get them to sit in a position where I could take a picture of the flash was a no-win situation, so I gave up. I do wish I had a bunch more ceramic fillers to replace the non-labradorites in the batch, but I don't, so this will have to do for now. (Or, alternatively, a LOT more labradorite that is past the 120/220 stage!)
So now the batch is back in the vibe with 1000 AO. I'll check it every few hours to make sure it's wet enough and turning well, but it will run for at least 24 hours straight before I take anything out for examination.
Thanks for any input,
Tom
Thanks, Mel and Chuck - I will do just that. However, I have some more labradorite rough on order, and I'll probably wait until I have enough to make a load of only labradorite. Right? I also have a bunch more ceramic filler ordered, so I won't have to use other stones as filler. While I'm waiting, I'll get out the ol' WF and cut up the aventurine pieces that need it and take off some of the sharp edges and points, and maybe I'll make a full vibe load of that.
