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Post by tntmom on Oct 30, 2010 15:20:30 GMT -5
Wow, I am in awe with Stones That Rock!!! I bought a small box of the $1.50 lb end cuts that were available last week. I only bought 10 lbs and now wish I would have bought much more! I bought these to have some interesting stones to tumble, but some are so beautiful that they will never see the inside of a rubber barrel. I rinsed them this afternoon, check these out! First stones that I rinsed and put on a paper plate….  Rest of the stones…  My favorite, I am guessing that this is labradorite, please someone confirm or correct me? I have never had one of these in my hands before. It is nearly impossible to get a picture of how beautiful this end cut is. The first picture is taken outside in the sunlight and mostly the greens and blues show up. The second picture is taken inside under my desk light and then all of the gold shows up. In person, all of the colors show up… (it's also toward the top of the paper plate in the first picture)   This last one is something that I have no clue what it is. It also is nearly impossible to get a picture of. It is purple sparkly on the face cut. Sort of like the sparkly kid bike helmets you see young kids wearing. I don’t really know how to describe it. The uncut sides look like sparkly black glass. The picture makes it look all bumpy but it is smooth. I have several pieces of this. Could someone tell me what this is?  THANK YOU STONES THAT ROCK! ~Kristine |
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chromenut
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2009
Posts: 1,971
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Post by chromenut on Oct 30, 2010 17:15:40 GMT -5
I bought a box of end cuts from them last year and had the same reaction. I ended up saving them all and am cabbing then now, they were just too nice to tumble.
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rocksndahead
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2010
Posts: 21
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Post by rocksndahead on Oct 30, 2010 18:07:12 GMT -5
Last pic is called gold stone.
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Post by tanyafrench on Oct 30, 2010 18:27:26 GMT -5
Yes, the one with the blue is Labradorite. At least it looks just like a piece I have. I just love it and I'm having a friend make a cab for me from it. I still have a small piece but I sent him the larger pieces. Isn't it just gorgeous! I have also bought tumbling mix from Stones that Rock and they just can't be beat. I would never have had to opportunity to have such beautiful stones by buying them individually but when Mary Ann packs a box of tumble mix, it is just awesome.
Tanya
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chromenut
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2009
Posts: 1,971
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Post by chromenut on Oct 30, 2010 19:18:04 GMT -5
I was going to voice my opinion on the gold stone but thought I'd get laughter. I have several pendants that I made from preforms of that, I bought off ebay, I've never actually seen anyone who had the 'real deal'. Maybe I need to give Mary Ann a shout. When that polishes out, it is just absolutely beautiful. I have it in blue and the golden sandy colors, very cool! You got yourself some nice stuff there!!!
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Post by johnjsgems on Nov 1, 2010 16:56:27 GMT -5
Yes labradorite and yes gold stone. Gold stone is a man made material but maintains high prices and makes interesting jewelry.
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chromenut
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2009
Posts: 1,971
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Post by chromenut on Nov 3, 2010 15:40:22 GMT -5
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Post by tntmom on Nov 3, 2010 20:45:52 GMT -5
Nicely done!
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Post by tntmom on Nov 3, 2010 21:04:05 GMT -5
So.... I've been looking at some of these stones for days now. I refuse to tumble a lot of these. I talked to a guy at Lasco Diamonds today and ordered a bunch of burs from him. I am not fitted with all of the lapidary equipment that I need so I decided to finish a lot of these stones by hand with a dremel. I ordered diamond burs and silicone carbide rubberized burs. The guy told me that the rubberized were pretty cool because the rubber would impregnate itself in the cracks. So each time you rinse, if you still see color from the rubber, you haven't sanded enough. Sounds kinda cool, I'm going to try it out. I ordered 80 grit diamond, 240 and 600 grit rubber silicon carbide, and 1200, 8000 and 14000 diamond compound for felt polishing burs. (they go past 50k grits...) Wish me luck! (or...tell me what I am doing wrong!!!!) First time doing this, but gotta start somewhere or I'll never learn!
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Post by tntmom on Nov 3, 2010 21:11:43 GMT -5
Chromenut/RobinH
Did you send that to Mary Ann & Ralph yet? You should.
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Post by jakesrocks on Nov 3, 2010 21:54:02 GMT -5
Be sure to run those diamond burs with water, or you'll ruin them real quick.
Don
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chromenut
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2009
Posts: 1,971
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Post by chromenut on Nov 4, 2010 8:30:15 GMT -5
Be sure to run those diamond burs with water, or you'll ruin them real quick. Don Ditto! I keep a shallow tupperware square bowl on my desk, fill it with water about an inch above the cab, that gives me room to move it around but keeps the water low enough to not get it into my flex shaft (do you have one by the way?), and keeps from splashing everywhere. You'll find yourself changing the water a lot as it doesn't take much to get cloudy. Fun way to work a stone though. I ask about the flex shaft as I tried using my dremel directly and just don't feel comfortable holding it over water. Plus the flex shaft gives you a piece about three times the size of a pencil to hold on to, works much easier, and changing bits is faster too. |
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chromenut
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2009
Posts: 1,971
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Post by chromenut on Nov 4, 2010 8:31:16 GMT -5
Chromenut/RobinH Did you send that to Mary Ann & Ralph yet? You should. No, I guess I should...lol |
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Post by tntmom on Nov 8, 2010 22:06:17 GMT -5
Got my bits! Got a flex shaft! Got a keyless chuck for easy bit changes! Got a shallow plastic bowl! And...couldn't help myself. Mary Ann just got more of this stuff available, it isn't on her site but it is in the buy sell and swap board. I just bought 15 more lbs and it shipped this morning. Sure hope I'm good at this cabbing thing because I just went all out on everything!!! Can't wait until tomorrow when I have some daylight so I can go out to the garage and start playing  |
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chromenut
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2009
Posts: 1,971
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Post by chromenut on Nov 9, 2010 8:25:17 GMT -5
I sit at my desk with my flex shaft and play. That way when I'm bored during the day I can switch over to my favorite hobby. Medium depth plastic bowl with about 1.5" of water and not a splash hits the desktop!
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Post by stonesthatrock on Nov 12, 2010 19:01:11 GMT -5
you are all making me blush.... ralph pack up the boxes and throws in whatever he bored with.. lol Thank you all very very much...... I will have more ralph is cutting again, but i have to fill a large flat rate first. I will let you all know "when"
Robin you sent it, but i don't know what to do with it. lol
mary ann
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