|
Post by bobby1 on Jan 4, 2011 0:18:43 GMT -5
About 10 years ago I picked up a piece of Ammonite at the Madras Pow Wow that had a quartz cap attached. Being the type of person that I am I really studied (procrastinated) on this material and set it aside for a while. Last week I got tired of having it stare at me on my benchtop so I finally kicked myself in the backside (can you picture that?) and got going on it. The vendor has (or had) the habit of using a now yellowed rubbery adhesive that was almost 1/16" thick to cement the cap on. I had to grind the cap and cement off so I could do it the right way. The back had nothing covering the also quite attractive surface so I capped this side also. The shell matrix between these surfaces is a little less than 1/16" thick so when this piece is mounted it will require a surrounding bezel that is formed over each side. This will cover the less than attractive side of the sandwiched shell material. The cab is about 1" tall. Here is the side that I call the front Here is the back. Here is the side view. Bob
|
|
RockIt2Me
has rocks in the head
Sometimes I have to tell myself, "It's not worth the jail time."
Member since December 2009
Posts: 668
|
Post by RockIt2Me on Jan 4, 2011 5:08:59 GMT -5
Great work. I love this stuff.
Nancie
|
|
dbrealityrocks
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2010
Posts: 1,084
|
Post by dbrealityrocks on Jan 4, 2011 6:56:16 GMT -5
great color!!
|
|
|
Post by beefjello on Jan 4, 2011 8:20:01 GMT -5
Man that's sweet! Great job, especially considering you ground the old cap and glue away.
|
|
|
Post by tanyafrench on Jan 4, 2011 8:23:32 GMT -5
Whoa, the color in that cab is superb. You captured it all so beautifully.
Tanya
|
|
free4rms
freely admits to licking rocks
My little pet walrus
Member since January 2007
Posts: 839
|
Post by free4rms on Jan 4, 2011 9:50:36 GMT -5
Wow, that is a nice piece of ammolite!
|
|
|
Post by mohs on Jan 4, 2011 10:21:50 GMT -5
gotta agree you capped that really fine that side view fabulous
|
|
NDK
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 9,440
|
Post by NDK on Jan 4, 2011 17:52:57 GMT -5
Very interesting. I've only seen them in their curly shell formation. The colors are fantastic. Is this a piece of a large shell, or where does it come from?
Thanks, Nate
|
|
|
Post by bobby1 on Jan 4, 2011 21:36:47 GMT -5
Nate, I can't answer either of your questions because it was about the size that you see now when I got it. Because it is about 1" high I will have to assume that the shell was rather large to begin with. I think most of the gem quality Ammonite comes fro Canada. Bob
|
|
NDK
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 9,440
|
Post by NDK on Jan 4, 2011 21:39:41 GMT -5
Thanks Bob.
Nate
|
|
|
Post by phil on Jan 4, 2011 21:55:45 GMT -5
Cool! If I may ask, where are you getting your quartz caps or are you cutting your own? I've got some material I'd like to do like that.
Thanks! Phil
|
|
rockhound97058
freely admits to licking rocks
Thundereggs - Oregons Official State Rock!
Member since January 2006
Posts: 760
|
Post by rockhound97058 on Jan 4, 2011 21:57:05 GMT -5
Nate - this material typically comes from Canada as Bob said - I believe more specific British Columbia. The material itself is commonly named Ammolite, and yes they come from large shells. I have a half ammonite fossil covered in this coating about 8" diameter and it's fire engine red coloring. Would cut many O' cabs!
The new ways of doing cabs is doublets - however when the material first came real popular several years ago as Bob said they coated it in resin. Most people used 5 minute epoxy or epoxy 330. The larger fossil I have is entirely coated in it as well. I can't say I've ever worked more than one stone of it, however if I'm not mistaken if you get a red piece and start sanding through it, it changes into other colors such as green, yellow, blues etc...
Cools stuff!
Jason
|
|
snuffy
Cave Dweller
Member since May 2009
Posts: 4,319
|
Post by snuffy on Jan 4, 2011 22:29:29 GMT -5
That is a nice one. I've been eyeing ammolite on justcabs for a couple of years.His is from Alberta.Pretty stuff.
snuffy
|
|
rockhound97058
freely admits to licking rocks
Thundereggs - Oregons Official State Rock!
Member since January 2006
Posts: 760
|
Post by rockhound97058 on Jan 4, 2011 23:55:29 GMT -5
Snuffy - Justcabs... that's my good buddy Dale Bramlette. We've dug plenty of rock together. The large ammonite specimen I have actually came from Dale. As far as I know he dug it himself years ago. Maybe it was Alberta he got this material - I thought it was BC, then again it has been many of years and I can barely remember yesterday LOL
|
|
|
Post by bobby1 on Jan 5, 2011 0:05:51 GMT -5
Phil, Because I custom cut the cabs there aren't any caps that would work. I slab Synthetic Quartz ingots (cystals?) for all my doublets and triplets. Bob
|
|
|
Post by texaswoodie on Jan 5, 2011 7:56:35 GMT -5
Awesome.
Curt
|
|
|
Post by sandsman1 on Jan 5, 2011 9:23:12 GMT -5
man that stuff looks electric great color and a great job cuttin it
|
|
|
Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Jan 5, 2011 13:43:36 GMT -5
Beautiful work and material Bob!
Chuck
|
|