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Post by puppie96 on Mar 26, 2004 2:13:16 GMT -5
The silence here is deafening! Where did you guys all go? Isn't anybody upset about their rubies or gloating over their emeralds? I'm getting lonesome! There aren't any 12-rock programs around these here parts....
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Malkavic
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since March 2004
Posts: 77
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Post by Malkavic on Mar 26, 2004 6:28:21 GMT -5
Hey there... let's see... new items in my rockhunting life... um, just bought myself a grinding station and sorting through about 30 ebay bids right now... ::grins:: Never start a business without an actual business plan... trying to work through it all step by step, but it's becoming rather intimidating... Found a few stones that I had never heard of, in my searching...
A few rocks that might be new for a few of us... Seraphinite Larvikite Maw Sit Sit Psilomelane Cyprine Flame Agate - not to be confused with Fire Agate, from what I've seen...
Just a few new rocks to look at... I'm hoping to have at least 1 piece of each, to play with soon... oh, and I've grown to love Labradorite... can't wait for my grinding station/trim saw combo to get here, so I can really start to play with my rocks...
Anyway, that's the news from me... Talk to you later..
Billy
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MichiganRocks
starting to spend too much on rocks
"I wasn't born to follow."
Member since April 2007
Posts: 154
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Post by MichiganRocks on Mar 26, 2004 8:04:53 GMT -5
Hey puppie, speaking of rubies, here's a photo of my rubies after 40 days and 40 nights. Down to 3.3 pounds now and still grinding. Kind of looks like driveway gravel.
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thewiz
has rocks in the head
"What good is money if you don't spend it"
Member since January 2004
Posts: 735
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Post by thewiz on Mar 26, 2004 8:10:02 GMT -5
O.K. i have just two hand fills of polished rocks after three months of rocking. but things are looking better the qt6 is starting to turn out better stuff [was putting in to much water. not shaking the barrel to settle the rocks before puting in water] and the 45c is running a half load in 120/220. all with on pits or cracks. they should be ready middle of next week for prepolish
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Post by sandsman1 on Mar 26, 2004 9:42:10 GMT -5
hi all ---hey ron thats about what i got from mine too i put them aside for now they where takin up a barrel and gettin nowear i been just shopin got my cab grinder yesterday now i gotta get all the parts to make it work hahaha fun stuff i also just paid for a used LORTONE LS10 this morning i was talkin to a guy about a qt66 and he said i also have a saw that was my dads so i went for it hahaha its got a few scratchs but looks to be in great shape. i took a chance on some rocks got 2/50lb lots of rocks on ebay we will hafta see if it was worth it if nuttin else ill have a buncha larger rocks to practice on the slab saw with hahaha ok seeya-s john cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2232807593&category=4841&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBWN%3AIT&rd=1this is the place with the rock lots 50-100-and 200lb lots
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llanago
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,714
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Post by llanago on Mar 26, 2004 10:24:19 GMT -5
I'm just tumblin' away, waiting for my first batch to come out of polish on Sunday. I have come to the conclusion that the rubies I am tumbling are not rubies, but sapphires. Ruby is the red variety of the corundum mineral, one of the hardest minerals on Earth which also includes Sapphire. Pure corundum is colourless. Slight traces of the colour creating elements such as chrome, iron, titanium or vanadium are responsible for the colour. These gemstones show an excellent hardness. On the Moh’s Scale they achieve a hardness of 9, second only to diamonds. And only red corundum may be called Ruby, any other colour is denominate as Sapphires. The close relationship of Ruby and Sapphire has been known since the beginning of the 19th century. Up to that time, also red Garnets or Spinells were thought to be Rubies – and due to this misclassification the so-called "Black Ruby” as well as the "Timur Ruby” decorating the British Crown Jewels are probably actually no Rubies at all, but Spinells. From this site www.gemstone.org/gem-by-gem/english/ruby.htmlWhat color is it?: Red. Not reddish purple, not pink, and not sort of red.[ Rubies are red, red, red. Any other color is a sapphire...which is the name for all other colors of corundum. From here www.yourgemologist.com/ruby.htmlMy alleged rubies are not red, they are purple, so I believe they are sapphires.
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James
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 876
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Post by James on Mar 26, 2004 11:01:19 GMT -5
I ordered some 50 lb lots from this guy before. It was about 25% good rough and 75% pure crap! Most of the lot is brown petrified wood. There are a few good agates in there from time to time... Most of the stuff now sits in an ugly pile in my back yard. Worthless for tumbling. They say that one mans trash is another mans treasure...Not in this case. Save your money and go to the "Gem Shop."
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tjmax
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since March 2004
Posts: 79
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Post by tjmax on Mar 26, 2004 16:17:22 GMT -5
What color is it?: Red. Not reddish purple, not pink, and not sort of red.[ Rubies are red, red, red. Any other color is a sapphire...which is the name for all other colors of corundum. From here www.yourgemologist.com/ruby.htmlMy alleged rubies are not red, they are purple, so I believe they are sapphires. Well, you may want to look at one little thing. and this also come from www.yourgemologist.com This is ruby.
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Post by sandsman1 on Mar 26, 2004 16:45:58 GMT -5
hi all --- well james all i can say is live an learn hahahaha i allready paid so its too late now aahhhh like i said ill use for practice on slab saw then throw them in the yard hahahaha seeya-s john
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tjmax
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since March 2004
Posts: 79
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Post by tjmax on Mar 26, 2004 18:06:04 GMT -5
Hey puppie, speaking of rubies, here's a photo of my rubies after 40 days and 40 nights. Down to 3.3 pounds now and still grinding. Kind of looks like driveway gravel. From the picture alot of it doesn't look like ruby at all to me. I will take a picture of the batch of rubies i have started on sometime tomorrow and post up what i have.
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llanago
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,714
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Post by llanago on Mar 26, 2004 22:15:18 GMT -5
tjmax, I saw that pic and thought it kind of weird that in one spot he says rubies are "not purple, not pink and not "sort of" red. ", then has a pic of a pink ruby. So, it seems to me that some rubies are pink.
The stones I have are purple, not even close to being red or pink. I really don't care if they are rubies or sapphires, as long as when they are finished they are pretty! LOL!
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Post by puppie96 on Mar 27, 2004 0:58:51 GMT -5
Rocks are talking! Yea! Thanks for answering. I've got a try of rubies out of polish -- they still don't shine. They look a lot like the picture collection -- in fact I've got seeming duplicates of some of the weird stones in there. I think I've got more good stuff in mine. I've put together successive batches of rough, some was supposed to be ruby/sapphire, some star ruby/sapphire, some blue sapphire. I have a lot of ruby, meaning meets the red criterion. Some of it is really beautiful and looks at least translucent and some is really transparent. We've got a rock show this weekend, I've been sorting out the best and most interestering and/or stubborn of the ruby/saph and also my emeralds to take along, hopefully I can find an un-busy vendor that will let me pick his/her brain. Michigan, I got the 40 days and nights part, but what grits? some of mine have been going much longer than that. Much of mine looks remarkably like yours and I have gotten a few pieces of ruby in zoisite like the other picture.
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bcc
no posts
Member since March 2004
Posts: 0
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Post by bcc on Mar 27, 2004 7:01:27 GMT -5
Last night started another tumbler going. Its a beacon star. Anyone hear of that brand? It holds 6 lbs. Still sorting through about 1500 lbs of rocks by color. Finially got a work bench made for my trim saw combo., belt sander, polisher and lap grinder. Its huge! 8'x3'. As I was going through all my rocks and slabs I put one that were ends of rocks or too small to saw into a bucket for tumbling. Its now full so I have all sorts of rocks to tumble. oh by the way most of the 1500 lbs are rocks from a double fist size to a large head size so they should make great slabs.
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MichiganRocks
starting to spend too much on rocks
"I wasn't born to follow."
Member since April 2007
Posts: 154
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Post by MichiganRocks on Mar 27, 2004 9:37:49 GMT -5
Hey puppie, all of it has been 60/90 grit. No sense in leaving stage one looking like that! When the rocks are wet, most look purple, some look a very dark blue, a very few are shades of red. All of the rock, even the brown stuff, is heavy like corundum.
Ron
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tjmax
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since March 2004
Posts: 79
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Post by tjmax on Mar 27, 2004 17:39:55 GMT -5
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Post by puppie96 on Mar 28, 2004 8:19:27 GMT -5
This is really interesting. I also have a mix with a lot of the nice, smooth pink-looking stones. Thing is, mine won't polish. It looks like many of yours are shinier than mine, and you are saying you didn't polish -- 60/90 only? I'm impressed! Having bought some number of batches of this stuff, I think it's safe to say that there's a lot of variation.
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Post by sandsman1 on Mar 28, 2004 16:38:29 GMT -5
hi all---- hey bcc sounds like your havin a ball sound like me my living room is lookin like a lapidary shop a messy one at that hahahaha i cant go up and down the steps alot so i said heck wit it and set up here im trying to get as much stuff together as i can when i get started i dont wanna have to stop because im out of or dont have somethingi think i got plenty of rock for now so im workin on get set up with grinder and new used saw still need to order a motor for the grinder but im still moving ahead so thats a good thing.just make it fun or its not a hobby anymore im havin a ball just buyin stuff cant wait till its all up and running haha ok seeya----john
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Post by puppie96 on Mar 29, 2004 2:38:44 GMT -5
I discovered something interesting about the ruby/sapphire. I've been using "backyard rock" for fill -- this is nondescript brown stuff that is sort of shiny on the outside -- gravel, you know! But wow, this stuff seems tough. I noticed some of it was beginning to lose this brown outer coating and sometimes change to a completely different crystalline looking rock and sometimes banding that looks like agate. Anyhow when spring started I picked up a barrel's worth of the more interesting looking backyard rock and threw it in the tumbler with others I've been using as fill. On the advice of one of the posters -- sorry, I don't want to credit the wrong person and I'm not sure I remember -- I threw in 10 largish pieces of R/S rock and used it as "dunnage rock" as the poster suggested. To my amazement, this has removed more of the matrix and smoothed these out in one week far better than my many prior attempts using the vibe tumbler forever, barrels forever, etc. I have no idea why this would be the case. The backyard gravel is mostly irregularly shaped, and as I said, seems hard, and I had a really hard time getting any mud to form -- dumped some water a couple times, added grit midway, etc., and still didn't get the slurry I usually do. I threw the ruby rough in about midway in 2 weeks of this. Discovered this when I washed it out tonight. Now it's all back in 60/90 for continuation. I'd love to get rid of some of this backyard rock -- any takers? LOL
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llanago
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,714
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Post by llanago on Mar 29, 2004 9:05:32 GMT -5
Hey, txmax, those rubies are lookin' good! I check mine tonight and am anxious to see how they have progressed.
I learned something yesterday at the rock show. Rubies can look pink or purple, but when you put them under a blacklight, they are RED, RED, RED!
Yesterday I bought two rubies in green zoisite. One has alot of the zoisite, the other doesn't. Both look more pinkish-purple, but when under a blacklight they are bright red! Wish I had a blacklight to look at the onces I have in the tumbler.
llana
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MichiganRocks
starting to spend too much on rocks
"I wasn't born to follow."
Member since April 2007
Posts: 154
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Post by MichiganRocks on Mar 29, 2004 14:53:59 GMT -5
Cleaned and checked my rubies(?) and my emeralds today. 9 pounds of ruby and 1 pound of emerald is now 3.8 pounds. It's been 45 days now in 60/90 for the rubies and 10 days for the emeralds. About 70% of the emerald are small enough to make a pretty green emerald sand. Resisted an overwhelming urge to pitch the whole batch in the trash and recharged and started more roughing. Only thing this corundum is going to be good for is breaking up and using it for sand paper!
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