hubrocks
fully equipped rock polisher
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Member since April 2011
Posts: 1,563
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Post by hubrocks on Jun 1, 2012 1:25:41 GMT -5
![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png) Love the disdero both the stone and the cab!! Saw the article in R&G mag.Wanted to see some ever since. Thanks for posting!!
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Post by Tonyterner on Jun 1, 2012 7:25:37 GMT -5
The cab is beautiful and those slabs have some incredible colors. I checked out the Ellenburg blue you posted the links to and I was completely unimpressed with that material and don't feel that's worth anywhere near what they are asking. The Disdero is much nicer. I'll have to try and get a piece one of these days so I can cab it for my collection.
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Post by Donnie's Rocky Treasures on Jun 1, 2012 7:51:08 GMT -5
Don, I am in love with that third from the bottom thunderegg! What a gorgeous scene in that one! It looks like a beach scene with the sun going down over the water! Absolutely amazing! That's what it's all about, all the gorgeous amazing color, patterns & differences you can find in soooooo many not only different but also the same kind of rock!!
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Post by Tony W on Jun 1, 2012 17:53:11 GMT -5
Love the stripes in that first one. Really nice depth as they line up together. T
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Post by stoner on Jun 3, 2012 1:06:22 GMT -5
That is some pretty stuff.
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Post by digdug on Jun 5, 2012 15:44:52 GMT -5
Helen on the first page bottom pics, the second and third shot of an agate that almost broke your blade. Do you know if that one is a Mad River? It looks very similar.
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Post by helens on Jun 5, 2012 19:05:39 GMT -5
Hi Todd:). I'm not sure what it is for sure. On another thread, DLCGems said it may be Indian Blackskin Agate, and that's what I have labeled it as. It does look like some of the photos I've seen online. The exceptional hardness may have been more from trying to slab an entire rock of it rather than actual hardness. I did not try to slice any other whole rock except for a small boulder opal, and of course, there would be not much comparison there with any solid rock:). A cabmate is not a saw of any type, with a very tiny opening and a short blade depth... it's really not made for slabbing anything, so that was a rather dumb experiment on my part:P. Here's the 2 pseudo-cabs I made with the piece I sliced off: ![](http://www.azenglass.com/lapidary/1262-cabs23.jpg) I call them pseudo cabs because I did very little shaping, I wanted them to show the 'skin' all the way around except for the one cut edge, because they do have an interesting outline with no shaping. Also, they are harder than regular agates, so it's more work trying to shape these anyway. HOWEVER, they are not quite AS hard as I originally thought. They will shape, just with more effort and time than the 'usual' druzy type agates. Also, after full polish, the above are fully dry, shiny completely polished, they are greyish blue, more grey than blue, even tho they are more blue when wet and not polished:(. I still find it so odd how rocks can polish up almost different colors from rough wet! The disdero fully polished still LOOKS gemmy transparent blue:). Here it is fully polished (the edge looks a bit wonky, but that's light and flecks of tumbler polish grit, it is NOT cleaned, this is out of tumbler, rinsed in gritty water, and air dried in colander): ![](http://www.azenglass.com/lapidary/disdero-blue-done.jpg) Disdero are definitely a bit different from other blue agates I've seen, MOSTLY in the uniformity of color with few internal flaws. Of course, that could also be from the stone that Warren sent, which was flawless to start with. But from the other samples and what I've seen, the cracks are NOTICEABLE, but that's all there is of them, no weak spots. In other words, it doesn't develop surprising new cracks out of nowhere as you work with it like many other stones can. It's very SMOOTH to grind, there's no harder or softer spots... very very very uniform. I love it! The PROBLEM working with it is convincing yourself to ruin a specimen because of the way the patterns tend to run all around the stone. I cannot bring myself to cut the bigger pieces, because I'm not convinced that cabbing looks better than they look right now!!
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Post by digdug on Jun 6, 2012 11:48:56 GMT -5
It does like to take a nice polish in the tumbler! Warren showed me a few of his that he tumbles, me I guess i like to do it the hard way lol. Doesn't matter they look the same finished both ways if your working with the solid material as you show us here.What are you going to do with it now? Going to have to agree with you guys on the blackskin. It does inside look a lot like madriver until i was able to see more of the "pseudo-cabs " you posted Here is a madriver i have a little under a pound. ![](http://s15.postimage.org/kyrplc9mv/Mad_River_agate_madagascar_3.jpg) ![](http://s15.postimage.org/ytulhjtfr/Mad_River_agate_madagascar_2.jpg) ![](http://s15.postimage.org/graphtccn/Mad_River_agate_madagascar.jpg)
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Post by helens on Jun 6, 2012 23:41:44 GMT -5
Hi Todd:). I'm going to turn the rectangle into the centerpiece of a bracelet.... I need to find a rectangular link finding that will fit it first, which I think would be the easiest way to work it.
Your maddriver does look a bit like it inside, but the outside on mine is black. Yours is yellow and actually pretty interesting in itself!!
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