Post by herchenx on Sept 1, 2012 21:40:44 GMT -5
Well we started out early this morning to go look for quartz and amethyst points near Red Feather Lakes, Colorado.
We are seeing the first hints of fall in some of the aspen. We were surprised, the color change generally happens the last week of September or first week of October, and does not linger. Seeing color already on Sep 1 means the full color change will happen early. It was a nice treat though
We looked along a roadside where they were supposed to be, but found nothing.
Here is the group having a snack before we headed home
We grabbed lunch and came home, I was pretty bummed.
Well for some time I've known about a guy named Dale who owns the Torrington Rock Shop in Torrington, WY. I've been told he is an expert in polishing large flats and have wanted to pay him a visit. I checked with my significant other and calle Dale to see if I could come by. He said sure, so I told him it would be a couple hours but I would head his way.
Only one of my kids wanted to come, Matthew (4) - the youngest.
The drive took over 2 hours but goes through a lot of that great western landscape I love so much.
I brought a few chunks of nicer stuff I've collected to show thanks for him showing me around, and he seemed pretty keen on a nice swirly chunk of stromatolite that I had.
He showed me his hand-made flat lap that he uses to go from saw to 400 grit.
The he took me over to an old wheel that isn't made any more that is 11" diameter and uses sanding belts. He said he goes up to 600 grit on the wheel.
The he took me over to some cloth wheels. He sandwiched 5 together and used tin oxide to get a high polish on most rock.
He had a leather wheel that he used for jade, which he had numerous pieces polished to a high shine. He went into a lot of detail on what part of the cow needed to be used for the correct leather, side leather or belly leather I think he said. And that the leather needed to be cut by a leather carver and would need to have been either water tanned or chrome tanned because oil tanned leather would have been stretched too much to work right or something. My takeaway is it all seems very unique and difficult to replicate.
I have a bead on a 20" steel flat lap that is similar to his. I need to find a bull wheel of some sort, but I may know a guy. And I think the cloth wheels are something that is still available to purchase and I could put on a bench grinder that I have. His we're not "wet" per se. He mixed a tin oxide paste and it was sort of caked into the wheels, but there was o water guard or anything, they were just open and there was no sort of spray or splash around so it seemed fairly dry.
Anyhow, I bought some jewelry for Nancy, I let Matthew get some pretty Celestine and jade and pick out a carved onyx trinket for each of the other kids.
Dale was really nice and has a neat little shop. I was glad to have met him. He is cut from some pretty quality cloth and there are fewer and fewer folks like him out there.
Well Matthew and I grabbed a quick Arby's before we headed back
The drive home had a lot of much needed rain, so the views were really nice
I put over 100 miles on the truck going to Red Feathers and another 300+ on the minivan driving to Torrington and back, but it was a fun day.
We are seeing the first hints of fall in some of the aspen. We were surprised, the color change generally happens the last week of September or first week of October, and does not linger. Seeing color already on Sep 1 means the full color change will happen early. It was a nice treat though
We looked along a roadside where they were supposed to be, but found nothing.
Here is the group having a snack before we headed home
We grabbed lunch and came home, I was pretty bummed.
Well for some time I've known about a guy named Dale who owns the Torrington Rock Shop in Torrington, WY. I've been told he is an expert in polishing large flats and have wanted to pay him a visit. I checked with my significant other and calle Dale to see if I could come by. He said sure, so I told him it would be a couple hours but I would head his way.
Only one of my kids wanted to come, Matthew (4) - the youngest.
The drive took over 2 hours but goes through a lot of that great western landscape I love so much.
I brought a few chunks of nicer stuff I've collected to show thanks for him showing me around, and he seemed pretty keen on a nice swirly chunk of stromatolite that I had.
He showed me his hand-made flat lap that he uses to go from saw to 400 grit.
The he took me over to an old wheel that isn't made any more that is 11" diameter and uses sanding belts. He said he goes up to 600 grit on the wheel.
The he took me over to some cloth wheels. He sandwiched 5 together and used tin oxide to get a high polish on most rock.
He had a leather wheel that he used for jade, which he had numerous pieces polished to a high shine. He went into a lot of detail on what part of the cow needed to be used for the correct leather, side leather or belly leather I think he said. And that the leather needed to be cut by a leather carver and would need to have been either water tanned or chrome tanned because oil tanned leather would have been stretched too much to work right or something. My takeaway is it all seems very unique and difficult to replicate.
I have a bead on a 20" steel flat lap that is similar to his. I need to find a bull wheel of some sort, but I may know a guy. And I think the cloth wheels are something that is still available to purchase and I could put on a bench grinder that I have. His we're not "wet" per se. He mixed a tin oxide paste and it was sort of caked into the wheels, but there was o water guard or anything, they were just open and there was no sort of spray or splash around so it seemed fairly dry.
Anyhow, I bought some jewelry for Nancy, I let Matthew get some pretty Celestine and jade and pick out a carved onyx trinket for each of the other kids.
Dale was really nice and has a neat little shop. I was glad to have met him. He is cut from some pretty quality cloth and there are fewer and fewer folks like him out there.
Well Matthew and I grabbed a quick Arby's before we headed back
The drive home had a lot of much needed rain, so the views were really nice
I put over 100 miles on the truck going to Red Feathers and another 300+ on the minivan driving to Torrington and back, but it was a fun day.