sheltie
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since January 2012
Posts: 982
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Post by sheltie on Oct 16, 2012 8:44:27 GMT -5
Once again there is no obvious place for me to put this, so here it is.
How do y'all display your final polished slabs that won't be used for anything other than to look at? We have over 250 so far and more are being slabbed every day. None are yet polished (that's a separate question I put to this forum), although they all look excellent coming right from the saw - no saw marks, etc. I don't want to just keep piling them up out of the way. I want to be able to look at them and have others see them when they visit us.
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Post by FrogAndBearCreations on Oct 16, 2012 8:49:14 GMT -5
there are those little plastic easels that one uses for plates that work to show off slabs
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itsandbits
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since March 2012
Posts: 825
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Post by itsandbits on Oct 16, 2012 8:56:35 GMT -5
some peole cut grooves in display wood and stand them up there or mount them to picture frames for hanging, glue them to the glass or make a recessed display behind the glass, attach them to matting.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2012 8:57:59 GMT -5
I think Don (jakesrocks) knows a place to get the little easels real cheap. They are the same as the lapidary ones but since it is not sold as "lapidary" they are much cheaper. Jim
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Post by jakesrocks on Oct 16, 2012 9:26:31 GMT -5
Yes I do Jim. I'll find the link as soon as I finish reading the morning mail.
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Post by johnjsgems on Oct 16, 2012 9:38:36 GMT -5
I've seen some pretty nice back lighted displays but all were home made. The plate stands are the most common.
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Post by jakesrocks on Oct 16, 2012 9:39:45 GMT -5
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Post by jakesrocks on Oct 16, 2012 9:52:04 GMT -5
Hey John, Kingsley North used to have display stands with a light socket behind it. They took a single clear Christmas tree bulb.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Oct 16, 2012 10:25:33 GMT -5
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Post by gingerkid on Oct 16, 2012 10:50:59 GMT -5
...We have over 250 so far and more are being slabbed every day... LOL, that's a lot of slabs!! I removed all of our plate stands in the hutch to use for display and purchased some of Kingsley North's easel stands. rocks2dust sells them, too. Have a neat shadow box that has velcro in it for holding specimens for display. Here's DIY for displaying slabs and specimens by rocks2dust: gemaddicts.com/forums/index.php?topic=1410.0rocks2dust uses very nice paper as a background to hold "oddly" shaped slabs/minerals and has the name of the slab/mineral with the locality on the paper. Have an iris agate in a blackout frame, but don't know how it was made. forums.opalauctions.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=2534
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sheltie
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since January 2012
Posts: 982
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Post by sheltie on Oct 16, 2012 13:02:45 GMT -5
Thanks for all for the recommendations and links. I suspect that having a gazillion of the plastic stands probably isn't the direction we may be going. I'm addicted to slabbing and can't stop!
For now, my (ultra-creative) wife is planning some extraordinary projects such as dream catchers with slabs, taking a smallish metal easel and filling in the open spaces with slabs (you'll have to see it as I can't do justice with words), incorporate stained glass with rocks, etc. Me, I just wanted to take a 1 x2 x 6' (or so, route out a slot in the center, stain it, mount it and place background lights behind it. Oh well, I should know better!
Keep the ideas coming and thanks for the advice.
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rykk
spending too much on rocks
Member since September 2011
Posts: 428
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Post by rykk on Oct 18, 2012 18:32:13 GMT -5
Ok, I reckon it takes a slab junkie to give tips to a slab junkie, eh? lol Here's what I did with mine... I built a wooden frame to stack these in a double wide closet. They are some 3-drawer Rubbermaid or whatever brand boxes with wheels. They are 24" high, 22" wide, and 14" deep. Each drawer is like 7.5" tall. I left the roller wheels off, of course. I actually had to build the frame from inside the closet as the 3 drawers wide was just a few inches too wide to be able to build it and then put it into the closet. Here's a side view into one of the less crowded drawers. And here's what happens when your collection outgrows its drawer and your wife won't let you use any more closets - lol I got these drawer thingies at Home Depot. The slabs sit nicely in some plastic u-channel type stuff that they have over by the lumber and soffit/fascia stuff. It is taller on one side than the other, which makes it great for standing slabs up to 1/2" thick in, though the thicker ones don't lean back as well as the usual 1/4" ones. It comes in 6 or 8ft lengths and is a little over 1/2" wide, maybe 1/4" tall in front and an inch tall in the back. I stuck them down using a hot glue gun. You have to sand the area where you're gonna glue the slots and wipe it with alcohol b4 you apply the glue to remove the coating on the plastic or else the slots will come loose pretty easily. You can get like 12-15 slab slots into each drawer, which is a LOT of slabs. This works great, at least for me, to store and be able to show the slabs to friends. Now all I've gotta do is figure out where to put another set of 9 drawers to hold the slabs I picked up AFTER I built this - LOL. C-ya, Rick
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Post by NatureNut on Oct 18, 2012 19:14:47 GMT -5
Those are some drool worthy drawers. Jo
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Post by gingerkid on Oct 19, 2012 12:12:11 GMT -5
Ok, I reckon it takes a slab junkie to give tips to a slab junkie, eh? LOL, Very nice set up for your slabs, Rick!! Hilarious that your wife won't allow you to have another closet to store your pretties.
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sheltie
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since January 2012
Posts: 982
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Post by sheltie on Oct 19, 2012 14:30:14 GMT -5
I got the same sort of drawers at HD, only I use them to sort and store my rough. I'm really looking for something that I could display my FINISHED slabs in, say, the living room, or someplace that can be seem not only by my family but by anyone who visits. I could have a cabinet custom designed and made but that would cost more than my saw!
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