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Post by johnjsgems on Jan 30, 2013 20:59:24 GMT -5
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jamesp
Cave Dweller 
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Jan 30, 2013 21:38:31 GMT -5
Did you use a water center feed angle grinder to do those John?It looks like the big wood was polished on a natural break(not sawn).What are those calcite filled ones and what planet did they come from?They are real interesting.Septarian?
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Post by johnjsgems on Jan 30, 2013 21:55:13 GMT -5
The top of the wood is "contoured polished" meaning top is curvy and yes I used the wet polisher from Barranca. I ground off the bigger points and finished what was left of the natural break. I'm a little bit of a fossil nut so prefer to leave most pieces intact. Picture doesn't do it justice. The whitish lines are quartz crystal/druze filled fractures. Lots of details.
The septarian nodules are from southern Utah that formed about 60 million years ago in what was the northern end of the Gulf of Mexico. They are basically mud balls that formed into limestone. The brown lines that filled fractures are aragonite. The yellow calcite that filled the pockets are made of the calcium from old sea critters. They flouresce usually too.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Jan 31, 2013 6:06:54 GMT -5
I got a wet polisher and have polished natural faces on large coral head specimens.Have also sawed a corner of a large coral that was way to big to split in half with an 18 inch saw and polished that with the wet grinder(a window).
The contour polish is good looking.And natural.bet that wood is real nice in real life.Have you figured out how to stay dry when using that machine?
The high end decorator shops here in Atlanta have been bringing in pet wood logs ave 20 inches long and 12-20 inches diameter from aross the pacific O.And a lot of other materials.Much of it polished w/wet grinder.
So the gulf came to Utah at one time.Is that when horned coral formed in Utah?
I have seen mud balls from S Dakota but not that nice.And how do mud balls come into existence? too many questions-always
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Jan 31, 2013 6:33:09 GMT -5
This 20 pounder got clamped on to the saw sled w/vice grips to make a window cut.Way to big to split w/18 in. saw.Then polished both halves with that wet polisher.No way to put that awkward shape in a lapper...Sold the 5 pound cut off to an interior decorator client.She sells specimens that i attach to lucite bases.She sells to the richeys in $section of Atlanta. That wet grinder gets it done.They get some fine finishes on concrete countertops poured with glass,agate slabs,and a bunch of other stuff. Attachments:
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Post by johnjsgems on Jan 31, 2013 8:59:52 GMT -5
Looks like a fossil foot. I wear a vinyl apron and keep water dialed back to no more than needed. I also use a demo box on a stand which contains most of the water. I started with a black "mud pan" (about $5) from Home Depot on saw horses with a drain hole added. When I started demonstrating at shows I bought the expensive demo box with plexi windows on three sides. I refinished some granite counter tops and got drenched but anything that fits in the demo box I can keep dry for the most part. The water was so cold here a few days my left hand didn't work for a while though. I need to find my old scuba gloves. The contoured wood piece is actually 10" X 9" and weighs 34 lbs. It is the biggest piece I've done at a show yet.
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Post by Toad on Jan 31, 2013 9:00:52 GMT -5
It's a foot!
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Post by johnjsgems on Jan 31, 2013 9:07:24 GMT -5
A foot with eye problems.
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Post by gr on Jan 31, 2013 11:09:47 GMT -5
That is such a great piece. How did the polishing process go? Looks like it went pretty quick with those tool you were showing me.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Jan 31, 2013 11:31:52 GMT -5
I can tell you it is pretty fast if your saw cuts good in my experience gr.400 800 1500 3000 about 2-3 minutes each grit.Dry it off and go back over the spots you usually miss.
That is psuedopodos corialis-false foot coral,a rare species from Besis amundis:>
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Post by mohs on Jan 31, 2013 11:35:29 GMT -5
Nice job, John
the Barranca is high on my list of must have
but not this time around
I need pixie wheels, belts, flat laps, s/c discs, burrs ect ect...,
& I suppose rocks
although, I have no more room in my head for any
see ya soon in Tucson
Ed
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Post by johnjsgems on Jan 31, 2013 11:37:46 GMT -5
GR, it went pretty fast. I think I spent less than two hours yesterday finishing it. That was with stopping to wait on the few customers trickling in. I removed the scratches I had marked when you were here with the 120 pad. Then did 220 and four hundred. I had a little issue with crystals pulling out of the fractures and leaving scratches and had to remark and hit them again with 220. My 400 pad was really about gone so with a new 400 I was able to proceed with no problem. My felt pad wouldn't stay on (I probably overheated the Velcro on a countertop) so used a new 13000 pad as a final polish. It came out very well. Usually 14K diamond is what I use on wood normally but I sold all my felt pads in Denver with BD and forgot to restock.
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Post by gr on Jan 31, 2013 14:29:28 GMT -5
Sweet wood John. Even more so now! Where did you tell me you were going to set that one when it was done ?
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Post by johnjsgems on Jan 31, 2013 19:02:47 GMT -5
My wife returns from Miami tonight. It may be a keeper after she sees it.
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