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Post by cpdad on Jan 28, 2007 21:21:00 GMT -5
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firewalker45
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since August 2006
Posts: 929
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Post by firewalker45 on Jan 28, 2007 21:45:06 GMT -5
Hi cp, the quartz in the center should cut and tumble fine. It will not fall apart. What you need to watch out for is the quartz fracturing. After the rough stage, if you vibe tumble the later stages it should be okay, If you rot. tumble, use plastic pellets to minimize the banging.
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earthdog
Cave Dweller
Don't eat yellow snow
Member since June 2006
Posts: 2,731
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Post by earthdog on Jan 28, 2007 22:22:07 GMT -5
From what I have done with all of my geodes, I have found that the center will crumble away. Even when cutting Brazilian agates with the center like that, they seem to crumble away while cutting. If you leave some of the agate part around the quartz center you might have a better chance of it staying together. Why would you want to cut it up anyway? It doesn't say if it is died that color blue or not. And with the purple or redish tint in the pic. I can't tell. It looks alot like the Mexican coconut geodes I have. These are blue also that I did on the vibe. flat lap, they turned out great.
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Post by freeform on Jan 28, 2007 23:01:34 GMT -5
i agree, if quartz shows indivdual crystals, those will naturally want to come apart during any type of cutting. Slabbing wont make them do that nessairly, but i think tumbling would for sure.
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Post by snowdog on Jan 28, 2007 23:03:55 GMT -5
when you can see the crystals --yes they will fall out --- the thinnest I could ever get and have them stay together was 1/2" thick slab ( and that was very few ) ---- it is pretty easy to polish them if you do them on a flat lap and just do halves tho --- sorry edog --- I mean hard and time consuming ! ;D --- if you want a couple to play with I can send a couple --- have alot of junk ones like that ;D even the solid looking ones-- that have color bands can be shook apart in a big vib ;D ;D---- I know that for sure --- wanna see some agate ribs ? ;D ;D cpdad -- that one you posted the pic of -- If I sliced it about a 1/4" thick I could bring it apart at each of those different blue lines it has
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Post by cpdad on Jan 28, 2007 23:05:16 GMT -5
earthdog..i bought him a box of these for his birthday back in october...and they look exactly like yours...same blue...some solid blue...some with the icey looking quartz in the middle. cp decides he is going to cut some slices from them...which he did before he killed my good blade ...and he managed to get a few slices as thin as 1/16 with a little taper to about 1/8 on 2 1/2" peices...hes better than i am with the workforce. after he cut these thin slices...he wanted to know if he cut them a little thicker....could we make pendants...and i told him i didnt have a clue cause the icey part looked like it may come apart during tumbling. if the icey looking part wont tumble...i will tell him theres no reason to cut thin slices...its best suited for display peices...kev.
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Post by deb193 on Jan 28, 2007 23:08:52 GMT -5
SOme will tumble and some will crumble. If it is crumbling on the saw blade that would be a sign.
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Post by snowdog on Jan 28, 2007 23:11:33 GMT -5
cpdad -- if they are like the last pic that edog posted ( the one on the left ) then you could cut pendents but the right side one would prob fall apart
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Post by cpdad on Jan 28, 2007 23:21:03 GMT -5
took me half an hour to write my response...now i gotta go back and look at what yaw wrote ;D
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Post by cpdad on Jan 28, 2007 23:52:31 GMT -5
yep...some nice blue stuff like on the left of the last pic...but i beleive the super thin peices he cut are like the ones on the right of last pic...and didnt bust out in the center.
will have to get pics....i havent posted any pics lately...cause i hate saying sorry for the bad pics.
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spacegold
has rocks in the head
Member since September 2006
Posts: 732
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Post by spacegold on Jan 28, 2007 23:58:56 GMT -5
I think about the safest thing you can do with the ones you can see crystals in is flat lap both side of any that don't fall apart in cutting. Some of those may make it through. But a rotary will kill them almost for sure.
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Post by rockyraccoon on Jan 29, 2007 0:22:56 GMT -5
i used a vibe but mine held together all the way through kim
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spacegold
has rocks in the head
Member since September 2006
Posts: 732
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Post by spacegold on Jan 29, 2007 0:32:55 GMT -5
Those are really nice, Kim. But I am just about certain they wouldn't have lasted an hour in the AR-12. Too much violence. The crystals were tight enough that the gentler vibe didn't separate them. So there is some hope in the vibe if the crystals are tight. The inner edges of the ones with big holes in them are going to be somewhat rounded even in the vibe.
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earthdog
Cave Dweller
Don't eat yellow snow
Member since June 2006
Posts: 2,731
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Post by earthdog on Jan 29, 2007 9:09:11 GMT -5
Sorry for what, Snowdog?
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