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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2013 15:41:51 GMT -5
4.5" x 4.5" x 4.5" slab - haha, It's a cube for spheremaking. Made from the first cuts on my new saw. Cutting lizardstone from @azrockgeek now. Maybe get a 5" cube
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2013 16:01:47 GMT -5
That's freaking awesome!!! I bet you didn't even get yelled at. :-) I hope you have room for extra saws, you gotta be hooked.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2013 16:41:07 GMT -5
That's freaking awesome!!! I bet you didn't even get yelled at. :-) I hope you have room for extra saws, you gotta be hooked. well... it would be nice to cut faster. I'll begin researching the hydraulics feed we've discussed. Oh.. and I do not a saw for cutting the corners off. And perhaps..... lol
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Post by johnjsgems on Jul 21, 2013 23:01:13 GMT -5
Covington sells angle brackets for cutting the corners. Sure that is Kokoweef? Lines look too straight. The material I have looks like earth tone rhodochrosite. I was able to collect there and tour the mine a while back. Neat place.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2013 13:48:25 GMT -5
Covington sells angle brackets for cutting the corners. Sure that is Kokoweef? Lines look too straight. The material I have looks like earth tone rhodochrosite. I was able to collect there and tour the mine a while back. Neat place. I am making my angle brackets. It's just two angle irons welded in a /\\/ pattern. sorry for the crappy ascii art. The lines might look to straight because this was a small portion of a VERY large hunk. The friend who gifted it to me guaranteed me it was stalagtite from kokoweef. Wish I could visit.
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Post by johnjsgems on Jul 22, 2013 14:29:33 GMT -5
A former Searchers member got us in about 9 years ago. We were able to collect on the tailings pile and tour the working mine where they were searching for the "Lost River Of Gold". We had to see their video and hear their talk on the search for the gold in hopes someone would invest. Very interesting tour but they didn't get any money out of me. They were very serious looking though. There were wires all over the hillsides used with some kind of satellite resonance imaging looking for hollows in the hillsides. The mine where they were drilling they were using donated drills from Homestake Mining. Every time they hit a void they would run in a camera to look around. The video was frighteningly similar to a sygmoidoscopy if you have ever had the pleasure. We were supposed to tour a cavern but an earthquake before knocked down some cave formations so they were afraid to let us in. The legend is the Indians found a lost river of gold but the chief's son was killed down there so he ordered the entrance blocked. The Kokoweef material is basically limestone cave formations "cave coral" and "cave popcorn". The stalagtites and stalagmites have concentric rings. The tailings pile was made during WWII. The cave formations were shot down and hauled outside so they could mine something they needed for the war effort. The block in your picture looks more like Death Valley Onyx. How hard is it? If Kokoweef it should be really soft.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2013 15:31:04 GMT -5
John, I'll check hardness at home later. Are you referring to the "honey onyx", this is definitely not that.
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Post by johnjsgems on Jul 22, 2013 17:04:46 GMT -5
There is an onyx in Death Valley (illegal to collect now) and a similar material North of Trona. Not a honey onyx. I would like to see your cube from the other end. If Kokoweef the layers would be circular since it built up as limestone water dripped over time.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2013 17:33:42 GMT -5
I suggest the "circles"are large enough to not be present in this piece. My friend said it started at 250#++ and needed four guys to put in his truck.
I'll scratch it and get more images tonight.
John, I do appreciate you taking the time to educate. Much appreciated.
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Post by johnjsgems on Jul 23, 2013 14:16:28 GMT -5
Wow! That was a monster. The biggest pieces I found in the tailings pile are about 1" across. I have a fair sized piece I found in my dad's stuff but no where near 250 lbs. It finally came to my aged mind. The material they mined behind the cave coral was dolomite.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2013 17:16:32 GMT -5
I too more pix but they did not show up. I believe this material is weakly flourescent and the flourescense overexposes the images. I am having trouble showing the growth lines.
Budduy claimed to have dug 10 feet into the tailings pile to get to the large pieces!
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