SJPatrick
starting to spend too much on rocks
2 1/2 years into rock hounding and I'm still a newbie!
Member since September 2013
Posts: 124
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Post by SJPatrick on Nov 11, 2013 22:26:15 GMT -5
Hello from San Jose, CA
Been rock hounding for about a year now. I started when I found some nice agates (didn't know what they were at the time) while hiking in Utah. Researched a little, then bought a Lortone 33B and Lot o Tumbler to polish them up. Since then I've visited many states looking for more agate and jasper, and in the last 9 months branched out into finding thundereggs at the Baker Mine in NM and Richardson Ranch in OR, geodes at Dugway and Keokuk, and septarian nodules in UT.
Using a 7" Skil tile saw with a Kolbalt porcelain blade I've managed to cut some bigger agate and jasper pieces into smaller sizes for the tumblers and also cut some of the smaller eggs. But I have more eggs that I can't cut with the 7". And many of the geodes and most of the nodules will require a bigger saw. So I'll be looking to buy some used equipment pretty soon. The plan is to polish up the halves. And sometime in the future I'm sure I'll want to do some slabbing.
To those ends, I've been reading the Slabs and Saws forum to get acquainted with the various types of saws that are available. Wow, there is a lot of really helpful information there. So a big thank you to all of you contributing to the forums. I'm sure I'll have some questions in the near future and I look forward to hearing your ideas and thoughts. Thanks!
Patrick
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barclay
has rocks in the head
Lowly Padawan of rocks
Member since November 2011
Posts: 510
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Post by barclay on Nov 12, 2013 20:36:50 GMT -5
Greetings and felicitations from SoCal. Careful, rocks can be addictive. You should be able to get a relatively inexpensive 10" saw from Home Depot/Lowes or Harbor Freight.
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Post by Pat on Nov 12, 2013 21:07:30 GMT -5
Welcome from San Jose, Ca! Don't know anything about saws except how to use my 4" trim saw and my 10" MK tile saw.
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SJPatrick
starting to spend too much on rocks
2 1/2 years into rock hounding and I'm still a newbie!
Member since September 2013
Posts: 124
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Post by SJPatrick on Nov 13, 2013 22:23:45 GMT -5
Thanks for the welcomes and input.
Well rock hounding hasn't quite hit the addiction phase for me yet, I think. Maybe more of an obsession?
At the current time I'm looking for a big slab saw, I think. I've got a couple dozen septarian nodules in the 4" to 7" size that I need to cut. And others in that range. A used 18" saw would be ideal. It could handle 90% of the rocks I have. One issue I have is finding room for a big saw. But I still need to look into it more. We'll see....
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Post by johnjsgems on Nov 15, 2013 12:24:41 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum. With my MK101 tile saw with 301 lapidary blade I can easily cut 4" agates like butter and have plunge cut softer rocks up to 7". Barranca will have the lapidary version on sale starting Dec. 1st. It is a great geode/nodule cutter. I just bought the vise for mine but the lapidary version comes with vise, 301 blade, and folding stand.
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SJPatrick
starting to spend too much on rocks
2 1/2 years into rock hounding and I'm still a newbie!
Member since September 2013
Posts: 124
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Post by SJPatrick on Nov 18, 2013 12:00:45 GMT -5
Thanks for the input John. After hours and hours of hand feeding my little 7" saw, I figure I should have a saw with a power or gravity feed. I won't be doing cabs or anything intricate. Just halving nodules and maybe doing some slabs. I'll post a thread to the Slabs & Saw forum when I have some candidates. Thanks.
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Tommy
Administrator
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,685
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Post by Tommy on Nov 18, 2013 15:23:30 GMT -5
Hi Patrick, welcome. You've probably figured this out already but keep your eye on Craigslist - I see 18-24" saws for sale in the Bay Area all the time. Be selective though - there's a lot of worn out crap offered up for sale.
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SJPatrick
starting to spend too much on rocks
2 1/2 years into rock hounding and I'm still a newbie!
Member since September 2013
Posts: 124
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Post by SJPatrick on Nov 19, 2013 21:37:40 GMT -5
Thanks for the input Tommy. Yes I've been scanning the Bay Area Craigslist, and eBay for saws. Still looking. I've read a lot off good information on this forum about evaluating slab saws. Hopefully soon I can put it to good use and find a decent used saw. Thanks again.
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Thunder69
Cave Dweller
Thunder 2000-2015
Member since January 2009
Posts: 3,102
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Post by Thunder69 on Nov 22, 2013 21:15:09 GMT -5
Well rock hounding hasn't quite hit the addiction phase for me yet, I think. Maybe more of an obsession?
Welcome To the board and I hate to tell you this...You are an addict...When you went on your second hunt that was it....Let me ask.. Do you dream of rocks...All addicts do .LOL...I dream of agates mostly..MMMMMMMMMMMMMM agates..John
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Post by bobby1 on Nov 28, 2013 11:44:28 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum from an exsanjoseite. Lived there for 41 years and suddenly we found the key and escaped to the Gold Country. Bob
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SJPatrick
starting to spend too much on rocks
2 1/2 years into rock hounding and I'm still a newbie!
Member since September 2013
Posts: 124
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Post by SJPatrick on Nov 30, 2013 18:07:46 GMT -5
I can't say that I dream of rocks John. But I've been dreaming about slab saws lately. Does that count?
Gold country is a great place to escape to Bob. Lucky you!
Thanks for the welcome guys.
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Thunder69
Cave Dweller
Thunder 2000-2015
Member since January 2009
Posts: 3,102
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Post by Thunder69 on Dec 1, 2013 13:39:18 GMT -5
Patrick..LOL ..It is...been there too...John
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