RiverOtter
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2004
Posts: 339
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Post by RiverOtter on May 13, 2004 0:01:12 GMT -5
After a very busy month (and it's not over yet) I've finally found the time to do some posting and read posts. (Boy am I behind!!) Just wondered what everyone is running currently.
I just finished my garnet about a week ago. I posted pics on the photo board. In the next two weeks I will have finished the peridot, emerald, rose quartz (again) and amethyst (again, again). Geez I sound like a Teletubby!! I also have a load of some of the driveway gravel in and those ever hard saphs and rubies. Although I think I may be making some headway with those.
Pretty soon I'll have 3 barrels opening up and I'll get to decide what goes in next. Can't wait for that.I have lots of nice rough just waiting. Isn't this hobby just so much fun!!
Otter
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bwalters
has rocks in the head
Member since March 2004
Posts: 557
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Post by bwalters on May 13, 2004 0:16:41 GMT -5
Hey Otter, I've got a mixed load in the 15 lb'er due to come out of polish tomorrow. Nothin' special, just flint from around here, quartz, and a few agates. It's been running long enough now that if there is anything special running in it, I've forgotten what it is. I've got purple agate running in coarse in a 3 lb'er that's due to be changed or refreshed, and malachite running in polish that isn't polishing and is just running until I can get hold of some tin oxide.
Ain't this just too much fun! ;D
Barbara
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Post by mrbrett on May 13, 2004 7:20:00 GMT -5
I'm running one barrell with mix agates. I've got about 50lb. of mix odds and ends I can tumble. Another barrell with rocks that I found in my parents creek bed. Those are going to be for them.
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llanago
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,714
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Post by llanago on May 13, 2004 8:22:51 GMT -5
BE, I have the polish that came with the vibe tumbler, so let's try that on your malachite before you/we buy some tin oxide. May work, may not, but it's worth a try. If it doesn't and you need some tin oxide, we can go in together and buy a pound. And then do anything that needs Tin Oxiide in my vibe tumbler. Only have to use 2 teaspoons of polish in it every 24 hours and everything I have polished in it has only taken 2 days. I have a few stones out of my last batch that didn't polish well and want to use the other polish on them. That probably still won't be enough for another 6# load, but I will have some more ready for polish in another week or so. Otter, I am tumbling some of the green adventurine and the red and yellow jasper that I got from Banjo. Have some agate and some other neat looking stuff in there also. Don't know what the other neat looking stuff is though!
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bschultz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2004
Posts: 234
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Post by bschultz on May 13, 2004 9:14:23 GMT -5
I'm still working on my first load in my model B. Went to polish last night in cerium. It's a mixed load of pet wood agates and quartz. Trying the wooden dowel trick for cushioning.
Bob
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RedwoodRocks
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since March 2003
Posts: 762
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Post by RedwoodRocks on May 13, 2004 11:17:38 GMT -5
I have a batch of sodalite in coarse grit. Compared to agates and jaspers, sodalite shapes up very quickly - 2 weeks vs. 5-6 weeks for agates.
The other barrel has assorted agates and jaspers in cerium oxide polish. This batch has been in polish for two weeks. But, I am not happy with the shine.
I may need to get some some tripoli or 1000 grit as the pre-polish is 500-600 grit.
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Post by creativeminded on May 13, 2004 15:01:39 GMT -5
I have the green and white quartz that banjocreek sent me, along with some very small stones possibly hematite, and a variety of other medium size stones, will post a picture of the larger stones when done. They are currently in the third stage. Tami
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SirRoxalot
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 790
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Post by SirRoxalot on May 13, 2004 16:28:29 GMT -5
One twelve pounder is running tiger eye in coarse, the other is almost done the coarse grind of a second load of dalmation stone (boy does that shape up fast!), and I've got a 6 lb barrel on the third, running cool purplish red quartzitein in 600 grit. The latter is basically quartz loaded with mica, colored red by iron oxides; if it takes a polish the finished stones should be spectacular, with a subtle sort of play of light, like goldstone but the mica flakes are bigger, so you look at it one way and it's just a red rock, but tilt it and it sparkles. Very cool stuff.
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Post by cookie3rocks on May 13, 2004 18:37:00 GMT -5
I'm running back yard quartz and granite with some sodalite. The sodalight keeps getting to pre polish really well but loses something in the polish stage. Have rutalated quartz and citrine in there thats looking nice. Been in polish for 4 days, checked it 2 days ago and I'm about to check it again. This will be my second batch but the first one didn't do so good so I'm looking forward to seeing the results.
cookie
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Post by rockyraccoon on May 13, 2004 22:37:07 GMT -5
it won't stop raining/storming here for me to recharge my barrels so everything has been running a week longer than i meant for them to.
12# tiger eye - gold & blue 6# banjo's green 6# quartz from my friend in idaho 6# crazy lace 6# mixed jasper
everything is still on 60/90 except the crazy lace which is in 120/220.
weather channel says its going to be sunny this weekend then all hell will break loose again next monday for a week. i need some sunshine!!!
kim
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James
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 876
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Post by James on May 14, 2004 3:10:24 GMT -5
I finish a 15 lb load of Ocean jasper last week. ;D Problem is, my bother is in Michigan with the camera! Here are my ongoing projects. 15 lb barrel: Mexican. Mixed assorted nodules, Laguna, Agua Nueva and crazy lace. 15 lb barrel: Apricot agate from Madagascar. 15 lb barrel: Orange Sunstone and Gray, green and orange moonstone. 15 lb barrel: Moss jasp-agate. The stuff I found myself in the Mojave desert. 3 lb barrel: Indian moss agate. 3 lb barrel: Blue agate. 3 lb barrel: Blue lace Chalcedony. Also found in the Mojave desert. You'll see the pics when they're ready.
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WilliamC
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2003
Posts: 416
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Post by WilliamC on May 14, 2004 10:15:20 GMT -5
Greetings All, Well with the recent purchase of some walnut shell for cushioning and some more grit I finally got all 3 machines going again last Saturday. Right now I've got the 12-lb barrel (60/90) with a load of the green quartz I got from Banjocreek, two 6-lb barrels (one 120/220 and one 220) with verdite/butterjade, a 6-lb barrel (600) with a mixed load of agates and aventurine, and finally a 6-lb barrel (aluminum oxide prepolish) with a mixed load of mahagony, rainbow, and silversheen obsidian. I'll be out of town this weekend, so last Wednesday evening I checked the 12-lb barrel, all the grit was already used up on the quartz and I added another cup. This should hold things over until Sunday afternooon when I should be able to take them all down, then it will be sorting time for me and Chris WilliamC
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shorty
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2003
Posts: 392
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Post by shorty on May 14, 2004 10:42:42 GMT -5
welcom back im grinding some green that i got from banjo creek . it is looking real pretty i had a brain storm last nite kudent sleep .to take a slice then cut a pice out of the middle andstick it on the end of the key and glue it there .its getting real prety . shorty
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RiverOtter
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2004
Posts: 339
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Post by RiverOtter on May 15, 2004 11:28:28 GMT -5
Well with luck my peridot will be finished today. They should be real pretty since the only stuff I could find was facet grade material. They are small but they have some nice color. I'll check the emeralds on Tuesday and with luck they will be finished. I'm really pleased with the way these are coming out. My amethyst and rose quartz will go into a polish tomorrow. The amethyst has been a true experiment with the shine. I checked my load of driveway gravel on Thursday and WOW!! I've read several posts here about people taking what appeared to be ordinary rocks and turning them into really pretty polished stones. These have truly amazed me. I'm so excited about the way they are turning out I am already searching the drive for more!! Can't wait for you all to see them! I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's finished loads. Especially that silversheen obsidian. I was at Spencer Lapidary a couple months ago (he's the guy that is the master sphere maker) and he had a sphere made out of that silversheen obsidian. It was absolutely beautiful. I almost bought it but I resisted! RiverOtter
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Post by creativeminded on May 15, 2004 13:38:09 GMT -5
I was flipping through the channels one day and found a shopping channel that was focusing on Peridot and they said it is very rare that a piece of peridot to facet into a carat is very rare. It is a volcanic stone. Tami P.S. peridot is my birthstone.
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SirRoxalot
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 790
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Post by SirRoxalot on May 15, 2004 22:32:17 GMT -5
Don't believe anything you hear about gems or minerals on any shopping channel. Those folks are complete idiots, and don't have a clue what they're talking about.
Peridot (which is actually forsterite) is a lovely gem and one of my favorites, but it is not at all rare. Good crystals are relatively rare, but gem rough is not.
Remember, most times when a salesman says something is rare, unique, valuable, limited time offer, he's trying to rip you off.
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Post by sandsman1 on May 15, 2004 22:55:15 GMT -5
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Post by cookie3rocks on May 15, 2004 23:09:25 GMT -5
Those are pretty good sized! All I seem to get are really tiny ones. Does that mean they break dowm easily when tumbled? I'm mostly concerned about that quarter. No self respecting coke machine would take it ;D
cookie
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Post by sandsman1 on May 16, 2004 12:04:16 GMT -5
hahaha cookie thats the same quarter i allways use just got wierd in the pic somehow i showed it to my daughter and she loves the color green so i did acouple rough grinds to throw in the tumbler see if one comes out nice ill make her a pendent img37.photobucket.com/albums/v115/sandsman1/shaped.bmp[/img]
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RiverOtter
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2004
Posts: 339
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Post by RiverOtter on May 16, 2004 15:49:42 GMT -5
cookie, most of mine are very small also. Peridot is a 7 on the Mohs hardness scale so they don't break down any faster than say quartz. Since mine were so small to begin with, I watched them very carefully during the course grind. Which, btw, if you don't always worry your barrels you will need to with peridot. I found that the silly stuff foams badly at every grit stage, including polish. We had the beginning of a leak after a recharge in course because of the foam. I think it must be the chemical makeup of the peridot that does it. My peridot is finished. I pulled it last night. It came out beautiful. They have a wonderful apple green color. I'll take some pics today and try to get them up later tonight.
Otter
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