jamesp
Cave Dweller 
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,618
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Post by jamesp on Mar 7, 2015 19:39:57 GMT -5
A Rio Grande pebble that I omitted showing the original shape and white patina. Using a 7 inch diamond cup from Harbor Freight spun by a 1/4 HP motor @ 2300 RPM. End result  After another 20 minutes worth  Something within  |
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Post by fantastic5 on Mar 7, 2015 19:47:29 GMT -5
That last one looks like a fossil Mickey Mouse  Are those going in the vibe or the rotary? |
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spiritstone
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2014
Posts: 2,061 
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Post by spiritstone on Mar 7, 2015 20:12:07 GMT -5
I keep forgetting to mention this, but if your ever up for some BC volcanic common opal rough to experiment on in the tumbler as filler or whatever. I would be more then happy to move some out of the house, and interested to see what you could do with it. Give me a shout, on me, postage also. You can have a few pounds of it, if I still have that much in the shed, and if you wanted to, you could pass some on around. Cheaper if I mailed it once in a box and let you spread it around across the border.
Its mostly black and white, and some mixed colors,some heavily fractured and some not.
If you need a pic. I just need a day to dig it out to take a shot of it.
Keep it in mind.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,618
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Post by jamesp on Mar 8, 2015 5:27:17 GMT -5
That last one looks like a fossil Mickey Mouse Are those going in the vibe or the rotary? If I remember they take about 3 weeks with three SiC 30/60 grit changes in the rotary Ann. I grind them here and there and chunk them in the rotary randomly as add rocks as the batch gets smaller. Sometimes grinding bigger rocks and and tumbling them with glass filler to have smalls. Then to the vibe. This Rio pebble was 3 weeks in rough grind. One of the first Rios to be ground on that grinder:    You can see still see surface pits in the finished product common with Rio pebbles. All that was needed was another thin layer to be removed and they may have disappeared. May rework that one to a near sphere. |
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,618
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Post by jamesp on Mar 8, 2015 5:33:47 GMT -5
I keep forgetting to mention this, but if your ever up for some BC volcanic common opal rough to experiment on in the tumbler as filler or whatever. I would be more then happy to move some out of the house, and interested to see what you could do with it. Give me a shout, on me, postage also. You can have a few pounds of it, if I still have that much in the shed, and if you wanted to, you could pass some on around. Cheaper if I mailed it once in a box and let you spread it around across the border. Its mostly black and white, and some mixed colors,some heavily fractured and some not. If you need a pic. I just need a day to dig it out to take a shot of it. Keep it in mind. spririt- may be best to send an enveloped sample since you are in Canada. I will gladly add them in with a batch to see how they do. Will be glad to send them back tumbled. Either way, photos would be great, am curious to see what it looks like. |
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Post by snowmom on Mar 8, 2015 5:34:31 GMT -5
always creative! amazing what the difference is- pretty gratifying result after all that work...watching with interest
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,618
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Post by jamesp on Mar 8, 2015 6:15:18 GMT -5
always creative! amazing what the difference is- pretty gratifying result after all that work...watching with interest That method of grinding was started back in 2012. To remove the thick white husk off the coral. This was one of the first corals I ever used one of those grinders on. The center of this one is milk white. It is only the outer layer that has the color and patterns on many of them. So basically removing the 'paint' and leaving some color/patterns. This not polished yet, out of coarse grind in the rotary    |
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Post by snowmom on Mar 8, 2015 6:47:41 GMT -5
cool! very effective!
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spiritstone
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2014
Posts: 2,061
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Post by spiritstone on Mar 8, 2015 19:09:17 GMT -5
I keep forgetting to mention this, but if your ever up for some BC volcanic common opal rough to experiment on in the tumbler as filler or whatever. I would be more then happy to move some out of the house, and interested to see what you could do with it. Give me a shout, on me, postage also. You can have a few pounds of it, if I still have that much in the shed, and if you wanted to, you could pass some on around. Cheaper if I mailed it once in a box and let you spread it around across the border. Its mostly black and white, and some mixed colors,some heavily fractured and some not. If you need a pic. I just need a day to dig it out to take a shot of it. Keep it in mind. spririt- may be best to send an enveloped sample since you are in Canada. I will gladly add them in with a batch to see how they do. Will be glad to send them back tumbled. Either way, photos would be great, am curious to see what it looks like. I'll post it on a new thread to show ya. |
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,618
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Post by jamesp on Mar 8, 2015 22:19:24 GMT -5
That works, or here, no matter. Curious to see the opal spiritstone |
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