jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,562
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Post by jamesp on Apr 10, 2015 10:35:34 GMT -5
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Apr 10, 2015 10:42:05 GMT -5
Whole batch full of goodies but the very first picture in the set was my favorite. Never seen your coral with eyes or orbs before. Looks like a high quality agate.
Chuck
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Post by captbob on Apr 10, 2015 10:57:58 GMT -5
Those corals are gonna be hard to improve on. Whatcha gonna do for an encore?
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,547
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Post by tkvancil on Apr 10, 2015 11:12:21 GMT -5
Very nice! Had to look twice.
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Post by gingerkid on Apr 10, 2015 11:23:01 GMT -5
Bravo, jamesp! Your 1st and 3rd tumble pics are beautiful! The 3rd one is wild and looks like turtleback agate. Your tumbles in your last pic are so shiny that my eyes went wonkers. Ugh, the thunderstorms are rolling through, James. yeehar...
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,562
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Post by jamesp on Apr 10, 2015 11:36:52 GMT -5
Whole batch full of goodies but the very first picture in the set was my favorite. Never seen your coral with eyes or orbs before. Looks like a high quality agate. Chuck That is just a heat treated tumbled botryoidal plate Chuck. The heat turns them black and white. I need to collect this, it is all in the gravel. It is very ugly till you start to tumble the coating off the botryoids. Under those iron deposits is the clear whiskey stained chalcedony. The iron coating is ugly till you tumble it. My wife said to stop collecting coral heads and start picking this stuff up. So I have my orders. The heavy mineral content makes the heat change it. Here is what they look like before heating:
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Apr 10, 2015 11:40:22 GMT -5
Very cool, Thanks jamesp. Cab/jewelry worthy stuff for sure.
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Post by gingerkid on Apr 10, 2015 11:41:09 GMT -5
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,562
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Post by jamesp on Apr 10, 2015 11:55:27 GMT -5
Very cool, Thanks jamesp. Cab/jewelry worthy stuff for sure. If I had a cab machine I would probably be throwing rocks at the tumbler and playing w/these botryoids. I can get them in biggish quantities. I need a gem blade that is very thin to cut them into shape. I find large plates and broken geodes full of them that can be reduced, but not w/a hammer.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,562
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Post by jamesp on Apr 10, 2015 11:56:50 GMT -5
i think STD's. Same question, where are those pickers...
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,562
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Post by jamesp on Apr 10, 2015 11:58:59 GMT -5
Those corals are gonna be hard to improve on. Whatcha gonna do for an encore? May find more to do an encore with captbob and thanks. Never know what colors are going to show up in the coral zone.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,562
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Post by jamesp on Apr 10, 2015 12:02:44 GMT -5
Very nice! Had to look twice. Thanks tk. And for getting me into Borax w/instructions. Did the lazy sugar till the final polish and then the Borax to finish. worked out real well. My hot blooded vibe sure dries the Borax out fast. I am afraid it will seize if I don't add water every 6 hours.
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megalotis
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since April 2009
Posts: 226
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Post by megalotis on Apr 11, 2015 13:33:59 GMT -5
Dang! That first black one is killer, they all are very nice! I am liking that material!
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Post by iant on Apr 12, 2015 4:47:47 GMT -5
Lovely stuff! Really nice.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,711
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Post by Fossilman on Apr 12, 2015 8:42:47 GMT -5
As always James/my hat's off to ya'...........Thumps up
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,562
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Post by jamesp on Apr 12, 2015 9:23:02 GMT -5
Dang! That first black one is killer, they all are very nice! I am liking that material! I find broken 'geodes' bigger than basketballs that could be dissected into tumble or jewelry sized pieces megalotis. This one was about foot long, only the cap was sawed off. They are delicate and get crushed, leaving a lot of botryoidal debris in the river gravel. A large shoal downstream about 6 miles is covered up with them. The problem is getting there and back without having to spend the night on the river due to shoals. These are some that I broke up for the tumbler without the oxidization However, these ugly ones with the white and rusty oxidation coated layers are the crown jewels. By selectively grinding the coating off of each botryoid eyes are created. It appears to be low grade opal or chalcedony polluted with minerals. You can see the layers at the cracks. With the clear butterscotch color below. The coating is very sensitive to heat. So the black reaction.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,562
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Post by jamesp on Apr 12, 2015 9:37:18 GMT -5
Lovely stuff! Really nice. Ian, you wife has contacted me and wants to send you over for a coral collecting trip. We have your life insurance paid up, double indemnity
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Post by washingtonrocks on Apr 12, 2015 19:09:40 GMT -5
Those tumbles are nothing short of phenomenal, jamesp! Really love those bots too, but I have a soft spot for that dog bone/bow-tie shaped stone.
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lilacmoth
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2015
Posts: 160
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Post by lilacmoth on Apr 12, 2015 19:13:36 GMT -5
I seriously just let out a squeak of envy at the sight of those photos! Soooo shinyyyy, ohhhhh Also, followed you on flickr. I can always use more eye candy in my feed! (I'm excitablegirl on flickr)
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,562
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Post by jamesp on Apr 12, 2015 19:33:23 GMT -5
Those tumbles are nothing short of phenomenal, jamesp! Really love those bots too, but I have a soft spot for that dog bone/bow-tie shaped stone. The dog bone coral is the furthest from home washington. It is a tiny vein in a small creek near Tampa. I got to get back down there and seek permission to hunt on a small river close by. Small creek, coral vein about a foot thick at the interface of the grey and yellow clay, 20 feet of sand sitting on it:
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