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Post by radio on Aug 10, 2015 8:50:13 GMT -5
I would cab one of your favorites and set it in a silver ring or pendant for a handfull of the extras
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Post by captbob on Aug 10, 2015 8:59:25 GMT -5
I would cab one of your favorites and set it in a silver ring or pendant for a handfull of the extras That sounds easier than having to buy a wheel and learn all that stuff. Where did you run off to for 3 days jamesp?
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Aug 10, 2015 9:14:07 GMT -5
I took three fisherman friends and met these two pirates down on the Withlacoochee River captbob. Thanks for asking. went downstream for a explore and found a great hollow coral spot. Probably the best spot ever. So will be returning to that spot. Pirates rolled humongo coral heads up for photos. You can see the coral vein at the interface of the red clay and the white clay about 3 feet above the water.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Aug 10, 2015 9:25:25 GMT -5
I would cab one of your favorites and set it in a silver ring or pendant for a handfull of the extras By all means radio. I do plan on making jewelry out of them in the future. PM me. Looking forward.
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Post by captbob on Aug 10, 2015 9:59:08 GMT -5
Looks like you're baiting the gators there! What did you bring home this time?
Gonna have to get up there sometime before you get ALL the coral out of that river. You go right near the State line don't you? Near the conservation area or the part west of there?
We are having our worst mosquito season that I can ever remember with the 20 plus inches of rain that we have had in the past month. Are they bad up that way?
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Aug 10, 2015 11:31:36 GMT -5
Looks like you're baiting the gators there! What did you bring home this time? Gonna have to get up there sometime before you get ALL the coral out of that river. You go right near the State line don't you? Near the conservation area or the part west of there? We are having our worst mosquito season that I can ever remember with the 20 plus inches of rain that we have had in the past month. Are they bad up that way? I hunt occasionally in Florida. Probably 95% of the coral is from Georgia. Yes, that first conservation zone in Florida, but there is 30 more miles to the Suwannee. i think people collect along the 30 miles too. I don't think it is legal though. The main vein is 5-15 miles upstream from Florida line. Thankfully As far as cleaning that river out-not. I filled the boat from a 6 foot circle Sat. Could have filled it many more times from that spot. LOTS of coral. kap and Mark may clean it out, they are super coral pirates. But they have a Thailand made junker and are limited in their travels. Delicate aluminum prop on theirs, US stainless, US Go-Devil power on mine. They are pretty much disappearing in my rear view mirror most of the time. Come go with me sometime; you are welcome anytime. Thailand junker, lyrics by kap:
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quartz
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breakin' rocks in the hot sun
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Post by quartz on Aug 10, 2015 23:58:16 GMT -5
The color variety is impressive, does all this come from a fairly small area, or bits and pieces from a range of places?
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Aug 11, 2015 7:38:26 GMT -5
The color variety is impressive, does all this come from a fairly small area, or bits and pieces from a range of places? Lot of different places Larry in most cases. Some specific types are in pockets. The ones in the river are much more mixed and piled. But if you pry them out of the clay you tend to get more of one specific type. They say they got the silica from limestone. Bt they are all sitting on top of limestone. I think they got the silica from clay. Those chips came from small corals in a 5 foot circle in a shoal. Loose corals long removed from the clay by erosion. Probably not displaced more the 100 feet from their original position. But mixed nonetheless. Those partially formed black and white heads come from a 20 foot stretch of very pasty smelly clay. Smelly clay a good indicator of fine material, go figure. It takes 5 minutes to remove the clay off of one head with a 3000 psi pressure washer. Some are 2 feet around and would take hours to remove it from the clay. If you find fine heads packed in the clay in the bank, then wade out in the water to find heads that eroded out of that pocket. To avoid digging. The coral packed in the clay is loaded with sharp silica needles and spines not yet removed by the acid rich river water. Those sharp needles will give paper cuts that fester like being cut with ocean coral. Use tools, not hands. The clay is apparently deposited from the Georgia mountains and is in waves and layers like a sedimentary deposit. So the clay can be variable in an arm's reach, and so the corals. Many shoals are full of coral but the are mud balls and pithy without any agate.
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quartz
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Post by quartz on Aug 12, 2015 0:52:42 GMT -5
Thanks for that, interesting. The thought here is that silica leaches out of volcanic ash to make pet. wood, agate, etc., leaving clay behind as a "by-product".
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Aug 12, 2015 5:55:55 GMT -5
Thanks for that, interesting. The thought here is that silica leaches out of volcanic ash to make pet. wood, agate, etc., leaving clay behind as a "by-product". At the base of the worn down Appalachians are massive clay deposits. Clay rich in quartz, felspar and aluminum oxide. South Florida about all sand-no chert. North Florida/South Georgia has plenty of clay. Lots of chert and silicifications. Low temperature silicification process makes high quality rock, add lack of deep freeze to create fractures. But process devoid of the fine patterns and rich colors of ash agates.
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Post by iant on Aug 13, 2015 1:22:27 GMT -5
Great Material. Thanks for showing us!
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Aug 13, 2015 6:41:33 GMT -5
Great Material. Thanks for showing us! Thanks Ian. Looking forward to your next batch out of the tumbler.
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Fossilman
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Post by Fossilman on Aug 13, 2015 18:59:17 GMT -5
Hell yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by iant on Aug 14, 2015 1:50:28 GMT -5
Great Material. Thanks for showing us! Thanks Ian. Looking forward to your next batch out of the tumbler. Hi Jim. Thanks. Been delayed with holidays and other stuff- not been able to collect for some time. Still accumulating for my next Lot-o batch so will be a month or so.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Aug 14, 2015 5:51:02 GMT -5
iant- Lot-o ? When did you get one ?
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Thunder69
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Post by Thunder69 on Aug 14, 2015 17:28:06 GMT -5
Now that the crud is gone I would just go to polish....They are awesome...John
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Post by iant on Aug 15, 2015 12:18:12 GMT -5
iant- Lot-o ? When did you get one ? Had it for about a year. It's a double. Takes me a while to fill it before firing it up though. Now have 3 rotaries, 2 vibes and an old combo lapidary unit. I need to do updates! Had a great collecting day today, so have the tumblers rolling again. Got my Mojo back!
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Aug 15, 2015 12:21:38 GMT -5
Now that the crud is gone I would just go to polish....They are awesome...John Thanks John. You gotta hit that river some day. You not too far.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Aug 15, 2015 12:23:37 GMT -5
iant, Mojo on the way eh ? Need to get some eyes and stripes up. Anxious and impatient, waiting for the next batch.
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Post by sandsman1 on Aug 15, 2015 12:38:55 GMT -5
those bigger bubblers are very cool haha -- id love to see some shaped and mounted as pendents and such -- would be very much one of a kind pendents
dam i should have read the whole post before i said that you all beat me to it haha -- they really would make some great pendents good colors too
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