mibeachrocks
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since September 2013
Posts: 198
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Post by mibeachrocks on Aug 20, 2015 10:01:31 GMT -5
Apologies for my lack of participation on the board. I did want to offer up a quick post of a recent trip to northern lake Michigan near Leland. I was "fortunate" to be up there when the big storms swept through. Overall though it was a good trip. We brought back 5 five gallon buckets mixed with Petoskey stones, local slag (Leland Blue and Frankfort Green), granite and a bunch of other finds including some small agates. Mostly Petoskey stones and a few Frankfort Greens (sorry, they are hard to see in the bag) Storm came through that Sunday. Yes, those clouds are touching the ground. The only positive thing about the storm was the rocks on the beach were wet the next morning. I was able to find 127 Petoskey stones in a 2 hour trip. I hit a nice honey hole near some eroding sand cliffs. In one spot, I found 15 Petoskey stones by themselves. All the the stones in the below pic are petoskey stones. I found this quite odd and figured someone might have left them. However, of of the dirt was new from a washout from the storm. Hunting was really easy that day (can you find the Petoskey stone?) Managed to find some other stones that day as well. Had some good luck the rest of the week as well. Here is some dry Frankfort Green and Leland Blue slag I like to get out really early. On some days you find that Lake Michigan is like glass. By accident I found the best way to carry many of my finds from the remote shoreline is to use my backpacking backpack. Unfortunately I ran out of room when I found this one. Overall haul for that morning My wife was able to fill up a gallon size bag of just Leland Blue and Green. Many were small. Here are a few from the beach. Note: there are a few non-slag rocks in there as well. I was fortunate enough to make a trip down to the Bahamas over the summer and I can now confidently say that the Caribbean has nothing on the water of northern Michigan. That is a view of South Manitou Island from Leland. Overall we had a very nice trip and were able to bring home about 700 Petoskey stones. My 10 year old daughter found about 200 herself.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Aug 20, 2015 10:12:48 GMT -5
Wow, nice trip pics! I can't believe you found 700 Petoskeys. Do pick up every one or just the good ones? I've learned to leave most of them in the water and only bring home rocks that have potential for polishing. In your "Can you find the Petoskey stone?" picture, that's pretty much all I focused on. Looks like a nice one hiding under there. We really do live in a beautiful state. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.
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mibeachrocks
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since September 2013
Posts: 198
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Post by mibeachrocks on Aug 20, 2015 10:14:45 GMT -5
Wow, nice trip pics! I can't believe you found 700 Petoskeys. Do pick up every one or just the good ones? I've learned to leave most of them in the water and only bring home rocks that have potential for polishing. In your "Can you find the Petoskey stone?" picture, that's pretty much all I focused on. Looks like a nice one hiding under there. We really do live in a beautiful state. Thanks for sharing your trip with us. We had to leave a ton behind. We left those that would not polish or were just to large to carry.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Aug 20, 2015 10:23:39 GMT -5
That's an incredible haul of Petoskeys if they're decent ones. I might have to take a drive to Leland one of these days.
Have you done any experimenting with tumbling them? I tumble them in 80 grit and they come out well. I use extra water and only let them go for about three days. The slurry still ends up like pudding. I tried short runs in the vibe after that and it didn't work at all. I need to still try the vibe dry with corn cob and the later stages in a rotary. I'm not hopeful though.
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Post by captbob on Aug 20, 2015 10:37:17 GMT -5
Great trip report and thanks for sharing your pictures. That's an amazing haul of Petoskey stones!
"I was fortunate enough to make a trip down to the Bahamas over the summer and I can now confidently say that the Caribbean has nothing on the water of northern Michigan."
What is the water temperature up there?
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Aug 20, 2015 10:55:46 GMT -5
Some great pictures of the area and looks like you did real well rock hounding too. Should be enough there to keep you busy.
Chuck
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Post by rockpickerforever on Aug 20, 2015 12:21:19 GMT -5
Oh, my! That is some haul! Great trip report and pics, thanks for bringing us along. Great trip report and thanks for sharing your pictures. That's an amazing haul of Petoskey stones! " I was fortunate enough to make a trip down to the Bahamas over the summer and I can now confidently say that the Caribbean has nothing on the water of northern Michigan." What is the water temperature up there? I was thinking along those same lines, captbob. I would think the water of the Caribbean has plenty on the water of Northern Michigan - like twenty or thirty degrees? More during the winter. Brrrrr!
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Aug 20, 2015 12:27:52 GMT -5
captbob rockpickerforeverThe water in Lake Michigan beaches is between 70-74 degrees right now. Same temp the water is in the Bahamas in March and April. Bahamas water is 78-80 right now though. Lake Superior is the cold one with temps as warm as they will get all year right now at 62-64 degrees. Michigan has some beautiful beaches and forests but certainly is not tropical, lol Chuck
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Post by captbob on Aug 20, 2015 12:39:43 GMT -5
captbob rockpickerforeverThe water in Lake Michigan beaches is between 70-74 degrees right now. Same temp the water is in the Bahamas in March and April. Bahamas water is 78-80 right now though. Lake Superior is the cold one with temps as warm as they will get all year right now at 62-64 degrees. Michigan has some beautiful beaches and forests but certainly is not tropical, lol Chuck That's WAY no good!! Our water temp. (Gulf of Mexico - Tampa Bay area) is 87°. I won't even consider going in water that's not in the mid 80s or higher. Guess living in this climate down here thins the blood and makes one a sissy regarding cold water. Have friends invite me to go on rafting trips to the springs north of here - water 72°. NOT gonna happen! What do I look like a freakin' manatee? No body fat on this Florida boy to insulate from such temps. Recall a trip to the Keys to go snorkeling years ago. Water temp here at the time was very high 80s. Down there was like 82°. Went snorkling for some time and when I came out, my GF at the time, told me my lips were blue. Froze my butt off in 82° water! climatized I tell ya
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Post by rockpickerforever on Aug 20, 2015 12:40:44 GMT -5
Thanks for that, Chuck. I would have never thought it would be that warm! That's even a little warmer than the Pacific Ocean water here in SoCal right now. We have a cold current along the coastline. Winter temps in the upper fifties, but even during the summertime, hardly ever gets warmer than about 72 degrees. Unless one is young and foolish, one needs at minimum a spring suit here most of the year.
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mibeachrocks
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since September 2013
Posts: 198
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Post by mibeachrocks on Aug 20, 2015 12:46:07 GMT -5
captbob rockpickerforeverThe water in Lake Michigan beaches is between 70-74 degrees right now. Same temp the water is in the Bahamas in March and April. Bahamas water is 78-80 right now though. Lake Superior is the cold one with temps as warm as they will get all year right now at 62-64 degrees. Michigan has some beautiful beaches and forests but certainly is not tropical, lol Chuck That's WAY no good!! Our water temp. (Gulf of Mexico - Tampa Bay area) is 87°. I won't even consider going in water that's not in the mid 80s or higher. Guess living in this climate down here thins the blood and makes one a sissy regarding cold water. Have friends invite me to go on rafting trips to the springs north of here - water 72°. NOT gonna happen! What do I look like a freakin' manatee? No body fat on this Florida boy to insulate from such temps. Recall a trip to the Keys to go snorkeling years ago. Water temp here at the time was very high 80s. Down there was like 82°. Went snorkling for some time and when I came out, my GF at the time, told me my lips were blue. Froze my butt off in 82° water! climatized I tell ya It is funny how can can get used to the water temp here. We spent some time snorkeling in Lake Michigan this year. It was a great way to find some really nice sized stones.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Aug 20, 2015 12:50:50 GMT -5
The water temperatures can change with wind direction. The surface temps are higher than deeper water, so if the wind is offshore, the warm surface water can blow out and leave colder water near the shore.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Aug 20, 2015 12:57:27 GMT -5
The water temperatures can change with wind direction. The surface temps are higher than deeper water, so if the wind is offshore, the warm surface water can blow out and leave colder water near the shore. Very true. All the temps I listed are surface temps. The average temperature at the bottom of Superior is right around 40 degrees right now. www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/glcfs/Chuck
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Post by Jugglerguy on Aug 20, 2015 12:59:25 GMT -5
Oh, I wasn't correcting you, Chuck, just pointing out for people who might not know that the temperature can change from day to day.
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mibeachrocks
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since September 2013
Posts: 198
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Post by mibeachrocks on Aug 20, 2015 13:03:18 GMT -5
That's an incredible haul of Petoskeys if they're decent ones. I might have to take a drive to Leland one of these days. Have you done any experimenting with tumbling them? I tumble them in 80 grit and they come out well. I use extra water and only let them go for about three days. The slurry still ends up like pudding. I tried short runs in the vibe after that and it didn't work at all. I need to still try the vibe dry with corn cob and the later stages in a rotary. I'm not hopeful though. I spent a lot of the winter experimenting with various techniques. I thought that I documented the whole process but I cannot find the information or pics. What I've settled on is the following: 1. Run batch of mixed sizes in rotary with 60/90 for three days. I use plastic as filler if I do not have small stones. 2. Check stones after three days. Take our the ones that are ready for the next stage and leave in those that need a bit more work. 3. Run batch in 120/220 for three days. Add filler as needed to keep 80% full. It is very important to make sure the stones to not "crash" into each other and leave marks. 4. Check after three days and take out those that are ready for the next stage. 5. Run batch in 500 Au for three days. I've tried going over 500 and it will polish the stones to a certain degree; however, the stones always end up with "bruises" so I just stop at 500. 6. Here is where is gets a bit different. I will place the stones in a canning jar with mineral oil. I will use a brake vacuum pump and pump out the air. I will let it sit for three days. 7. Drain out the mineral oil and wipe off the stones. 8. Polish with Zam using a wheel for larger stones and dremel for smaller stones. My experience thus far is that I get more contrast out of the darker stones by doing the mineral oil process. these are a few poor quality stones using the process These were not tumbled. They were hand polished by my daughter. Her first attempt.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Aug 20, 2015 13:14:21 GMT -5
I've read that some people soak their stones in hot mineral oil, but I have never tried that. Yours came out nice. Can I assume that there was a typo or autocorrect error and that you didn't tumble them in gold (AU)? I'm guessing you use aluminum oxide. That last one that your daughter did is a beauty. When you say hand polished, do you mean literally by hand or with a flat lap or cabber? I did one with wet/dry sandpaper by hand a while back and it turned out great. I used aluminum oxide polish on denim for the last step instead of Zam and it worked really well.
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mibeachrocks
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since September 2013
Posts: 198
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Post by mibeachrocks on Aug 20, 2015 14:24:42 GMT -5
I've read that some people soak their stones in hot mineral oil, but I have never tried that. Yours came out nice. Can I assume that there was a typo or autocorrect error and that you didn't tumble them in gold (AU)? I'm guessing you use aluminum oxide. That last one that your daughter did is a beauty. When you say hand polished, do you mean literally by hand or with a flat lap or cabber? I did one with wet/dry sandpaper by hand a while back and it turned out great. I used aluminum oxide polish on denim for the last step instead of Zam and it worked really well. Darn typo. She used a homemade flat lap machine and finished off with zam. It worked great.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Aug 20, 2015 16:17:17 GMT -5
That's how we do it. Tell her she did a great job.
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Post by nowyo on Aug 20, 2015 20:18:25 GMT -5
Nice report and great pictures.
Russ
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mibeachrocks
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since September 2013
Posts: 198
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Post by mibeachrocks on Aug 27, 2015 10:07:27 GMT -5
Just finished up polishing one of the larger ones.
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