jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,562
|
Post by jamesp on Jan 17, 2016 10:07:19 GMT -5
A very 'not sounding Doors' Doors song mohs. Do I sense a taste of honky tonk ? Interesting to get reports from the western folks about agates washed down to cowboy land. Must have been a big river at one time.
|
|
tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,547
|
Post by tkvancil on Jan 17, 2016 10:42:34 GMT -5
Nice looking batch James. Very colorful, shiny and filled with variety. Good job!
My last batch of 2015 had a lot of Rio's and other rocks which had vugs and voids in them. Things I normally would have tried to tumble into submission. Usually not a great idea. Rocks tumble into "nothing" or nice features disappear. The one thing I abhor in tumbling would be hand scrubbing individual rocks between stages. Especially if there are a lot to be cleaned.
So this is what I tried with success ... End of each vibe step added 1/2 tbs. ivory shavings and run until some foam is generated. Thorough rinse and back in for an hour or so with borax. Add again 1/2 tbs. ivory shavings and run until the foam is almost ready to "boil" out of the tumbler. The defects came clean with just a couple squirts form a spray bottle.
|
|
|
Post by Pat on Jan 17, 2016 11:10:05 GMT -5
James, that is quite a diverse batch of pretties. Appreciate the explanations as well.
The Rio Grande looks like it has the best gravels.
Your corals are always intriguing!
Thanks for the show!
|
|
jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,562
|
Post by jamesp on Jan 17, 2016 11:40:12 GMT -5
Nice looking batch James. Very colorful, shiny and filled with variety. Good job! My last batch of 2015 had a lot of Rio's and other rocks which had vugs and voids in them. Things I normally would have tried to tumble into submission. Usually not a great idea. Rocks tumble into "nothing" or nice features disappear. The one thing I abhor in tumbling would be hand scrubbing individual rocks between stages. Especially if there are a lot to be cleaned. So this is what I tried with success ... End of each vibe step added 1/2 tbs. ivory shavings and run until some foam is generated. Thorough rinse and back in for an hour or so with borax. Add again 1/2 tbs. ivory shavings and run until the foam is almost ready to "boil" out of the tumbler. The defects came clean with just a couple squirts form a spray bottle. tk, you have some of the not only cleanest, but the least fractured. I am not sure if you buy them that way or if you are reducing them with great talent. Any tips would be appreciated. I have a knapping group of about 20 people that meets monthly close to the house. They have been dumping their fine chips and shards under the pines for years. Every rock imaginable. Huge pile. I have challenged the guy to wrestle for them, or whatever he wants. I think he is going to let me get them. The knappers do break rock down with a minimum of fractures. You will fight pits and cracks if you tumble or reduce less than baseball size pieces of most Rios. It is just inherent in much of their structure. Tumble from 3 inches to 1 inch and they are still there. Exceptions of course, some are totally solid. And a shame that the trip down to S. Texas damaged such diverse materials. As mentioned, there was a pile of large volleyball size cobbles to sample next visit. Guessing they will have solid material within. Kicking myself for not windowing them. The wood there may be local. It is in great shape. But hates the hammer and does not fare well being hammer broken.
|
|
jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,562
|
Post by jamesp on Jan 17, 2016 11:47:25 GMT -5
James, that is quite a diverse batch of pretties. Appreciate the explanations as well. The Rio Grande looks like it has the best gravels. Your corals are always intriguing! Thanks for the show! Texas is interesting, but going on coral trips is the bomb. The scenery where the coral occurs is just special. They will not allow collecting in Big Bend Texas. That range of mountains is full of gate and breathtakingly beautiful. I must say that the alkaline soil and I did not get along in Texas. Suppose us swampers are just too dialed in to acid. The wind blew that dust on my skin and started to dissolve me LOL. PS I learned to be sneaky and pilfered my wife's new dish rags for this photo shoot. Granted I returned them. Carefully as found. the trick is not to get caught....nothing beats high risk excitement Pat
|
|
Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
|
Post by Sabre52 on Jan 17, 2016 13:05:33 GMT -5
Beautiful tumble!
I went to the butcher shop not long ago and the whole landscape in front was incredible Rio gravel. Big ole agates sitting right on top. Asked if I could take a couple and he said nope. Motor home place in town has same situation as does the motel where I stayed when house hunting. Great decorative gravel from the Rio!.....Mel
|
|
jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,562
|
Post by jamesp on Jan 17, 2016 13:14:09 GMT -5
Beautiful tumble! I went to the butcher shop not long ago and the whole landscape in front was incredible Rio gravel. Big ole agates sitting right on top. Asked if I could take a couple and he said nope. Motor home place in town has same situation as does the motel where I stayed when house hunting. Great decorative gravel from the Rio!.....Mel I did not ask Mel. I figured that they had been asked before. Not kidding, a long haul full of 10 tons of that stuff would both supply at least a ton of tumbles for an avid tumbler and make a fine decorative island in the yard. There was another much larger gravel pit between Laredo and Zapata. I entered and questioned them if I could hunt their dredges. They also said nope
|
|
|
Post by victor1941 on Jan 17, 2016 15:30:27 GMT -5
I really like the soft pink stone in the bottom/center of pic 25 down from the topand wonder if the stone on the top right 2 pictures from the bottom is coral. Your polish is excellent and really shows each stone to perfection. I, howerer, am learning how different materials polish in a vibe but have not been able to get anything other than a sandblast finish on a few pieces of bottle glass mixed in with the agate batch. I use a UV-18 vibe using Biker Randy's method and would appreciate any suggestions.
|
|
jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,562
|
Post by jamesp on Jan 17, 2016 16:31:00 GMT -5
I really like the soft pink stone in the bottom/center of pic 25 down from the topand wonder if the stone on the top right 2 pictures from the bottom is coral. Your polish is excellent and really shows each stone to perfection. I, howerer, am learning how different materials polish in a vibe but have not been able to get anything other than a sandblast finish on a few pieces of bottle glass mixed in with the agate batch. I use a UV-18 vibe using Biker Randy's method and would appreciate any suggestions. Glass is a challenge for me too Victor. Nice shine but only rarely a wet shine. I can advise you on Mohs 7 materials. There was a few Mohs 6 jaspers and a rhyolite or two that came up with a matt finish in this load. Fout test quartzites, 2 frosted and two wet shined. I ran this batch with 10% filler (media, ceramic hard to beat) because it was about all agate wood and jasper. Probably should have used 20-30% media. With glass, obsidian, rhylolite, softer jasper, crystalline quartz, quartzite I would suggest 40 to 50% media. I use quartz pea gravel for media, maybe that is why I do not have luck with glass and obsidian. The shiniest rocks I see tumbled are from guys using 50% ceramic media in their vibes. That pink stone polished to a super shine. And has no fractures and hammer broke like glass. I have no idea what it is and only found one cobble of it. Would pay good money for more.
|
|
Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
|
Post by Sabre52 on Jan 17, 2016 17:44:14 GMT -5
James, The quarry rock from along the Rio is extremely variable. I ordered a truckload for the yard and got stuff from a bad section and only have a few Rios in the lot. At my buddy's rock yard, sometimes I'll go there and the stuff is loaded and other times a huge load is essentially agate free. Strictly depends on what gravel zone the quarry is digging from. I've been told the stuff is better near the surface and worse as the quarry pit digs from deeper zones which seems to mesh with what the field collectors like the kids tell me. They find gobs of agate right on the surface along the roads above the river by quite a bit. I'm planning a trip down in a couple of months to see for myself and help the kids out with a few field collecting pointers. I really want to teach them how to spot palm and palm root...Mel
|
|
jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,562
|
Post by jamesp on Jan 18, 2016 8:54:39 GMT -5
Sabre52 Could not make rhyme nor reason out of the distribution. My gravel pit search area was a very small gravel operation catering to a road project close by. Looked like they had been skinning the top 10 feet of 20-40 acres. And a sling shot's distance to Lake Falcon. And laying gravel on 25 miles of adjacent gravel roads servicing abandoned residential and small cattle ranches. A ghost area, all turned into nat gas leases. Not a single resident living along the lake for 10 miles. A once thriving fish camp/small cabin community. I think it was 100% Mexican American folks. And the landowners became wealthy due to nat gas leases. And the gravel lease was the only activity in the whole area. The gravel road network was all from the same quarry and loaded with fine agate. The landowner that invited me to hunt his ranch had the only cows on the whole network of gravel roads. And he was related to the guys running the gravel lease and several adjacent land owners. About the only traffic was large bed gravel trucks, nat gas service vehicles and an occasional land owner. The DEA and daily drive by of the game warden. The gravel truck drivers stopped on occasion asking me what on earth I was doing. They invited me to go down and pick up rocks at the gravel quarry as if to get me off the road. The whole lot of them got together at the bar at the hotel I was staying at. So I got invited to do that too and had a great time at least 4 evenings. I think the single ones were importing girlfriends from Laredo regularly LOL. They sent one to my hotel room one night in jest perhaps(I declined). Back to rocks. The high elevation knobs had the big cobbles due to ancient river dynamics. Hard washes and occasional bluffs hit limestone and had marine fossils. Pockets of wood in 1-5 acre flat areas. 100 acres of the ranch I spent time on had been deep disced with a track machine and it hit limestone bed rock in some areas. pockets of similar sized gravel like 'deposits'. Adjacent areas just soil w/minimum gravel. Other than the hill top deposits I was confused what came from where, area must have been mixed well by alluvial forces. Travel 1 mile from the river and the agate ratio dropped rapidly. Covered a lot of area while there. But all of it was within a half mile of lake Falcon and 10 miles adjacent to shore. Kinda mysterious geology for easterner.
|
|
|
Post by txrockhunter on Jan 18, 2016 9:43:12 GMT -5
James, I'm going be very straightforward here....those are making me incredibly jealous!!!! I see a trip in your future Ed. Only an 18 hour drive from S Alabama. And don't listen to the constant DEA's advise about not walking around the banks of Lake Falcon. Strange to have them approach you constantly asking your business. I was curious that the local land owners were not involved in aid and abet, or just turned the other cheek. If you're road tripping to the valley, stop by and pick me up! I'm pretty much on the way. Maybe you could spend a few hours pick'n the San Jacinto gravels, before heading out! Great tumbles, James! I always enjoy the stories and background info! For what it's worth, there is some good information on Texas rock history at this site - Prospecting Texas BTW, I think purple makes the best back drop. Jeremy
|
|
jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,562
|
Post by jamesp on Jan 18, 2016 11:14:43 GMT -5
Gem Trails of Texas by Brad L. Cross txrockhunter may do you well. First edition 1958, so it goes way back. One ranch probably closed now along the Brazos River near Mineral Wells is famous for conglomerate. Love that Texas conglomerate. The purple does make the best backdrop hands down. The digital camera was friendliest with that color for some odd reason. Go figure. Not sure a better trip could be arranged, San Jacincto and then to the Rio. Almost became a permanent resident last visit, don't tempt me. Beware, you may get a call...
|
|
|
Post by captbob on Jan 18, 2016 11:28:00 GMT -5
I have watched this thread with extremely high interest. Not logged in to comment as most my computer time recently doesn't last long enough to warm up my chair. Mother in law coming in this week and wife has created a Honey Do list above and beyond any I have previously been hit with. Haven't negotiated what completion earns me, but I'm hoping that it includes no "lists" for awhile!
Anyway, my one comment at this time is actually a question...
When we heading west James? Convoy! Maybe you can rig something like a water ski tow line for Ed on his bike.
Nice rocks. Fun thread. SWEET dish towel!
|
|
jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,562
|
Post by jamesp on Jan 18, 2016 12:01:24 GMT -5
Wasted a week outing west Texas dealing with private land monopoly, stopped by Lake Falcon a couple of days on the way home and found thousands of acres to collect on legally. I remember driving to the area and instantly filling a 5 gallon bucket of fine agates in a short time period. Came home, powdered up, went right back for 12 days. Was so excited about the collecting it made sleeping difficult. Yea, anyone with a tinge of rockhound in their blood would be in heaven out there captbob. Convoy sounds great, safer/funner too. Tell your wife I will keep the senoritas away from you.
|
|
jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,562
|
Post by jamesp on Jan 18, 2016 13:40:31 GMT -5
Posted this link before. For anyone that wants to check it out. link to Lake Falcon trip, mostly the 200 acre ranch and little gravel quarry. 100+F August I think. All brush has thorns. All gravel full of agates. Driving off the road punctures tires, bad thorns. Plowed ground did not seem to expose any better agates, apparently the place is not picked over by rockhounds. Adjacent property 500 acres on one side, other side was 3400 acres. Had permission to hunt either. Never had to, had all I could handle on the 200 acres and the gravel pit,roads. heaven www.flickr.com/photos/67205364@N06/sets/72157632959424187Most of the hills and ridges were pebble and cobble capped. Old rock bars from the old river. Ridges and knobs did not erode away due to the gravel caps deposited by the ancient river, ave 360 feet above sea level and way higher than the Rio. I went straight to the highest points where the bigger cobbles were.
|
|
Intheswamp
Cave Dweller
Member since September 2015
Posts: 1,910
|
Post by Intheswamp on Jan 18, 2016 17:11:13 GMT -5
I have watched this thread with extremely high interest. Not logged in to comment as most my computer time recently doesn't last long enough to warm up my chair. Mother in law coming in this week and wife has created a Honey Do list above and beyond any I have previously been hit with. Haven't negotiated what completion earns me, but I'm hoping that it includes no "lists" for awhile! Anyway, my one comment at this time is actually a question... When we heading west James? Convoy! Maybe you can rig something like a water ski tow line for Ed on his bike. Nice rocks. Fun thread. SWEET dish towel! Hmm, I might need to up the grease in the bicycle bearings to the sticky red.... I see you're a good judge of dish towels, Bob.
|
|
quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,352
|
Post by quartz on Jan 18, 2016 23:38:44 GMT -5
Thanks for the show, outstanding color and variety from one area.
|
|
jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,562
|
Post by jamesp on Jan 19, 2016 0:31:56 GMT -5
Thanks for the show, outstanding color and variety from one area. Wish it was closer.
|
|
tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,547
|
Post by tkvancil on Jan 19, 2016 11:48:09 GMT -5
Nice looking batch James. Very colorful, shiny and filled with variety. Good job! My last batch of 2015 had a lot of Rio's and other rocks which had vugs and voids in them. Things I normally would have tried to tumble into submission. Usually not a great idea. Rocks tumble into "nothing" or nice features disappear. The one thing I abhor in tumbling would be hand scrubbing individual rocks between stages. Especially if there are a lot to be cleaned. So this is what I tried with success ... End of each vibe step added 1/2 tbs. ivory shavings and run until some foam is generated. Thorough rinse and back in for an hour or so with borax. Add again 1/2 tbs. ivory shavings and run until the foam is almost ready to "boil" out of the tumbler. The defects came clean with just a couple squirts form a spray bottle. tk, you have some of the not only cleanest, but the least fractured. I am not sure if you buy them that way or if you are reducing them with great talent. Any tips would be appreciated. I have a knapping group of about 20 people that meets monthly close to the house. They have been dumping their fine chips and shards under the pines for years. Every rock imaginable. Huge pile. I have challenged the guy to wrestle for them, or whatever he wants. I think he is going to let me get them. The knappers do break rock down with a minimum of fractures. You will fight pits and cracks if you tumble or reduce less than baseball size pieces of most Rios. It is just inherent in much of their structure. Tumble from 3 inches to 1 inch and they are still there. Exceptions of course, some are totally solid. And a shame that the trip down to S. Texas damaged such diverse materials. As mentioned, there was a pile of large volleyball size cobbles to sample next visit. Guessing they will have solid material within. Kicking myself for not windowing them. The wood there may be local. It is in great shape. But hates the hammer and does not fare well being hammer broken. I do indeed buy most of my rough. Illinois better for fossils than tumblers. Tend to buy 50 to 75 pounds at a time. Some of the most fun I have with the hobby happens here. Rough gets sorted and graded. All the best, near flaw free, gets set aside and the rest gets dealt with. I break it up with hammer and chisel or punch. The chisel gets set along any fracture and most often the rock breaks along the fracture line without fracturing further. For pits I use a pointed punch set in the hole. Whack it and let the chips fall where they may. I also tend to break anything with a concave surface. Then through the course of the tumble any rock with a flaw I can't tolerate gets broken along the flaw where possible. As a rough guess at the end of the tumble maybe 60% are done. I set back the rest to add as filler in upcoming batches. So many of my rocks spend 6 or more months tumbling altogether. Not sure if it is a skill at all, just persistence. Good luck on those two honey holes. I'd be beside myself if I had come across something like that. Hope ya get some nice stuff out of them.
|
|