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Post by cobbledstones on Jan 31, 2016 22:11:50 GMT -5
jamesp was kind enough to send me some of the Alabama quartzite he had been picking up. really nice stuff, cool array pf colors. So, I selected a set of the tumbles that shaded from reddish to yellowish. The idea is to make a set of beads out of the tumbles below, ombre style.  I will be using the core drill to make bead preformed. I got through 4 of the pieces in the photo above. Sorry for the blurry photo  and here are the scraps  these will be small beads, bout 8mm in diameter. so I will need to make a mess of them, stay tuned.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 1, 2016 7:57:20 GMT -5
Awaiting with interest. Looks like the quartzite held up to the hole saw.
Lots of plates in that creek that are like slabs. Probably going to work well for the bead operation.
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Post by orrum on Feb 1, 2016 7:59:23 GMT -5
Yes awating!
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 1, 2016 9:41:11 GMT -5
Bill, Alabama coral. That quartzite has classic coral color. It come from the yucky yellow stained creek I believe |
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Post by cobbledstones on Feb 1, 2016 10:17:24 GMT -5
Awaiting with interest. Looks like the quartzite held up to the hole saw. Lots of plates in that creek that are like slabs. Probably going to work well for the bead operation. Slab shapes make the drilling operations easier for sure. This material was easy on the drill bits, did 4" of depth with one bit, which is about 4X the normal amount. |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 1, 2016 12:46:11 GMT -5
Awaiting with interest. Looks like the quartzite held up to the hole saw. Lots of plates in that creek that are like slabs. Probably going to work well for the bead operation. Slab shapes make the drilling operations easier for sure. This material was easy on the drill bits, did 4" of depth with one bit, which is about 4X the normal amount. it shapes much faster than agate when coarse grinding in the tumbler too. Hard enough to take a fine polish though. |
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Post by cobbledstones on Feb 7, 2016 21:44:00 GMT -5
made more bead blanks today, have about 40 done now, and am more than halfway through the tumbles  |
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Fossilman
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Post by Fossilman on Feb 7, 2016 23:19:13 GMT -5
Going to look great I bet!!!
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 8, 2016 0:49:41 GMT -5
Remember candy bead necklaces @ cobblestones ? I have plenty more flat plate tumbles. Let me know. if you ground them to the shape of hard candies they would be very tricky to tell them apart.   |
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Post by cobbledstones on Feb 8, 2016 1:05:11 GMT -5
Remember candy bead necklaces @ cobblestones ? I have plenty more flat plate tumbles. Let me know. if you ground them to the shape of hard candies they would be very tricky to tell them apart. I remember those! the finished product should look something like that. I should have enough to get it done...as long as i dont break a bunch/ |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 8, 2016 2:14:23 GMT -5
Is it durable or are you having to nurse them ?
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Intheswamp
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Post by Intheswamp on Feb 8, 2016 8:27:32 GMT -5
Just checking in to follow the thread. Looking good, carry on...  |
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Post by cobbledstones on Feb 8, 2016 10:21:44 GMT -5
Is it durable or are you having to nurse them ? pretty durable, I have broken 3 so far, less than 1 in 10. Breaks are mostly from my mistakes. On these small beads the wall thickness is 1/8"...if I center things perfectly (which I don't often don't do). When I get off center with the hole, the material gets thin really quick, and makes for fragile beads. I plan to finish these off in the UV10 tumbler, I am pretty sure they are tough enough. |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 8, 2016 11:13:30 GMT -5
Is it durable or are you having to nurse them ? pretty durable, I have broken 3 so far, less than 1 in 10. Breaks are mostly from my mistakes. On these small beads the wall thickness is 1/8"...if I center things perfectly (which I don't often don't do). When I get off center with the hole, the material gets thin really quick, and makes for fragile beads. I plan to finish these off in the UV10 tumbler, I am pretty sure they are tough enough. Thanks for the feedback. It seems like durable material. Those thin walls are impressive and telling.(of your drilling skill  |
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Post by cobbledstones on Apr 1, 2016 21:29:50 GMT -5
well I finally got some time in the shop after not working stones for 3 weeks. Man I was having some withdrawals. I finished up the bead preforms from jamesp 's tumbled quartzite. Made 60+ in total, not planning to shape them further. They are taking a ride in the vibe tumbler now  |
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Post by cobbledstones on Apr 17, 2016 19:40:16 GMT -5
well, they came out of the tumbler, and although they were shiney, the corners didn't round at all. I didn't like the shapes so I bit the bullet and rounded them all by hand, one-by-one. 3 hours later and I had these..
into the tumbler again 
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Fossilman
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Post by Fossilman on Apr 18, 2016 8:48:04 GMT -5
Now that is a nice batch,I like the way they worked out!!
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