wiseman
off to a rocking start
Member since April 2016
Posts: 17 
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Post by wiseman on Apr 7, 2016 9:12:22 GMT -5
Hi folks! I'm a new member of the forum (at last!) after a few months of stalking the boards and looking at people's rock photos! Thought I'd say hi to everyone before I start posting photos of my rocks, tagging them: "I don't know what this rock is" .  I started rockhounding about 7-8 years ago when I found a stone (that I'd recognize today as a geode) which I thought had "diamonds" in it. Unfortunately the diamonds where not that tough (!) and were all broken when I tried to extract them from the matrix  So I kept looking at rocks and stones and collecting the interesting ones since. Fast forward to now, I haven't found any diamonds yet, and lowered my expectation of finding a handful of diamond crystals  but instead I have managed to gather a collection of beautiful shiny stones some of which I try to polish whenever I have free time. Ok, that's it; I'll see you soon in my first "help me identify" post . I wish you all a good day, -Wm |
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller 
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,723
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Post by Fossilman on Apr 7, 2016 9:18:02 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum Wm...........Iran huh-you working over there as a civilian contractor??
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Post by rockjunquie on Apr 7, 2016 9:20:36 GMT -5
Welcome from Virginia Beach, Virginia. I am so happy to see you here! We rarely get to see rocks from your part of the world. Can't wait for the pictures!
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wiseman
off to a rocking start
Member since April 2016
Posts: 17
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Post by wiseman on Apr 7, 2016 9:38:27 GMT -5
Thanks for the warm welcome, fossilman and rockjunquie! fossilman No, I'm not  rockjunquie Thanks! Sure, I'll post one as soon as I make this Light Box thingy; Every time I take a photo from my stones the color quality is disastrous |
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Post by rockjunquie on Apr 7, 2016 9:41:58 GMT -5
If you have a white balance function try using that to get the right color. |
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Post by Toad on Apr 7, 2016 10:46:09 GMT -5
Welcome from Ohio, USA. Always like meeting people from other corners of the earth!
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metalsmith
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 1,537
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Post by metalsmith on Apr 7, 2016 11:44:58 GMT -5
Welcome along. I don't know much about Iran except the 'wall' is coming down a little recently. I also know that Iran isn't a small place, so it would be remarkable if you were to coincide with something I recently stumbled upon in my reading / internet travels: Iranite - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranite, apparently from the North of the country, but keep a look out. I'm also a great fan of Persian Turquoise, but who wouldn't be? |
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wiseman
off to a rocking start
Member since April 2016
Posts: 17
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Post by wiseman on Apr 7, 2016 12:33:53 GMT -5
Thank you guys, Actually I do live in north of the country! Unfortunately, Iranite -as the wiki page suggests- is mostly found in Anarak, located in central Iran (~500 miles from where I am). Yes, Turquoise rings and pendants are abundant in jewelry stores here. Here's a photo from one of the worlds oldest turquoise mines, in Neishabur:  All those stones on the walls make me jealous. |
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Post by Jugglerguy on Apr 7, 2016 13:53:32 GMT -5
Welcome from Michigan. If you get a chance, post some pictures of your polished stones. Are you tumbling them, polishing on a grinder of some sort, or hand polishing?
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wiseman
off to a rocking start
Member since April 2016
Posts: 17
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Post by wiseman on Apr 7, 2016 14:45:43 GMT -5
Welcome from Michigan. If you get a chance, post some pictures of your polished stones. Are you tumbling them, polishing on a grinder of some sort, or hand polishing? I'm shaping them using SiC sheets. Takes a long time and a lot of sheets. I use 120, 240, 360 grit (recently added some 480 and 1000) SiC sandpaper, shape the stone If the stone is transparent and bigger than I can work on using sandpaper, I just polish a "window" in it, to see the insides of the stone I also polish some stones on my hand-built polishing machine. A Seagate Hard Disk Drive, killed by me, the insides thrown out, I cut a HDD Disk size circle out of 360 grit sandpaper, put it on the disk, tighten the screws and start the hard drive. Unfortunately the hard disk's motor is not that powerful, and lately I have learned that the speed is too fast (~5000 rpm), but sometimes I get good results using this machine. |
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Post by Jugglerguy on Apr 7, 2016 14:54:53 GMT -5
Welcome from Michigan. If you get a chance, post some pictures of your polished stones. Are you tumbling them, polishing on a grinder of some sort, or hand polishing? I'm shaping them using SiC sheets. Takes a long time and a lot of sheets. I use 120, 240, 360 grit (recently added some 480 and 1000) SiC sandpaper, shape the stone If the stone is transparent and bigger than I can work on using sandpaper, I just polish a "window" in it, to see the insides of the stone I also polish some stones on my hand-built polishing machine. A Seagate Hard Disk Drive, killed by me, the insides thrown out, I cut a HDD Disk size circle out of 360 grit sandpaper, put it on the disk, tighten the screws and start the hard drive. Unfortunately the hard disk's motor is not that powerful, and lately I have learned that the speed is too fast (~5000 rpm), but sometimes I get good results using this machine. That's the first time I've heard of a disk drive to polish rocks! That's innovative. I have polished Petoskey stones by hand, but they're about 3 on the MOHs scale, so they polish up pretty easily. |
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micellular
has rocks in the head
Rock fever is curable with more rocks.
Member since September 2015
Posts: 640
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Post by micellular on Apr 7, 2016 15:16:57 GMT -5
Welcome from California. I'm excited to see what you come up with! That's quite a handy idea with the disk drive.
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Post by mohs on Apr 7, 2016 16:28:07 GMT -5
Welcome To RTH!
That hard drive must be a 10 on the mohs scale ha ha
you should be able to upload the polishing by Bluetooth
another ha ha
lots geeky jokes here that fit in well with rock grinder logic
mostly
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Post by Pat on Apr 7, 2016 16:31:56 GMT -5
Welcome from California.
Sometime could you post a photo of your hard drive invention? Good idea!
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Post by vegasjames on Apr 7, 2016 17:45:05 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum. Look forward to more of your photos. That mine does look like fun.
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bsky4463
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2013
Posts: 1,696
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Post by bsky4463 on Apr 7, 2016 22:37:38 GMT -5
...Seagate Hard Disk Drive, killed by me, the insides thrown out, I cut a HDD Disk size circle out of 360 grit sandpaper, put it on the disk, tighten the screws and start the hard drive. Unfortunately the hard disk's motor is not that powerful, and lately I have learned that the speed is too fast (~5000 rpm), but sometimes I get good results using this machine. Seagate flat lap - AWESOME. Welcome. Cheers |
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es355lucille
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since February 2016
Posts: 194
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Post by es355lucille on Apr 7, 2016 23:34:14 GMT -5
Welcome from Canada. That mine picture is amazing! Are you close to the Caspian Sea? Beautiful!
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geezer
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2016
Posts: 338
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Post by geezer on Apr 8, 2016 0:33:50 GMT -5
Welcome aboard, that mine picture is AWESOME!
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,607
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Post by jamesp on Apr 8, 2016 8:53:11 GMT -5
Welcome from Georgia. Photos of rocks from across the pond always in high demand.
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Post by 1dave on Apr 8, 2016 10:57:05 GMT -5
You might try something like this: |
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So I kept looking at rocks and stones and collecting the interesting ones since. Fast forward to now, I haven't found any diamonds yet, and lowered my expectation of finding a handful of diamond crystals 
but instead I have managed to gather a collection of beautiful shiny stones some of which I try to polish whenever I have free time. 
