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Post by tims on Jan 21, 2017 0:35:08 GMT -5
After ~8 weeks on and off, forward and back with my first tumble batch I was on the verge of progressing to polish stage. Hung the batch to drip dry on my porch for a moment, and splat, they took a 6' drop onto concrete with many casualties. So as I start a new batch from scratch to make up the losses decided to pick through a bucket of garnet gravel from last Fall. It eventually improved my mood.
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unclesoska
freely admits to licking rocks
All those jade boulders tossed in search of gold!
Member since February 2011
Posts: 934
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Post by unclesoska on Jan 21, 2017 2:36:06 GMT -5
I always enjoyed picking the garnets from my gold prospecting concentrates. Nice bunch ya have there.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jan 21, 2017 15:18:23 GMT -5
Bummer about the rocks. I spend a few weeks dissolving the matrix from some chain coral with acid once. When it finally where I wanted it, I rinsed it off and was carrying it to show my wife when I dropped it. It broke into a million pieces. There wasn't even a small part that I could salvage.
Are you going to throw the garnets in your tumbler?
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller 
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,723 
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Post by Fossilman on Jan 21, 2017 15:27:01 GMT -5
SWEET batch of material!!!
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Post by tims on Jan 21, 2017 21:57:39 GMT -5
Bummer about the rocks. I spend a few weeks dissolving the matrix from some chain coral with acid once. When it finally where I wanted it, I rinsed it off and was carrying it to show my wife when I dropped it. It broke into a million pieces. There wasn't even a small part that I could salvage. Are you going to throw the garnets in your tumbler? Heartbreaking to lose nice rock. About half of mine seemed untouched, and many more with minor dings that hopefully will come out again in coarse grind. The most complete losses were the quartz pieces i'd carefully selected for being free of fractures; most are intact but all now resemble fried marbles. Not sure about tumbling the garnet. Like as media? Probably not, just for the hassle of recovering them and my dragon hoarding instincts. Tempted to tumble some of the bigger ones for a bit of polish though ... seems like the big ones, broken pieces especially, tend to be pretty dull and ugly aside from the surviving natural facet(s). I'm bent on filling a little jar and then, maaaybe would consider allotting some for media. I've got a weird sentimental attachment to them. |
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jan 21, 2017 22:03:18 GMT -5
Bummer about the rocks. I spend a few weeks dissolving the matrix from some chain coral with acid once. When it finally where I wanted it, I rinsed it off and was carrying it to show my wife when I dropped it. It broke into a million pieces. There wasn't even a small part that I could salvage. Are you going to throw the garnets in your tumbler? Heartbreaking to lose nice rock. About half of mine seemed untouched, and many more with minor dings that hopefully will come out again in coarse grind. The most complete losses were the quartz pieces i'd carefully selected for being free of fractures; most are intact but all now resemble fried marbles. Not sure about tumbling the garnet. Like as media? Probably not, just for the hassle of recovering them and my dragon hoarding instincts. Tempted to tumble some of the bigger ones for a bit of polish though ... seems like the big ones, broken pieces especially, tend to be pretty dull and ugly aside from the surviving natural facet(s). I'm bent on filling a little jar and then, maaaybe would consider allotting some for media. I've got a weird sentimental attachment to them. I believe jamesp used some for media. I've never done anything with garnets. Is the garnet gravel local? I think a jar full of them would be really cool. |
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Post by tims on Jan 21, 2017 22:40:14 GMT -5
Jugglerguy It's from a spot in the Black Hills about 30 miles away. I'd been picking them on-site a few times, then late last fall figured it might be worth grabbing a couple buckets of dirt to practice panning with. Was surprised that the 2 buckets turned into a good half bucket of gravel, it just looked like dirt. Panned most of it but had this set aside for cabin fever picking.
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rastageezer
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2013
Posts: 169
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Post by rastageezer on Jan 22, 2017 4:52:58 GMT -5
The small garnets work great when mixed with agates and tumbled.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Jan 22, 2017 6:03:33 GMT -5
Yes Jugglerguy. As media. Little BB size(4 grit). Out of Emerald Creek Idaho and almandine garnets. Those little garnets take a long time to tumble though. As rastageezer mentioned, best with agates in with regular tumble. This video seems to have been erased from Emerald Creek Garnet Company's site as they got bought out. Video hard to run, you may be able to drag the slider and see the mining ops. |
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jan 22, 2017 8:36:45 GMT -5
Cool video, jamesp. It played fine for me. Reminded me of the tv show Goldrush, but without the swearing and broken equipment, |
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Jan 22, 2017 9:47:21 GMT -5
Cool video, jamesp. It played fine for me. Reminded me of the tv show Goldrush, but without the swearing and broken equipment, I bought a 100 pound bag of old #4 garnets from a distributor in Minnesota I believe. He wants to get rid of them and cheap. They were dredged from this company. That fellow in Minnesota had a pallet of 100# bags that had been sitting for like 20 years. The largest they mine now is #8 garnets, the #4's apparently rare and not screened any more. Those pink/purple piles are luscious high grade almandine garnets. My 14 pound hopper holds 21 pounds of them, they are way denser than agate. 2.7 grams/ml vs 4 grams/ml. And the 100 pound bag felt like 300 pounds. DO NOT get a job stacking bags of garnets. I want to convert that mining equipment to dredge for 1 inch garnets. |
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