jamesp
Cave Dweller 
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Sept 6, 2017 15:16:04 GMT -5
About 8 inches tall. Pried out of jet white clay. One 1/4" fracture at top. Polished. Mounted. Has mirror twin set at same angle. Sawn with the tubes. Root side to left. Sun side on right. Radius of 'brain' shape apparent, radiating from the left. A silicified section of a larger coral, not whole. It was originally close to a hemisphere. Whiskey colored layer is typical, must be iron.  |
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Post by fantastic5 on Sept 6, 2017 15:44:21 GMT -5
Love it as a display!
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Post by coloradocliff on Sept 6, 2017 16:48:57 GMT -5
Are you heat treating those Jim? WHat does that do to color other than intensify what you have. Florida more colorful?
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Post by captbob on Sept 6, 2017 18:32:46 GMT -5
I like it. Funny, I prefer the hollow display pieces and you seen to go with the solid chunks that can be tumbled.
I think your preference probably takes up less shelf space. And makes some beautiful tumbles!
Hey Cliff - what is today's avatar rock? The red one in case you have changed it by the time you read this.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Sept 7, 2017 9:23:19 GMT -5
Are you heat treating those Jim? WHat does that do to color other than intensify what you have. Florida more colorful? That one in not heated. Gray changes little with heat. Yellow and orange tones will richen in color though. Florida coral has more color. Not sure why since everything is white down there. Salt may have dissolved the metals and it is in clear solution. Just a guess. |
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Sept 7, 2017 9:25:26 GMT -5
I like it. Funny, I prefer the hollow display pieces and you seen to go with the solid chunks that can be tumbled. I think your preference probably takes up less shelf space. And makes some beautiful tumbles! Hey Cliff - what is today's avatar rock? The red one in case you have changed it by the time you read this. The hollow ones are the crowd pleasers. The colors intrigue me because of the habitat that effects the colors like the clay they are found in. |
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Sept 7, 2017 9:30:53 GMT -5
Found in that spring hole up on the shelf I took you guys to. That water hole had some fine coral in it. Any of the spring feeds coming out of the bank or forest colors coral it leaches on. |
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Post by coloradocliff on Sept 7, 2017 9:47:59 GMT -5
I like it. Funny, I prefer the hollow display pieces and you seen to go with the solid chunks that can be tumbled. I think your preference probably takes up less shelf space. And makes some beautiful tumbles! Hey Cliff - what is today's avatar rock? The red one in case you have changed it by the time you read this. Red Zebra captbob Will keep it for a while.. Really like to look at different things that catch my interest. Cleaning up some big cool agates these day so will put up some 3-5 pound paranya from South America next time I get the ole wild hair. Got a Condor area Red Banded one that might get there next.
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Post by coloradocliff on Sept 7, 2017 9:50:31 GMT -5
I like it. Funny, I prefer the hollow display pieces and you seen to go with the solid chunks that can be tumbled. I think your preference probably takes up less shelf space. And makes some beautiful tumbles! Hey Cliff - what is today's avatar rock? The red one in case you have changed it by the time you read this. The hollow ones are the crowd pleasers. The colors intrigue me because of the habitat that effects the colors like the clay they are found in. Plus 1 on the crowd pleasing hollow ones.. Bigger, the brighter, the better.. |
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Post by captbob on Sept 7, 2017 10:04:19 GMT -5
Red Zebra from where? Doesn't look like mine from India. VERY cool rock though!
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,723 
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Post by Fossilman on Sept 7, 2017 10:41:40 GMT -5
Awesome coral James....
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Post by fantastic5 on Sept 7, 2017 11:29:07 GMT -5
Found in that spring hole up on the shelf I took you guys to. That water hole had some fine coral in it. Any of the spring feeds coming out of the bank or forest colors coral it leaches on. Coolio! I have several solids from that hole that are waiting for my big saw to get up and running. Maybe I'll have a winner like that one. How did you polish the face? |
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Sept 7, 2017 14:13:07 GMT -5
Found in that spring hole up on the shelf I took you guys to. That water hole had some fine coral in it. Any of the spring feeds coming out of the bank or forest colors coral it leaches on. Coolio! I have several solids from that hole that are waiting for my big saw to get up and running. Maybe I'll have a winner like that one. How did you polish the face? That hole is about picked out. Seems the deeper the high water digs it up virgin coral washes out. Virgin in that is sealed in clay. That pool was full of loose coral that had great color from exposure to elements. I think prior collectors got most of the best. I found very nice hammer broken corals in there that early collectors probably rejected. I polished those coral halves with this machine. I just used the 400-800-1500 and 3000 wheels, saw was carefully adjusted and cutting smooth, no need for 100 and 200 wheels. You get soaked using it. But it only takes about 60 seconds on each grit.. So ~4 minutes per half. I would find corals with the white crust completely intact and saw them in equal halves. Polish, mount on pedestals, and sell them wholesale for $150 to $200 to Atlanta boutiques. They wanted and would have paid big money for sawn specimens that would have required a 36 inch saw, like big 12 inch halves. Darn river is full of them. The 36 inch saw was $$$. I sold some beauties to some real fancy decorator shops. It was not really a rock collecting trip, but a business trip because I was collecting for sale. 2008 economy crashed the decorator biz. So I quit. Had to start collecting for pleasure. Better that way. That solid coral may appeal to the Chinese. They buy Brazilian by the megaton and process it. They could use the coral almost as well. Polishing machine  |
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Post by fernwood on Sept 7, 2017 15:26:37 GMT -5
A great piece.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Sept 7, 2017 18:58:37 GMT -5
Thanks fernwood. I liked picking thru the large fields of coral to make sawn halves for sell. It often has very spastic shapes and made unique art specimens. photos on another drive in a broken computer, need to retrieve them. |
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