Nappers
off to a rocking start
Member since November 2017
Posts: 17
|
Post by Nappers on Nov 30, 2017 2:54:16 GMT -5
Greetings gang,
Glad to be here after looking at a few rock hounding sites.
From Etna CA the real Northern CA! not to far from the Oregon border off I-5.
I've always been kind of a rock hound since my grandfather showed me some rocks when I was a wee lad.
he passed away some years ago and my Uncle got a lot of his stuff and I got a good amount of finished stuff, misc. slabs of rocks, necklaces etc.
Just this past weekend my grandmother died at a very young age of 99. I went down to visit my mom and family to help with moving her stuff out of her apartment. My uncle was ecstatic that I was coming down as he didn't want the stuff anymore as he didn't have time anymore due to other projects. I got a few milk crates, buckets and boxes of rocks, polished rocks, slabs, boxes of what looks like needle obsidian along with bigger pieces in old Berkley plastic containers for fishing line and of course a couple of thunder eggs one of the eggs looks like huge eyeballs! A lot of the rocks were stored in old Kodak film boxes like for slides, heavy duty. It was fun to go through a lot of it before I had to clean it up before the wife got home. The living room floor was covered in some sort of rock related thing. I also got a Pixie gem polisher with 2 wheels on one side and what appears to be a one piece with 4 different wheels on the other side (threads on the shaft), they show the grit but it looks rubber. The end of the one piece has threads for a backing plate. The diamond wheels has the spitter thing, but the other side does not and it appears to be complete and no mounting for anything for water. In the misc. stuff, he had 8-10" flat grit pads, a diamond coated saw blade (no saw) and some articles typed up on a typewriter and some old books on the subjects. I also got a polisher of some kind that uses a resin wood wheeled thing different curves and sizes along with syringes filled with various colored grits (dried up) and it spins, needs belt as well as for the Pixie drive belt and the water spitter pump belt. The pump looked good and I cleaned the machine up. It's mounted on a particle board and plan to mount it on something sturdier than that. I already owned Southern Oregon and Northern California rock hounding books and often look. I really like Obsidian though and visited Glass Buttes (or mountain, I get them mixed up) up by Bend Oregon. I'm always kicking rocks at the beach to find some nice naturally polished rocks and end up with saggy pants with pockets of rocks. My first rock with grandpa rock hounding was a nice piece of Jade and I love Jade. I also try to find flint for primitive fire starter for black powder shooting rondo's. I don't know what to look for with that. I probably stand on a lot of flint.....
I tried to find a club near me (Fort Jones CA had one but no one emailed me back yet), Central Point OR has a nice rock museum and do some kind of lapidary classes during the week for a small non profit fee to which I may check out.
I work at the local klink for the last 24 years or so and plan to retire in just over a year. I can't wait!
Anyways, I'll try to not talk to much and try to get some pictures of my machines at least until I get someplace to show off the rocks without my wife howling that she can't walk through the house as my crap is all over the place. She likes rock hounding too, She's a good sport with my many A.D.D. hobbies and projects and cut once without measuring. She jokes it only takes 5,000 board feet to make a wood project. I tell her think of all the kindling wood we have for camping!
I have to measure, but Grandpa used these nice cardboard smaller boxes (I'd say 4x4x2 or so) to store stones in and need to find a storing solution and ID and store similar stones alike once I go through them. I have 4 full milk crates of stones to go through, they are sliding around in the back of my truck still as I write this.
Anyways, I digress
Glad to be here and hope to meet some of you on the flip side if you are in the region, I visit Medford OR a lot.
L8R
Aaron Nappers
|
|
|
Post by vegasjames on Nov 30, 2017 6:36:00 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum from Southern Nevada.
|
|
|
Post by gmitch067 on Nov 30, 2017 9:20:58 GMT -5
Welcome from LOWER Northern California Aaron!
|
|
|
Post by manofglass on Nov 30, 2017 9:56:39 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum from Michigan
Walt
|
|
zarguy
fully equipped rock polisher
Cedar City, Utah - rockhound heaven!
Member since December 2005
Posts: 1,791
|
Post by zarguy on Nov 30, 2017 10:51:45 GMT -5
Nappers, Aaron - Welcome to the forum. It sounds like you have a Genie, not a Pixie since you mention two sides. The Pixie has all of the wheels together. "saggy pants with pockets of rocks". I can relate! Lynn
|
|
|
Post by MsAli on Nov 30, 2017 10:54:35 GMT -5
Welcome from Central California
|
|
|
Post by Pat on Nov 30, 2017 11:57:44 GMT -5
Welcome from San Jose.
|
|
Tommy
Administrator
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,683
|
Post by Tommy on Nov 30, 2017 12:33:36 GMT -5
Greetings and welcome - from the bay area. Condolences on the passing of your grandma last weekend - at 99 though it sounds like she had a good long life. My brother is a member of the Shasta Gem and Mineral club in the Redding area. That's would be a couple hour drive from you once a month or more depending on if you participated in using their lapidary shop etc. - BUT that drive over the mountain and that breath taking scenery the whole way I'd be wanting to do that weekly. That is one of our favorite drives when headed to central Oregon - from Lake Shasta to our turn off in Weed - Mt.Shasta, Castle Crags etc. just beautiful. If you came down 3 by Trinity Lake - even better.
|
|
|
Post by rockjunquie on Nov 30, 2017 13:42:19 GMT -5
Welcome from Virginia! Great introduction. Sounds like you got a really good head start on the hobby. Wait till you start using that cabber- you'll be hooked.
|
|
Nappers
off to a rocking start
Member since November 2017
Posts: 17
|
Post by Nappers on Dec 1, 2017 2:07:36 GMT -5
Thanks for the warm welcome Gang! I'll look at the cab machine again, it looks home made with Pixie parts on it..... I love our area, Redding is about a 2 hour drive from my house and don't frequent enough. The Central Point club has lapidary classes. I'm still hoping someone from Fort Jones contacts me.
I'm excited to start grinding some cabs. I have quite an imagination and hopefully put it to use long as my A.D.D. doesn't kick in. "Bright shiny objects!"
I have so many rocks, my next week off I may try to photo some with some guidance from the rest of you great artists displaying your collections.
A lot of Grandpa's slabs have circles drawn on them and shapes of some sorts where it looked like he was going to make stuff. I may try a dremel to cut those out rough cut and grind the rest. I just need a respirator so I don't breath in any unwanted dust. I do use safety glasses, when a cut off wheel fractures and goes everywhere and bounces off your face and glasses, I thank the good lord that I was wearing them otherwise I may not see the beauty that's in our ground.
We have a marble pit just up the road from my house and like to see what I can do with that. Kind of cool that the pit made it into the No. California rockhound book.
Anyways,
I'll try to display my stuff soon.
L8R
Aaron
|
|
|
Post by TheRock on Dec 1, 2017 9:01:53 GMT -5
To RTH Forum Nappers from ~Duke in SW Michigan
|
|
|
Post by hummingbirdstones on Dec 1, 2017 9:03:58 GMT -5
Welcome from Northern Arizona!
Sounds like you have quite a stash to go through. I bet there are quite a few treasures in there that aren't available anymore. You should really look for a used trim saw to cut out those preforms your grandpa drew out on those slabs. Doing it by Dremel will take forever. Ebay usually has some up and check your local Craigs List listings for lapidary equipment. You don't need a big one to start.
Lovely intro and condolences on your grandma's passing.
|
|
|
Post by fantastic5 on Dec 1, 2017 9:17:58 GMT -5
from Tennessee! You're off to a great start. And what a wonderful legacy to get all of your grandpa's and uncle's materials. You'll likely be spoiled by the quality of material that you've inherited! May I suggest a simple tile saw for wet cutting. That is the cheapest way to get started. I would try to stay away from dry working rocks if at all possible. But if you do, a respirator would be best. The only mask that would work, IMO, would be if you have been fitted for a N95 type mask and are certain it fits correctly with no gaps.
|
|
Tommy
Administrator
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,683
|
Post by Tommy on Dec 1, 2017 10:34:54 GMT -5
May I suggest a simple tile saw for wet cutting. That is the cheapest way to get started. I would try to stay away from dry working rocks if at all possible. x3 on the tile saw idea - I use my Home Depot Rigid 7" wet tile saw all the time for trimming designs out of slabs. Its a work horse and easy to clean.
|
|
Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,687
|
Post by Fossilman on Dec 4, 2017 10:20:33 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum..........
|
|
|
Post by accidentalrockhound on Dec 4, 2017 19:39:38 GMT -5
Way cool can't wait to see your stash.welcome to the RTH. From Colorado.
|
|