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Post by rockjunquie on Apr 26, 2019 16:54:00 GMT -5
On a roll- trying to get some variety. Today I did a bunch of soft stones. I started early and wanted to be a little quieter. First time cabbing rainforest rhyolite. Don't like it. Kept hitting soft spots. The shape changed a few times. Nice slabs, though.  Some kind of hard jasper like a porcelain jasper. Lovely pastel scene.  Big hornitos jasper. A joy to cab and polished like a dream.  A small K 2. I have some older stuff put away with really nice azurite dots.  One of my favs Sonora Sunrise. I love to try outdoing myself polishing it.  Aside from the tenorite there is some black hematite.  I used to hate cabbing ruby in fuchsite now I love it. Super glossy polish.  A koroit that almost wasn't.  A sweet Mt aggie. I am going to polish the back. I found this in my stack of stuff for a client who wanted a thick one. This is pretty big and thick.  Crimson cuprite  Really nice hard chrysocolla and malachite. It orange peeled on the 50k. I might take it back to 220. Maybe.  Colors look better in room light. Nice and bright colors. Excuse my dirty nails.  An Indonesian palm root. Not crazy about this cab, but the rest of it is fll of red needles.  Sweet Owyhee. Big. It is bluer on the right than it looks. Took a sweet polish  A broken ass Tee Pee for the throw away pile.  Original gem Owyhee  A purchase from vegasjames. A copper complex. I even think I know what is in it. (I'm learning.) It's so pretty. I just love it. It took a surprisingly great polish!  another view  Sorry so many- I didn't realize it when I started. Thanks for looking! |
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Post by victor1941 on Apr 26, 2019 17:06:29 GMT -5
The koroit and the copper catch my attention from a really nice selection.
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Post by vegasjames on Apr 26, 2019 17:14:42 GMT -5
Love that koroit.
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Post by vegasjames on Apr 26, 2019 17:22:48 GMT -5
On a roll- trying to get some variety. Today I did a bunch of soft stones. I started early and wanted to be a little quieter. A purchase from vegasjames . A copper complex. I even think I know what is in it. (I'm learning.) It's so pretty. I just love it. It took a surprisingly great polish! another view The bright blue is rosasite.
The brickish red is siderite (iron carbonate). Here is an example of a siderite crystal:
The brown is limonite (mix of iron oxides and hydroxides).
The white matrix looks mostly like dolomite. As I mentioned in another post the dolomite due to the larger crystal size often gives the cabs a flash when moved around in the light.
I have been cutting up a bunch of the copper mineral complex and will try to get some pics posted soon.
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Post by rockjunquie on Apr 26, 2019 17:27:56 GMT -5
On a roll- trying to get some variety. Today I did a bunch of soft stones. I started early and wanted to be a little quieter. A purchase from vegasjames . A copper complex. I even think I know what is in it. (I'm learning.) It's so pretty. I just love it. It took a surprisingly great polish! another view The bright blue is rosasite.
The brickish red is siderite (iron carbonate). Here is an example of a siderite crystal:
The brown is limonite (mix of iron oxides and hydroxides).
The white matrix looks mostly like dolomite. As I mentioned in another post the dolomite due to the larger crystal size often gives the cabs a flash when moved around in the light.
I have been cutting up a bunch of the copper mineral complex and will try to get some pics posted soon.
Well, I got it sorta right. I wouldn't have guessed dolomite, though. Or the red stuff. What is the difference between that and cuprite? In looks? |
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Post by vegasjames on Apr 26, 2019 17:48:01 GMT -5
The bright blue is rosasite.
The brickish red is siderite (iron carbonate). Here is an example of a siderite crystal:
The brown is limonite (mix of iron oxides and hydroxides).
The white matrix looks mostly like dolomite. As I mentioned in another post the dolomite due to the larger crystal size often gives the cabs a flash when moved around in the light.
I have been cutting up a bunch of the copper mineral complex and will try to get some pics posted soon.
Well, I got it sorta right. I wouldn't have guessed dolomite, though. Or the red stuff. What is the difference between that and cuprite? In looks? The cuprite is a darker reddish color. These are cuprite crystals:
You can see the cuprite to the right and siderite to the left in this specimen.
In this one you can see the siderite (brick red). The darker, almost black in this one is more likely limonite since I do not see any crystal structure. The dark green is malachite.
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Post by rockjunquie on Apr 26, 2019 17:52:56 GMT -5
Well, I got it sorta right. I wouldn't have guessed dolomite, though. Or the red stuff. What is the difference between that and cuprite? In looks? The cuprite is a darker reddish color. These are cuprite crystals: You can see the cuprite to the right and siderite to the left in this specimen. In this one you can see the siderite (brick red). The darker, almost black in this one is more likely limonite since I do not see any crystal structure. The dark green is malachite. Very good. Awesome James, that helps a lot. Now I just have to remember it. I'm bookmarking this. You know what would be cool? If you did a thread about all these copper stones. You have the killer visual resources to do it right. Hint Hint |
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Post by vegasjames on Apr 26, 2019 18:05:22 GMT -5
By the way here are some slabs from the same mine.  DSC_0861 by James Sloane, on Flickr  DSC_0858 by James Sloane, on Flickr  DSC_0855 by James Sloane, on Flickr The lime green in the center pic is actually bromargyrite (silver bromide).  DSC_0365 by James Sloane, on Flickr There is also chlorargyrite (silver chloride) in the same mine but it turns brown to black upon exposure to light making it difficult to distinguish from limonite. If you run in to some lime green in your pieces though it is silver, not copper. Here are some cabs from the same mine. You can see the bromargyrite in the center cab.  DSC_0993 by James Sloane, on Flickr You can also see the mix of different copper minerals in the knife scales including the bromargyrite.  DSC_0416 by James Sloane, on Flickr And another example of the copper mineral complex as an example of what I mean by various copper minerals existing within the same stone. I can see 4 different copper minerals in this specimen.  20170209_145746 by James Sloane, on Flickr |
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Post by rockjunquie on Apr 26, 2019 18:42:03 GMT -5
By the way here are some slabs from the same mine. The lime green in the center pic is actually bromargyrite (silver bromide). There is also chlorargyrite (silver chloride) in the same mine but it turns brown to black upon exposure to light making it difficult to distinguish from limonite. If you run in to some lime green in your pieces though it is silver, not copper. Here are some cabs from the same mine. You can see the bromargyrite in the center cab. You can also see the mix of different copper minerals in the knife scales including the bromargyrite. And another example of the copper mineral complex as an example of what I mean by various copper minerals existing within the same stone. I can see 4 different copper minerals in this specimen. Phenomenal! I'm glad I have this bookmarked. Those are great pictures and descriptions. Thank you! |
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Post by opalpyrexia on Apr 26, 2019 20:15:03 GMT -5
They are all sweet, but oh, wow, I absolutely love that honey-looking Koroit!
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Post by rockjunquie on Apr 26, 2019 20:27:27 GMT -5
They are all sweet, but oh, wow, I absolutely love that honey-looking Koroit! That one almost didn't make it! LOL! I LOVE koroits, but I always have issues with it. With this one, one whole side blew out. Luckily, the natural shape that was left, was easy enough to recover from. |
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Post by MsAli on Apr 26, 2019 21:04:13 GMT -5
Awesome job! I like that pastel jasper the best. It's like looking at planet
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Apr 26, 2019 22:38:16 GMT -5
I have to vote for the Koroit as my favorite, too. Lots of really nice cabs, Tela. You're definitely on a roll.
I'd like to add my urging to vegasjames to do an educational thread on all the copper complex minerals. I love copper complex and I'd love to be able to talk intelligently to people at the shows about them. |
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Post by rockjunquie on Apr 26, 2019 22:41:19 GMT -5
I have to vote for the Koroit as my favorite, too. Lots of really nice cabs, Tela. You're definitely on a roll.
I'd like to add my urging to vegasjames to do an educational thread on all the copper complex minerals. I love copper complex and I'd love to be able to talk intelligently to people at the shows about them. I learn so much from him! |
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Apr 26, 2019 22:54:57 GMT -5
I have to vote for the Koroit as my favorite, too. Lots of really nice cabs, Tela. You're definitely on a roll.
I'd like to add my urging to vegasjames to do an educational thread on all the copper complex minerals. I love copper complex and I'd love to be able to talk intelligently to people at the shows about them. I learn so much from him! Me too. He is a wealth of knowledge on that stuff! |
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Tommy
Administrator 
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,993
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Post by Tommy on Apr 27, 2019 10:38:18 GMT -5
Big hornitos jasper. A joy to cab and polished like a dream. Can I inquire about your final polishing method on the Hornitos? I've done various Hornitos cabs from the different varieties and the one thing I've NEVER said or even thought is that it polishes great. Something about the red in that material I find it very hard to coax a mirror shine so I usually just give up. |
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Post by rockjunquie on Apr 27, 2019 13:58:28 GMT -5
Big hornitos jasper. A joy to cab and polished like a dream. Can I inquire about your final polishing method on the Hornitos? I've done various Hornitos cabs from the different varieties and the one thing I've NEVER said or even thought is that it polishes great. Something about the red in that material I find it very hard to coax a mirror shine so I usually just give up. I use all diamond wheels and lots if pressure up to the 100k wheel. Never had a problem. |
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adrian65
Cave Dweller 
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,790
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Post by adrian65 on Apr 27, 2019 14:24:25 GMT -5
Beautiful batch! The Montana and the Owyhee caught my eye the most. Beautiful knife, vegasjames. What's that blade made of? Adrian |
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Kai
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2018
Posts: 331
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Post by Kai on Apr 27, 2019 14:57:20 GMT -5
Wow, you rule! They're amazing.
I'd have a really hard task choosing a favourite. If I really *had to* pick one... hmmm... either the gem owyhee or porcelain jasper. They're all so beautiful!
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Post by vegasjames on Apr 27, 2019 18:13:02 GMT -5
Beautiful batch! The Montana and the Owyhee caught my eye the most. Beautiful knife, vegasjames . What's that blade made of? Adrian It is steel. It was just acid washed to make it that color. |
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Aside from the tenorite there is some black hematite.
