spartyb
off to a rocking start
Member since November 2019
Posts: 20
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Post by spartyb on Jun 16, 2020 20:12:02 GMT -5
First off I wanted to say thanks to this great community. I’ve been lurking the past year or so learning a ton to improve my tumbles of Utah agates and jaspers...from what turned out to be my first rockhounding trip. It was meant to be a 2 week trip to the national parks but w e ended up spending more time driving through BLM lands in search of rocks and ended up shipping home 10 flat rate boxes. I came pretty close to the 250# annual limit in 2 weeks. Needless to say I found a new passion. Anyway, on to the topic at hand. On a recent trip to nw Wisconsin I found my 1st good size Lake Superior Agate. I’m planning to face polish it but could use some advice. It’s 4.68 oz and from the pics you can see the exposed face come to almost a 90 degree angle. I was thinking about slicing off a piece shown by the yellow line in the 3rd image.I’m guessing it would be about 1/2-3/4 ounce but would allow me to have a nice curve to the polished face. Plus I could throw that piece in the tumbler. Is this a mistake? Would I be better off polishing 2 faces with an eased edge between the two? Edit: I’m having trouble getting the pics to display. I’ll try again when I can get to a pc and off my phone. -Brent
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Jun 16, 2020 20:54:42 GMT -5
Welcome from Northern Arizona! Looking forward to seeing those pictures.
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stonemon
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2017
Posts: 1,024
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Post by stonemon on Jun 16, 2020 21:52:03 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum! Sounds like you are off to a rockin' start!
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Post by knave on Jun 16, 2020 22:20:21 GMT -5
spartybWelcome to the forum! I found a different source link for your picture and it looks like it works. In desktop mode go to download, then “view image” to get the static link.
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Post by knave on Jun 16, 2020 22:30:15 GMT -5
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spartyb
off to a rocking start
Member since November 2019
Posts: 20
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Post by spartyb on Jun 16, 2020 23:01:09 GMT -5
Knave - thanks so much for getting those images added and thanks for the tip. I appreciate it. So what do people think about slicing that piece off?
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Post by knave on Jun 16, 2020 23:17:01 GMT -5
Knave - thanks so much for getting those images added and thanks for the tip. I appreciate it. So what do people think about slicing that piece off? First of all that’s an awesome specimen! Hard to find lakers that size. Also it doesn’t look fractured too badly. What a great find. The proposed cut would become the polished face? I think it’s a good idea, but I’m also interested to hear what the experienced lapidary pros have to say. woodman makes some killer standups.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Jun 16, 2020 23:18:35 GMT -5
Well if you're going to face polish it as a display specimen, I don't think I'd cut that tip off. It would totally destroy the fortification pattern on the stone. Just my 2¢.
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Post by rockjunquie on Jun 17, 2020 6:35:34 GMT -5
Yes, I think I would leave it as a display specimen.
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NDK
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 9,440
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Post by NDK on Jun 17, 2020 8:32:57 GMT -5
I agree with Robin, if you're going to polish it just clean up the surface and polish. I wouldn't cut it or tumble it either.
Nice find!
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spartyb
off to a rocking start
Member since November 2019
Posts: 20
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Post by spartyb on Jun 17, 2020 16:45:22 GMT -5
Well if you're going to face polish it as a display specimen, I don't think I'd cut that tip off. It would totally destroy the fortification pattern on the stone. Just my 2¢. Oh, I hadn't even considered that. I naively assumed the fortification banding would persist throughout. Thanks for saving me from a potentially disastrous mistake.
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spartyb
off to a rocking start
Member since November 2019
Posts: 20
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Post by spartyb on Jun 17, 2020 17:09:05 GMT -5
Thanks, I was certainly lucky. Found that at the 1st pit we went to and was half expecting to find something like it at every one, lol Yes I was shooting for a half-moon shaped face that was polished. Cutting that piece off would allow for a nice curve -roughly the green line in the image below but hummigbirstones scared me about losing the fortification so I think I'm 1st going to try and polish it without cutting that piece and see how it turns out.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Jun 17, 2020 21:54:31 GMT -5
Thanks, I was certainly lucky. Found that at the 1st pit we went to and was half expecting to find something like it at every one, lol Yes I was shooting for a half-moon shaped face that was polished. Cutting that piece off would allow for a nice curve -roughly the green line in the image below but hummigbirstones scared me about losing the fortification so I think I'm 1st going to try and polish it without cutting that piece and see how it turns out. Didn't mean to scare you. Bad Robin!
I think polishing the whole thing is a good idea. You need to see what's under that skin to see where the fortifications are. Heck, there could be another awesome one under there somewhere and you can't see it yet.
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spartyb
off to a rocking start
Member since November 2019
Posts: 20
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Post by spartyb on Jun 19, 2020 12:42:16 GMT -5
Well here’s the finished result...for now. I decided to just polish half the exposed face. It looks much. better in person, the camera seems to exaggerate the flaws which I knew were there. I’m hesitant to go further because I can see more fractures just below the surface and figure I’d just keep finding more. I may revisit it after improving my skills and equipment but I’m satisfied for now.
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Post by knave on Jun 19, 2020 13:11:12 GMT -5
It’s a real beauty!
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Post by miket on Jun 19, 2020 14:18:39 GMT -5
Very nice!
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dreamrocks
freely admits to licking rocks
I got lucky this morning and was able to post this no others since
Member since November 2018
Posts: 888
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Post by dreamrocks on Jun 19, 2020 15:54:01 GMT -5
I would try to take a about a strong 1/8” slab off then you would have a nice smooth surface to polish. I would only attempt cutting it with it being placed in a vice. Make sure to line up the slab your cutting off the best that you can. I definitely would not attempt cutting it free hand. To easy to crack that way and make any other fractures worse. Yes it will have a point that you could carefully grind smooth and still have that awesome two sides, top & bottom of the birds bill. Looks like it will be a killer pattern after. Depending on the actual size of the stone if it’s big enough take enough off to make a nice cab or at least a polished slab from the cut piece. That’s my two cents on what I would do. That would also give your stone a little character To give you a better idea of what I am talking about. That was free hand Very nice find by the way
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EricD
Cave Dweller
High in the Mountains
Member since November 2019
Posts: 1,142
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Post by EricD on Jun 19, 2020 18:57:02 GMT -5
I would try to take a about a strong 1/8” slab off then you would have a nice smooth surface to polish. I would only attempt cutting it with it being placed in a vice. Make sure to line up the slab your cutting off the best that you can. I definitely would not attempt cutting it free hand. To easy to crack that way and make any other fractures worse. Yes it will have a point that you could carefully grind smooth and still have that awesome two sides, top & bottom of the birds bill. Looks like it will be a killer pattern after. Depending on the actual size of the stone if it’s big enough take enough off to make a nice cab or at least a polished slab from the cut piece. That’s my two cents on what I would do. That would also give your stone a little character To give you a better idea of what I am talking about. That was free hand Very nice find by the way I would try something like that as well, however I would end up slabbing the entire rock, I'm sure
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Jun 19, 2020 18:57:53 GMT -5
Very pretty!
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spartyb
off to a rocking start
Member since November 2019
Posts: 20
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Post by spartyb on Jun 21, 2020 21:45:18 GMT -5
I would try to take a about a strong 1/8” slab off then you would have a nice smooth surface to polish. I would only attempt cutting it with it being placed in a vice. Make sure to line up the slab your cutting off the best that you can. I definitely would not attempt cutting it free hand. To easy to crack that way and make any other fractures worse. Yes it will have a point that you could carefully grind smooth and still have that awesome two sides, top & bottom of the birds bill. Looks like it will be a killer pattern after. Depending on the actual size of the stone if it’s big enough take enough off to make a nice cab or at least a polished slab from the cut piece. That’s my two cents on what I would do. That would also give your stone a little character To give you a better idea of what I am talking about. That was free hand Very nice find by the way Thanks for the good idea. I may try that if I ever get a better saw or figure out how to make a vice for mine. I just have a Harbor Freight 10” tile saw.
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