RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,280
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Post by RWA3006 on Jun 7, 2024 13:09:23 GMT -5
Nope. The fingerprints are coming back. For a little while I was thinking of a new career as a safecracker. Soon they will become prestigious scars honorably won on the lapidary battlefield. I've heard that chicks dig scars.
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Post by jasoninsd on Jun 8, 2024 21:26:23 GMT -5
Nope. The fingerprints are coming back. For a little while I was thinking of a new career as a safecracker. I'm glad you said "new" career...otherwise we'd be calling you "gemfencer"! LOL Here's my latest batch of dino poop cabs. Nice colors but a few problems with undercutting. Still have to polish the backs. More in process but going is slow due to a little problem 10 days ago with setting myself on fire. When filling my alcohol lamp preparing to dop I unknowingly spilled alcohol on the bench and my left hand. When I lit it, boom! Things were exciting for a few moments with both my hand and hair on fire. I've been doing this for many years but I got careless. Alcohol burns with a nearly invisible flame and I didn't realize I was on fire until I got 2nd degree burns on three fingers of the left hand. Be careful! Nice cabs! Glad you are ok and house is still up! The older I get, the more I have to tell myself to slow down and be careful. But .... Let me know if you ever figure out how to convince yourself of that "before" we do the things we do...you know...the things that make it SO difficult to get out of bed the next day due to aches and pains in parts of the body we didn't know we had before that! LOL Nope. The fingerprints are coming back. For a little while I was thinking of a new career as a safecracker. Soon they will become prestigious scars honorably won on the lapidary battlefield. I've heard that chicks dig scars. ...just the physical scars...not mental scars! LOL
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Post by liveoak on Jun 9, 2024 7:18:19 GMT -5
Thanks. I'm happy it wasn't a lot worse. Alcohol fires are sneaky -- they burn with an almost invisible flame. Fortunately I saw it in time to prevent much worse damage including a house fire. Maybe it's time to buy an electric dop pot.
The worst thing you can do is you can leave it on too long.
Glad your OK
Patty
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gemfeller
Cave Dweller
Member since June 2011
Posts: 3,860
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Post by gemfeller on Jun 9, 2024 12:32:49 GMT -5
Thanks. I'm happy it wasn't a lot worse. Alcohol fires are sneaky -- they burn with an almost invisible flame. Fortunately I saw it in time to prevent much worse damage including a house fire. Maybe it's time to buy an electric dop pot.
The worst thing you can do is you can leave it on too long.
Glad your OK Patty
Thanks for your good thoughts. Re: electric dop pot. I use one, but my years-long dopping procedure starts with heating a bit of wax on the stone along with a tiny chip of shellac (for some reason wax alone doesn't seem to work here in AZ at elevation like it did on the Coast). I also coat a wooden dowel with wax and heat it with an alcohol lamp so wax on both stone and stick is molten just before adhering them. It's worked very well for years though lately I've been experimenting with super glue, which seems to work well on the back of cabs but isn't strong enough on their polished tops, needed to polish the backs. The torque generated sanding/polishing a flat is much greater than with a curved surface. I'm still working on a flameless solution for that.
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,280
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Post by RWA3006 on Jun 11, 2024 7:02:17 GMT -5
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,280
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Post by RWA3006 on Jun 18, 2024 6:52:36 GMT -5
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Post by 1dave on Jun 18, 2024 7:48:56 GMT -5
There is a lot of information on the transition from chalcedony into quartz crystals in that piece!
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