lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 936
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Post by lordsorril on Jan 10, 2021 6:14:57 GMT -5
Photo #94  This photo was taken a year ago. This female black pastel ball python is now 5X larger. |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 936
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Post by lordsorril on Jan 10, 2021 6:52:41 GMT -5
This has now gone way off topic... but I, too, play a game with my cats that I call "smelling rocks." I can go through a box of 100 rocks, and they seem to enjoy smelling every one of them. Not off topic yet, still rock related.  I wonder if our sense of smell was as keen as certain animals if each rock would smell differently... My cats favorite game is to take my polished stones I am examining and push them across my work table (which is a cheap plastic outdoor umbrella table) and knock them into the center hole where the umbrella should sit. I call it 'Cat Skeeball'. I should probably block the hole, but, it does keep them quite entertained and motivates me not to leave a mess...  |
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Post by holajonathan on Jan 10, 2021 12:25:00 GMT -5
I hope these guys don't find out there is a better game out there than smelling rocks, or they will have something else to scream at me about. Two different cats, by the way. They take turns smelling rocks.   |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 936
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Post by lordsorril on Jan 12, 2021 5:50:57 GMT -5
Photo #95  The blue stones are again material from Southwest USA. Many small pits in the rough of this material--I didn't want to rotary tumble them gone because I would lose too much mass on the stones: Vibed them down until they were completely smooth--they picked up a super shine from living in the vibe for a few weeks. |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 936
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Post by lordsorril on Jan 14, 2021 5:44:40 GMT -5
Photo #96  This rock is about the size of an apple. Rounding it out into an oval would lose too much mass-not interested. Lighting heavily dimmed for photo to avoid reflection: wanted to show the patterning, not the polish.  |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 936
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Post by lordsorril on Jan 16, 2021 6:15:00 GMT -5
Photo #97  I remember the second post I made to the RTH ID forum was regarding some goldish-colored veins I found in some quartz (photo below). Unfortunately when I tumbled some white, clear, and bluish pieces with them...the veins turned yellow....   Edit: The reflective color was probably just a trick of the light, like the glass shown below.  |
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NevadaBill
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2019
Posts: 1,332
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Post by NevadaBill on Jan 16, 2021 22:49:24 GMT -5
You got some pretty cool material. It was a good plan to make your own post and continue it like you have. Honestly I don't visit the tumbles section very often in the past year as I took some time off tumbling and started doing other stuff. I like the #90 one which looks like a snake with many small snakes or other reptiles around it. They are real big too. I like the big ones. Nice that you often put a snake or a coin in there for contrast. Some of the blues in #92 are wild. Also some of the fiery red and yellow Jasper looking rocks at the 4 corners of that one are real cool too. I bet that you can line some of the snake habitats with tumbled rocks if you wanted to (kind of like a fish tank) and create some really interesting atmosphere for them. That is if the snakes are Ok with the tumbled rocks that is. Not knowing how the tumbled rocks would go over with them and all.
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 936
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Post by lordsorril on Jan 17, 2021 15:34:19 GMT -5
You got some pretty cool material. It was a good plan to make your own post and continue it like you have. Honestly I don't visit the tumbles section very often in the past year as I took some time off tumbling and started doing other stuff. I like the #90 one which looks like a snake with many small snakes or other reptiles around it. They are real big too. I like the big ones. Nice that you often put a snake or a coin in there for contrast. Some of the blues in #92 are wild. Also some of the fiery red and yellow Jasper looking rocks at the 4 corners of that one are real cool too. I bet that you can line some of the snake habitats with tumbled rocks if you wanted to (kind of like a fish tank) and create some really interesting atmosphere for them. That is if the snakes are Ok with the tumbled rocks that is. Not knowing how the tumbled rocks would go over with them and all. Thanks! I do get bored quickly tumbling the same material. I try to vary what I am working on periodically and sometimes I will just grab a random box of rough off the shelf and tumble whatever is inside. I don't think ball pythons would understand the aesthetics of tumbled/polished rocks and would not appreciate them unless the rocks were large enough to allow them to wedge their bodies against them for added security or heavy enough with a rough surface to scratch shed off periodically. The rocks would also get 'dirty' in the enclosures and it would be kinda gross to try and clean them up...  |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 936
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Post by lordsorril on Jan 18, 2021 7:41:38 GMT -5
Photo #98  This was one of the first 'large' pieces I tumbled (in the early days-rotary only). It is about 5" long finished. I made a lot of mistakes with the batch in general (mixed mohs, added very rough stones to nearly completed Stage 1 rough, no cushioning in polish, skipped 1000 grit...) but, some types of stones you can really mess up and still come out with a mirror polish.  |
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Post by jasoninsd on Jan 18, 2021 8:22:10 GMT -5
...but, some types of stones you can really mess up and still come out with a mirror polish. Those are the ones I need to find! LOL Really beautiful outcome on this stone. I like the patterning of those - what appear to me - healed fracture lines in it. |
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NevadaBill
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2019
Posts: 1,332
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Post by NevadaBill on Jan 18, 2021 20:57:38 GMT -5
You got some pretty cool material. It was a good plan to make your own post and continue it like you have. Honestly I don't visit the tumbles section very often in the past year as I took some time off tumbling and started doing other stuff. I like the #90 one which looks like a snake with many small snakes or other reptiles around it. They are real big too. I like the big ones. Nice that you often put a snake or a coin in there for contrast. Some of the blues in #92 are wild. Also some of the fiery red and yellow Jasper looking rocks at the 4 corners of that one are real cool too. I bet that you can line some of the snake habitats with tumbled rocks if you wanted to (kind of like a fish tank) and create some really interesting atmosphere for them. That is if the snakes are Ok with the tumbled rocks that is. Not knowing how the tumbled rocks would go over with them and all. Thanks! I do get bored quickly tumbling the same material. I try to vary what I am working on periodically and sometimes I will just grab a random box of rough off the shelf and tumble whatever is inside. I don't think ball pythons would understand the aesthetics of tumbled/polished rocks and would not appreciate them unless the rocks were large enough to allow them to wedge their bodies against them for added security or heavy enough with a rough surface to scratch shed off periodically. The rocks would also get 'dirty' in the enclosures and it would be kinda gross to try and clean them up... Interesting. I just learned something about Ball Pythons!
Fact, my best friend once raised a 11 foot Burmwse Python. After a few years it became like an 12 foot python. He was a real calm dude actually (the snake that is. My friend is a jittery type). But he used to carry the python on his shoulders and walk around the neighborhood with him. One time we were walking around and the python got nervous about something (like a car maybe), and he started constricting around my friend. Well, not much you can do about that. I was more than a bit worried. But my friend somehow extracted himself by slipping out really slowly. After that everything was ok. But that is one of those things you don't forget really. Well, just thought I would share. Oh, he used to feed him whole chickens. His older sister had a couple of large pythons, which may have possibly given him the idea to get one too.
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NevadaBill
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2019
Posts: 1,332
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Post by NevadaBill on Jan 18, 2021 21:00:29 GMT -5
Photo #98 This was one of the first 'large' pieces I tumbled (in the early days-rotary only). It is about 5" long finished. I made a lot of mistakes with the batch in general (mixed mohs, added very rough stones to nearly completed Stage 1 rough, no cushioning in polish, skipped 1000 grit...) but, some types of stones you can really mess up and still come out with a mirror polish. I really like the large rock tumbles. Some day I am going to put together a large home built rig, like we see here often on the forums, which can run 25-30 pounds of rock and take larger diameter. The big ones are my favorites. But I only have 12 lb. tumblers are my largest now, and don't really have room to make more. |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 936
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Post by lordsorril on Jan 19, 2021 6:07:38 GMT -5
I really like the large rock tumbles. Some day I am going to put together a large home built rig, like we see here often on the forums, which can run 25-30 pounds of rock and take larger diameter. The big ones are my favorites. But I only have 12 lb. tumblers are my largest now, and don't really have room to make more. Snakes have such strong instinctual responses that I do not trust the larger constrictors...especially in a crowd with different scents...Burmese are known for their incredibly aggressive feeding response and their legendary (yet uncommon) ability to expel a super disgusting volatile musk when they are afraid. I like the larger tumbles myself as well. My largest are only 12lb. tumblers: I think 7 or 8lb. stones are going to be my limit on Lortone QT12's. I started tumbling the one below (from Lake Superior-shown at 1 week progress-7lbs)--going to take a while to tumble this one lol...  |
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NevadaBill
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2019
Posts: 1,332
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Post by NevadaBill on Jan 19, 2021 11:54:09 GMT -5
That is a big beauty! By the looks of it, nature did a lot of the tumbling already. It will just be up to you I guess to decide on what is truly "finished" for this one. I can see some challenges that you will have with it. But if I had it then I would also keep it whole as well, rather than slice it up. I haven't tried tumbling a rock this big though. Thanks for letting me know that it is possible.
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 936
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Post by lordsorril on Jan 19, 2021 18:08:11 GMT -5
Thanks for letting me know that it is possible. You bet! Yeah, I didn't want to smash it. I might still cut off some pieces to round it out if it tumbles weird on the edges/sides. It is a nice piece, but, the real question is what do I do with the big one (24lbs.) I have of this stuff? I don't want to smash this one either...  I was thinking about sending it to Bob and having him tumble it for a few years and then return it to me. |
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Post by Bob on Jan 19, 2021 18:23:31 GMT -5
Somehow the way you put the word Bob in the message caused a notification and I found out about this! Oh yeah, I'll just slip it in there in my 40lb barrel and do this for ya and give you an update in 2023. I've actually been avoiding this thread like the plague because suppressing the herpetologist in me is a noble goal but nigh impossible.
One guy at some rock shop once asked me if I would do custom tumbling of some very large rocks and just charge him for it. I suppose it could work, but what scares me is I would have to first figure out what I spend on grit on my own large rocks--something I definitely don't want to know. If I knew, I would have to answer my wife's questions about this topic. As it is, I have plausible deniability and ignorance because "it's just too complicated to figure out..."
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 936
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Post by lordsorril on Jan 20, 2021 5:56:27 GMT -5
Photo #99  When I started rock tumbling my girlfriend kept asking "What are you going to do with the rocks when you are done?" I thought about it a little bit and then told her that I was going to photograph my snakes with them and that could be my gimmick when I retire and start my own hobby business (in about 35 years...). She didn't believe me: so I took this snake photo as a 'proof of concept'. Not the best photo: Off-centered, a few pieces of non-related material, rotary polish slightly grainy for the type of material (my early work), but, it was enough to convince her... |
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rockstock
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2019
Posts: 472
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Post by rockstock on Jan 20, 2021 8:41:32 GMT -5
Hmm that lake superior quartzy looking conglomerate looks like it turned into an agate conglomerate in your tumbled version. Super cool!
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Post by Bob on Jan 20, 2021 13:58:25 GMT -5
Yes, I get the same question a lot, from anyone that comes over. For a few years, my answer has been "I don't yet know, but I like them and they're mine!"
It's starting to morph into "Because I tumble to perfection more than most, I have this silly dream to maybe sell them on eBay someday." I usually omit the "at least those I might be willing to part with."
Lately my wife has been asking me "Why do you have these snakes? Some of them almost never come out, and you seldom handle them except when you clean their terraria." Back when I gave a lot of herpetological talks at schools and churches, etc., I had a ready answer. My lame one these days is "Jenny, I'm a herpetologist. I can't help it, and there are only two now, fewer than ever in my life." She's starting I can tell to head in the direction "if one dies, are you going to replace it?"
They have been in the living room for 30+ years. Before she arrived from China, she begged me to put them in the bedroom, the least likely room for any visitor to see. After 2-3 weeks of her waking up in the middle of the night to a slithering sound now and then, and her having nightmares about them getting out and into the bed, she got me to put them back in the living room. Now she's working toward the garage. As we say around here "No way Jose."
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chandler
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2020
Posts: 105
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Post by chandler on Jan 20, 2021 15:01:23 GMT -5
Do you sell a book with your photos and the descriptions of the rocks?
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I wonder if our sense of smell was as keen as certain animals if each rock would smell differently...
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