Tommy
Administrator 
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,981
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Post by Tommy on Aug 13, 2020 13:50:03 GMT -5
Just putting this on as an in-progress cab- I'm not sure I'll have enough to run through the vibe by the end of the month but I'm sure going to try! Not sure exactly what this is, it came in a box from roy. Hopefully I can get it finished, I still have a little bit of shaping to do. It was a pretty thin slab but is holding together well...    Beautiful piece of Graveyard Point plume agate! Stellar composition and layout and I'm thinking you might even pick up some marcasite flash from the black plumes too. |
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Post by miket on Aug 13, 2020 14:30:17 GMT -5
Just putting this on as an in-progress cab- I'm not sure I'll have enough to run through the vibe by the end of the month but I'm sure going to try! Not sure exactly what this is, it came in a box from roy . Hopefully I can get it finished, I still have a little bit of shaping to do. It was a pretty thin slab but is holding together well... Beautiful piece of Graveyard Point plume agate! Stellar composition and layout and I'm thinking you might even pick up some marcasite flash from the black plumes too. Thank you, sir! I wanted to say Graveyard Point but I call everything I have Graveyard Point and I've been wrong more than I've been right. |
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Post by MsAli on Aug 15, 2020 12:20:30 GMT -5
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jasperfanatic
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2019
Posts: 463
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Post by jasperfanatic on Aug 18, 2020 19:59:07 GMT -5
I've been staring down a chunk of Feather Ridge for months now and this was a good reason to finally throw it in the saw and take a slice. Throwing the results in as my entry.  IMG_E2778 by Kevin, on Flickr  IMG_E2782 by Kevin, on Flickr  IMG_E2784 by Kevin, on Flickr |
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Post by knave on Aug 18, 2020 20:34:48 GMT -5
Wow that’s amazing. Love the floating moss...
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jasperfanatic
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2019
Posts: 463
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Post by jasperfanatic on Aug 19, 2020 23:29:10 GMT -5
Wow that’s amazing. Love the floating moss... Thanks. It was unique plumage for sure, reminded me of popcorn. Kind of an undercutting nightmare though... |
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Post by HankRocks on Aug 23, 2020 14:49:55 GMT -5
This is Texas Red Plume from the Woodward, Walker, or Anderson Ranch that I collected nearly 50 years ago. The piece was originally a rock chip from a batch of slabs that I had been using 5 years ago in my UV-18 tumbler as filler. I happened to notice the piece the other day in polished material and decided to cab it for the project. Because both sides were irregular, I flattened one side in order that I could more easily find the most desirable plumes on the opposite side. The plume orientation determines my final shape. After the shape was cut, I polished the cab in my UV-18. My vibe procedure has five steps, each at different grits. It starts out with 120/220 SiC and moves on to 500 AlO, 1000 AlO (adding DE to the 1000 AlO after 2 days), and 14,000 AlO polish. One of the characteristics that appears in some of this plume are soft spots. Because of this and the fact that I was using a vibe, I needed to check often during the first two steps to make sure that the cab didn’t undercut. This is a concern that you don’t have to account for with Carey Plume cabs, since they are a harder material. These pictures are of the cab after the vibe tumble. Later on, I plan on adding some Jammin’ Clear brand clear coat to fill some of the minor erosions that appeared during the tumble to give it a glossy, even surface. I wonder what happened to all the Plume Agate slabs the Woodwards had displayed in their Shop? They were awesome. Probably collecting dust somewhere. They also had some real nice PomPom slabs from Needle Peak. |
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Post by victor1941 on Aug 23, 2020 15:50:50 GMT -5
HanksRocks, maybe surviving wife or children, but who really knows. I am presently working some beautiful pom pom right now that came from the egg bed. This material is hard to work because of different hardness and also is fibrous like tiger eye. Some areas want to undercut or pull out and/or scratch when the harder cut material passes over them before removal.
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Post by HankRocks on Aug 23, 2020 16:42:43 GMT -5
HanksRocks, maybe surviving wife or children, but who really knows. I am presently working some beautiful pom pom right now that came from the egg bed. This material is hard to work because of different hardness and also is fibrous like tiger eye. Some areas want to undercut or pull out and/or scratch when the harder cut material passes over them before removal. Just slabbed a decent sized piece of PomPom. It looks pretty good to me. As soon as we get all my daughter's stuff out of my picture taking room and into her new Apartment I will get some pictures posted. Never found the egg bed at Needle Peak, just float material. With the terrain so jumbled out there, following washes did not always lead to source veins or beds. |
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Post by victor1941 on Aug 23, 2020 20:50:58 GMT -5
I bought the material from Bob Miller(deceased) at the Smokey Mountain Rock Shop in Fort Myers, Fl. back in the 70's. Bob had contacts and also collected a lot of material in that area. I actually saw an article (years ago) by a member of the Abilene lapidary who had dug at the bed. He said it appeared no once had visited the sight for a few years.
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Post by roy on Aug 27, 2020 10:27:04 GMT -5
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Post by miket on Aug 28, 2020 12:11:15 GMT -5
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gemfeller
Cave Dweller 
Member since June 2011
Posts: 4,059 
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Post by gemfeller on Aug 28, 2020 17:28:58 GMT -5
Well, maybe the 4th time's a charm -- at least as far as cutting a usable plume cab for the contest. I've cut 3 previous to this one but all developed pits that need HXTAL treatment. I tried Riviera Plume, an unusual gold-on-black plume from Graveyard Point and a white plume with a reddish background mined near Nyssa,OR. All will make nice cabs once the pits are filled. This cab is from Vein 2 of Idaho's Prudent Man Plume deposit. It's called Celadon Plume, obviously because of the celadon green hue which is very unusual. The first image will have to do as both the rough and the preform. It's a leftover off-cut from a larger slab and I forgot to take a picture before I started rounding off the rough edges. I didn't get very far before I remembered so it's pretty much as what I started with. Good luck to all! Rough/Preform  Finished Cab  Side Shot  Second Side  |
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oldschoolrocker
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2019
Posts: 1,578
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Post by oldschoolrocker on Aug 30, 2020 1:14:18 GMT -5
ok so here is my entry. not sure about ID but it's from one of the west texas ranches. I had a small nodule that was filled with mostly quartz and small bit of red and black plumes in red orange agate. unfortunately a rather large pit showed up early on so I put it aside and went to start on the one other slice of this material. for the life of me I cant find that little rock. so went back to this one with pit and all. shaped and polished with my dremel. forgot to take pic of preform so stopped and took this pic of rough-  Side shot-  Face shot-  Backlighting-  |
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Post by victor1941 on Aug 30, 2020 12:10:02 GMT -5
Oldschoolrocker, this cab is most likejy from the Woodward or Walker ranch. You have a really nice piece.
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Post by knave on Aug 30, 2020 12:15:41 GMT -5
Oldschoolrocker, this cab is most likejy from the Woodward or Walker ranch. You have a really nice piece. I must wonder how much GB of rock ID info you have in that noggin! |
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oldschoolrocker
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2019
Posts: 1,578
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Post by oldschoolrocker on Aug 30, 2020 12:33:23 GMT -5
Oldschoolrocker, this cab is most likejy from the Woodward or Walker ranch. You have a really nice piece. thank you for the compliment and ID! |
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Post by victor1941 on Aug 30, 2020 16:27:58 GMT -5
Knave, I was an active collector of material from the ranches in this area about 50 years between Alpine, Marfa and Big Bend Woodward. Some of my collection came from a person who lived on one of the ranches and got plume agate from the Mellard, Shurley and Manny Howard ranches. My interest also included picture material and plumes from other areas that I liked.
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zarguy
fully equipped rock polisher
Cedar City, Utah - rockhound heaven!
Member since December 2005
Posts: 1,791
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Post by zarguy on Aug 30, 2020 20:56:42 GMT -5
I've decided to give this contest a try. Holt Canyon Jasp/agate self collected May 2020. Two different outdoor lighting situations 
This is cut double sided. I will drill it & put it on a cord.
 Lynn |
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Post by HankRocks on Aug 30, 2020 21:00:29 GMT -5
Knave, I was an active collector of material from the ranches in this area about 50 years between Alpine, Marfa and Big Bend Woodward. Some of my collection came from a person who lived on one of the ranches and got plume agate from the Mellard, Shurley and Manny Howard ranches. My interest also included picture material and plumes from other areas that I liked. Did you ever collect the ME Ranch?, Mr Beanland was the contact. Did find one slope that had some nice Bouquet. Never did explore it all. Or the Bishop Ranch?. Only went there once in 75 or 76 and I believe it sold a few months after our trip. I think part of it became the Singleton Ranch. Or how about the Marfa Rockshop on Hwy 90 just west of Marfa, Paul Wofford ran it. He also took/sent folks out to 2 or 3 places south of Marfa. He also drove with us down to Lajitas to collect in the hill below Lajitas Mesa. The Resort was just being built. Henry |
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