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Post by holajonathan on Dec 30, 2020 12:21:23 GMT -5
I am tumbling a mixed batch of lakers and Botswana agates. They are a few weeks into the coarse grind stage. Some of the agates have nice eyes appearing, but also have small pits and cracks common with these agates. I would normally tumble out the shallow cracks and pits, and cut or grind out the stubborn ones. But I am worried about wearing off or grinding through the eyes, which appear to be superficial.
How deep are the eyes? I am talking about the almost perfectly round, sometimes overlapping, smaller eyes on the surface of these agates. With the Bots, the eyes are often solid white. The eyes seem to be related to how the agates formed at the edge of the matrix. I know some people call any round pattern in an agate an eye... That's not what I'm talking about.
I am willing to live with small cracks and pits if necessary to keep the eyes, but I could use some guidance from those with experience.
Thank you, Jonathan
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Post by jasoninsd on Dec 30, 2020 13:00:15 GMT -5
Jonathan, great question and I'll be curious to see what gets said about it. I'm running into the same sort of issues with batches of Bubble Gum agates...
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Post by holajonathan on Dec 30, 2020 18:07:38 GMT -5
This afternoon. I did a little grinding on a few of them. The lake superior agate eyes were at least a few mm thick, and I was able to do light grinding on or around them without grinding them off.
The two or three Botswana agates that I did some grinding on had very thin eyes, and I did grind a few off while removing pits. I don't know if they will all be like this or if it just the few that I worked on today.
What is interesting about the Botswana agates is some have an internal eye layer that is not very visible until the stones are tumbled for a few weeks. I guess this shouldn't be surprising since these same agates often do not show banding until they have been tumbled for a while. In my limited experience, it seems like the Lake Superior agate eyes are visible when the agates are in rough form.
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gatorflash1
spending too much on rocks
Active in Delaware Mineralogical Society, Cabchon Grinding and Polishing, 2 Thumlers B's and a UV-18
Member since October 2018
Posts: 375
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Post by gatorflash1 on Dec 31, 2020 10:13:29 GMT -5
I've not had too much problem with my Botswana agates. I check the batch every week to see if they are ready to move on. This weekly checking is most important for step 1 so you don't over tumble your stones. I never really focused on the eyes though. Just treated them like any other tumbled agate stone.
Which do you like the best L. Superior or Bots? I'm a fan of the Bots, L. Superior rough seems very expensive to me. I wish I could find 25lbs at a decent price.
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Post by holajonathan on Jan 4, 2021 1:19:26 GMT -5
In my limited experience, the bots are easier to tumble and although they wear slowly, you can get a lot of flawless tumbled Botswana agates without ever having to grind out or cut off flaws. The lakers seem to fracture more and are more likely to have facture-prone quartz areas. And like you said, the only affordable lake superior agates are the ones mined in Minnesota. When I have bought them they have been questionable quality and still not cheap.
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