Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Jan 9, 2021 21:45:20 GMT -5
So I've been a member on this forum and have been tumbling rocks now for exactly 4 years. It has always been a fun hobby and there has not been any desire to show off my finished rocks. The process has always been the same... - Spend 6 to 8 weeks polishing a batch of rocks - Rinse and dry them in the kitchen - Admire them half a day going in & out of the kitchen - Pack them Away in a bag/box/tin/jar/tupperware - Start next batch Today I dug out all the rocks from the far reaches of the house and pulled them together in one place to get sorted out. this is surely over 60 pounds of polished rocks.These have not been seen since the day they were finished. The main reason I wanted to do this is to split the Great Stuff from the plain stuff. I'm always mentioning the fact that I polish rocks but haven't had any good examples handy to show off. Also wanted to separate the Plain remaining rocks into similar colors so I can make some artistic Stepping Stones later this year During the sorting I also removed anything that had too many flaws. That stuff will be given to a friend that has been asking for any of my leftover rocks. There was also a considerable amount of glass that I'll go through tomorrow The pile of Great Rocks was actually Great. It was only about 10% of the total material that ended up in the Happy Bowls of good stuff. A lot of stuff was landscaping rocks that I got from the Family Dollar store years ago for about $1 a pound. I want to keep all these rocks and it will be difficult to get me to let go of any of it.
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kyoti
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2020
Posts: 542
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Post by kyoti on Jan 11, 2021 7:34:48 GMT -5
Thanks for sharing your collection with us. I think I even saw a familiar jar lid. I save my jam and jelly jars for my tumbled rocks too. Once filled, they lounge around in my living room where I can admire them.
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Post by jasoninsd on Jan 11, 2021 10:33:47 GMT -5
It's like a kid in a candy store! What a fun time that must've been...and remembering certain rocks you'd probably forgotten about! You mentioned a "stepping stone" project...I'm curious. Can you (would you) elaborate on that?
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Jan 11, 2021 12:06:49 GMT -5
What a fun time that must've been...and remembering certain rocks you'd probably forgotten about! You mentioned a "stepping stone" project...I'm curious. Can you (would you) elaborate on that? The bowls with the Good Rocks are hypnotizing me. I'll post pictures of them soon.
My rocks sorted into colors are shades of White, Brown, Grey and Black with a few colors, so I'm a little limited to these Earthy tones but I can make it work. Thinking about making stepping stones with Space themes: a Solar System, Comet or Planets. My girlfriends Son has recently had a baby girl, was thinking about doing yearly Hand Prints in the cement surrounded by stones, trinkets and small toys.
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Post by jasoninsd on Jan 11, 2021 19:26:57 GMT -5
What a fun time that must've been...and remembering certain rocks you'd probably forgotten about! You mentioned a "stepping stone" project...I'm curious. Can you (would you) elaborate on that? The bowls with the Good Rocks are hypnotizing me. I'll post pictures of them soon.
My rocks sorted into colors are shades of White, Brown, Grey and Black with a few colors, so I'm a little limited to these Earthy tones but I can make it work. Thinking about making stepping stones with Space themes: a Solar System, Comet or Planets. My girlfriends Son has recently had a baby girl, was thinking about doing yearly Hand Prints in the cement surrounded by stones, trinkets and small toys.
I'll be watching for the pics of the Good Rocks! I read through that other thread...I like the ideas...might have to steal a couple of those ideas one of these days! My wife keeps saying she wants to eventually build a waterfall/fountain out of the stones I tumble. A lot of them of Prairie Agates, so it would have a "theme" to it... I like the idea of the handprints too!
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Jan 12, 2021 16:30:47 GMT -5
I finally took some pictures of my best tumbling rocks of the last 4 years. Most are from around here in North Alabama. There's also some rocks from the Traveling Rock Box a few years ago. Some from China purchased at Family Dollar store. And a few from anywhere else I've been.
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Post by jasoninsd on Jan 12, 2021 21:00:13 GMT -5
I think you've got a huge variety of rocks from Alabama! Pretty sweet! I even see a couple pieces of Turritella in the mix there! I'm assuming not native to Alabama.
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Jan 13, 2021 9:45:51 GMT -5
Yes, the second picture has a coupla pieces of Turrintella in it. They came out of the Traveling Rock Box that went around a couple of years ago. Too bad you missed that event. Have been thinking about making a display cabinet for the wall featuring transparent/translucent rocks with backlight using individual LEDs behind each stone. Also want to use the Very Best rocks in some kind of frontlit display, maybe a coffee table with a glass top and the rocks underneath.
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Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,506
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Post by Brian on Jan 13, 2021 10:04:23 GMT -5
Yes, the second picture has a coupla pieces of Turrintella in it. They came out of the Traveling Rock Box that went around a couple of years ago. Too bad you missed that event. Have been thinking about making a display cabinet for the wall featuring transparent/translucent rocks with backlight using individual LEDs behind each stone. Also want to use the Very Best rocks in some kind of frontlit display, maybe a coffee table with a glass top and the rocks underneath. I like the idea of a backlit display for your translucent rocks! Keep us posted if you do that! That is a nice variety of rocks from Alabama!
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Jan 13, 2021 11:14:36 GMT -5
The rocks got sorted into 10 different colors This will work great with my Stepping stone plan
White - probably manmade synthetic
Eggshell - mostly Quartz Tan Brown Dark Brown - mostly Chert Grey Brown
Dark Grey Black - mostly Chert Speckled - Granite mostly White Colors
Plan to sort through the Glass today, that should be cool in stepping stones too Plus a bag of Reject rocks, kicked out mainly cause they're too small And some rock failures that have color but would not take a shine
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Jan 13, 2021 17:57:46 GMT -5
I did sort out the 5 bags of glass today. Only one of the bags was polished enough for me to keep. Another bag was just glass Smalls for use in future glass tumbles.
The other 3 bags were close to Clear, but I decided to rework them through the polish stages again to get something usable out of it. So those bags with the smalls are back out to the tumbler for some more rolling. Also decided to redo the polish on the Black colored rocks too, as they really don't have a Sexy Shine on them yet.
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Post by jasoninsd on Jan 13, 2021 18:37:17 GMT -5
I did sort out the 5 bags of glass today. Only one of the bags was polished enough for me to keep. Another bag was just glass Smalls for use in future glass tumbles.
The other 3 bags were close to Clear, but I decided to rework them through the polish stages again to get something usable out of it. So those bags with the smalls are back out to the tumbler for some more rolling. Also decided to redo the polish on the Black colored rocks too, as they really don't have a Sexy Shine on them yet.
The bottom bag reminds me of the old hard rock candy we used to make as kids! Can't wait to see pics of the "sexy" shine!
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Jan 13, 2021 19:45:33 GMT -5
All of the glass came from old theatrical lighting lenses that I busted up and put in the tumbler.
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