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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Mar 15, 2021 18:32:00 GMT -5
This is a batch of Botswana agates that just finished up. These spent 12 weeks in stage one rotary and just about every rock also spent some time at a 60 grit sintered diamond grinding wheel along the way. This batch is just a portion of them that were ready. Most are still in stage one going on 14 weeks now. markymark do these look familar? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
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Post by amygdule on Mar 15, 2021 18:42:32 GMT -5
WOW...!!!
Great job on the Bots and your photography. Thank you for sharing.
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Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,512
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Post by Brian on Mar 15, 2021 19:26:32 GMT -5
That is a beautiful batch of Bots!
I'm curious how much shaping you do for these. For example, on pictures 12 and 15, it looks like you ground it down close to and mimicking the banding. I was trimming up some of my first Bots over the weekend and wasn't really sure how much I should take off. On most of them, I erred on the side of caution and just removed bad spots, odd protrusions and deep concavities.
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Post by stonemon on Mar 15, 2021 19:33:10 GMT -5
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Mar 15, 2021 19:45:31 GMT -5
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Mar 15, 2021 21:04:28 GMT -5
WOW...!!! Great job on the Bots and your photography. Thank you for sharing. Thanks. Trying to get a decent closeup of 40 stones in one batch is a bit of a challenge but I thought these deserved it. Chuck
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saxplayer
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since March 2018
Posts: 1,327
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Post by saxplayer on Mar 15, 2021 21:08:34 GMT -5
Fantastic! Nice job.
Can you estimate how much grinding with the 60 wheel was needed?
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Post by Jugglerguy on Mar 15, 2021 21:12:08 GMT -5
Bots are so cool, and you do such a great job tumbling them.
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Post by miket on Mar 15, 2021 21:27:41 GMT -5
Holy crap, very nice. I love banded agates!
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Mar 15, 2021 21:27:47 GMT -5
Fantastic! Nice job. Can you estimate how much grinding with the 60 wheel was needed? My estimate is a bunch. lol. Mass amounts of flaw removal and still 12 weeks of stage one. Several had bad areas removed at the trim saw as well. 14 pounds of really expensive rough is currently at about 6 pounds and still going. Chuck
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Post by jasoninsd on Mar 15, 2021 21:33:27 GMT -5
Holy Botswana Batman!!! Chuck, there are some amazing stones in this batch. Once again, your polish and photography skills are stellar! It's really hard to pick a favorite out of this batch...but 14 really is an amazing stone!!!
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quartzilla
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2020
Posts: 1,237
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Post by quartzilla on Mar 15, 2021 22:30:39 GMT -5
Speechless (luckily I can still type)! Inspiring tumble!
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Mar 16, 2021 6:26:53 GMT -5
Holy Botswana Batman!!! Chuck, there are some amazing stones in this batch. Once again, your polish and photography skills are stellar! It's really hard to pick a favorite out of this batch...but 14 really is an amazing stone!!! Thanks. I might be able to pick the top ten stones but no way could I pick a single favorite this time. Chuck
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Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,512
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Post by Brian on Mar 16, 2021 6:57:47 GMT -5
Chuck, do you have any pictures of what your Bots look like after grinding and before you start tumbling?
I would love to figure out a good way to prepare them to bring out the best in them. I looked at the ones I trimmed up over the weekend and it still looks like I could have trimmed them quite a bit more.
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,113
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Post by stefan on Mar 16, 2021 17:42:22 GMT -5
Damn! Now I gotta dip into my small stash of Bots. Amazing results
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Mar 17, 2021 6:31:54 GMT -5
Chuck, do you have any pictures of what your Bots look like after grinding and before you start tumbling? I would love to figure out a good way to prepare them to bring out the best in them. I looked at the ones I trimmed up over the weekend and it still looks like I could have trimmed them quite a bit more. Sorry. No pictures of the grinding process.I never grind my rocks prior to tumbling. My grinding and sawing always comes several weeks into stage one. Like 8 weeks in on these agates during the clean out I'll set aside rocks that look like they are almost done but have one or two fairly deep flaws or maybe a fracture that will not tumble out. If a rock still has flaws all around it then that is where just more tumbling makes sense. Chuck
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Post by toiv0 on Mar 17, 2021 6:42:14 GMT -5
Great batch
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Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,512
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Post by Brian on Mar 17, 2021 6:56:46 GMT -5
Chuck, do you have any pictures of what your Bots look like after grinding and before you start tumbling? I would love to figure out a good way to prepare them to bring out the best in them. I looked at the ones I trimmed up over the weekend and it still looks like I could have trimmed them quite a bit more. Sorry. No pictures of the grinding process.I never grind my rocks prior to tumbling. My grinding and sawing always comes several weeks into stage one. Like 8 weeks in on these agates during the clean out I'll set aside rocks that look like they are almost done but have one or two fairly deep flaws or maybe a fracture that will not tumble out. If a rock still has flaws all around it then that is where just more tumbling makes sense. Chuck Thanks, Chuck! I like that approach because it lets you identify the problem areas. Patience seems to be the answer to a lot of questions tumbling related. I had a few where the banding was very close to one side and some major issues farther away, so I went ahead and cut the bad portions off. I was sorely tempted to pre-shape a lot of them but I will try your approach before touching them again.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Mar 17, 2021 8:42:13 GMT -5
Thanks. These came from some very high graded rough. Sure was a fun tumble. Chuck
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Mar 17, 2021 9:09:53 GMT -5
Thanks! All this banding is making me want to start shopping for some lakers again. Chuck
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