Benathema
has rocks in the head
God chased me down and made sure I knew He was real June 20, 2022. I've been on a Divine Mission.
Member since November 2019
Posts: 703
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Post by Benathema on Mar 16, 2021 2:00:26 GMT -5
For some reason I'm on a mission to create the best Tiger's-eye tumble I can. It's like I've chosen it to be my benchmark stone for monitoring my tumbling improvement. There's this previous one, a few little blue ones, and a 1 lb red one that's grinding I haven't shown. They're fun - it's a pretty stone. The thing is for these gold ones, I keep picking bigger ones each time! This time it's too big to fit in the barrel. I knew when I picked it up this past summer that I couldn't tumble it until I got a saw. Well now I have a saw... dun dun duuuunnnn! ...and an angle grinder with a masonry disk... Dun Dun Duuuunnnn! ...and a 12 lb barrel that'll be open come Friday evening... DUN DUN DUUUUNNNN! I'm showing what I did to it today, kind of setting the stage. I am still pondering what all I'm going to do with it before it begins tumbling. The problem with the previous one I did was that it was thin (wrt its length and width) and to see the flash the stone either needs to be picked up or propped up at an angle. I'm pondering shaping this so that the flash can be seen looking down towards it, where the sides are at an angle. Kind of shaped like a pyramid with the top cut off. The top and bottom brown capstone material isn't very thick and I'm thinking of hitting that both sides with the grinder. Alright, stone wont fit in barrel because it's too long. To remove the least amount of material to get it to fit, I decided to knock the sharp tip off the end. There's a couple other sharpie lines here where I trimmed off the high spots that created concave areas not conducive to tumbling. For reference this weighed 2922g (6.44 lbs) before I started cutting. Which is 2.8 times the initial mass of the previous one. Hold my beer... Laser eyeball the second pass... Not bad. I'll show more as I go, then do my usual rigor with a set of week 0 pictures that track as the tumble proceeds.
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 766
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Post by lordsorril on Mar 16, 2021 4:54:06 GMT -5
Looks cool!
Australian tiger eye? (vs. African)
What are you going to tumble with the large piece?
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standles
spending too much on rocks
Well all I got was a rock ... Cool!
Member since February 2021
Posts: 325
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Post by standles on Mar 16, 2021 7:07:09 GMT -5
Nice. I have never seen a slab that thick. Bet a slice or two would make beautiful cabs for a pendant.
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Post by miket on Mar 16, 2021 9:29:57 GMT -5
Very cool, I can't wait to see the results!
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USMC15
Cave Dweller
I feel like I just came out of the tumbler ...
Member since March 2021
Posts: 273
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Post by USMC15 on Mar 16, 2021 17:13:30 GMT -5
Great you just blinded a tiger by taking that beautiful Tiger eye. Now it will run into rocks.
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Benathema
has rocks in the head
God chased me down and made sure I knew He was real June 20, 2022. I've been on a Divine Mission.
Member since November 2019
Posts: 703
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Post by Benathema on Mar 16, 2021 19:00:28 GMT -5
Looks cool! Australian tiger eye? (vs. African) What are you going to tumble with the large piece? Thanks! I'm leaning towards Australian based on what Shawn lists on therockshed. That's a guess though since I don't have the original listing anymore, but that's where I got it. For the coarse grind the barrel will be filled with assorted stones that need tumbled, like jaspers, agates, chalcedony, etc. Once it's ready for stage two the material will be swapped exclusively for my pretumbled sacrificial quartz, which will follow it through to polish.
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Benathema
has rocks in the head
God chased me down and made sure I knew He was real June 20, 2022. I've been on a Divine Mission.
Member since November 2019
Posts: 703
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Post by Benathema on Mar 16, 2021 19:04:50 GMT -5
Nice. I have never seen a slab that thick. Bet a slice or two would make beautiful cabs for a pendant. I'm holding onto the chunk I cut off until I come up with a plan for it. It's kind of a triangular prism shape, but I could get a good slice or two from it. I'm kind of on a fridge magnet kick right now, with some 1/2" x 1/16" N48 neodymiums on the way. We'll see, haven't decided yet.
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 766
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Post by lordsorril on Mar 16, 2021 20:06:18 GMT -5
Looks cool! Australian tiger eye? (vs. African) What are you going to tumble with the large piece? I'm leaning towards Australian based on what Shawn lists on therockshed. That's a guess though since I don't have the original listing anymore, but that's where I got it. Yep yep, Shawn sold me one too. Haven't touched it yet.
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Benathema
has rocks in the head
God chased me down and made sure I knew He was real June 20, 2022. I've been on a Divine Mission.
Member since November 2019
Posts: 703
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Post by Benathema on Mar 16, 2021 23:53:15 GMT -5
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Post by jasoninsd on Mar 17, 2021 2:25:57 GMT -5
I love your "big" tumble threads! That really is a killer piece of Tigers Eye! (Not gonna lie...I would've sliced off some slabs for some amazing cabs out of that one! )
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Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,506
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Post by Brian on Mar 17, 2021 5:13:07 GMT -5
That one is (pre)shaping up nicely! I like what you’ve done with this one so far and am looking forward to following this big fella’s progress.
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standles
spending too much on rocks
Well all I got was a rock ... Cool!
Member since February 2021
Posts: 325
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Post by standles on Mar 17, 2021 8:47:04 GMT -5
I don't know about tumble. I think I would take the preform with all the angled faces on them and polish each up. Then use as a specimen on a turntable in center of my display.
You have made me want a large piece of tigereye now. Checked rockshed but they are out of stock at moment. The search begins.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Mar 17, 2021 9:37:48 GMT -5
This is going to be so cool. I love watching your big rock rolls.
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Post by Bob on Mar 17, 2021 15:32:54 GMT -5
Love your methods here. I may steal them when I work up the courage to tackle my 8.5 lb one. I see it and fear the two+ years it's going to take. Mine is very ugly compared to the gorgeous fibers in yours.
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Post by HankRocks on Mar 17, 2021 17:42:19 GMT -5
Love your methods here. I may steal them when I work up the courage to tackle my 8.5 lb one. I see it and fear the two+ years it's going to take. Mine is very ugly compared to the gorgeous fibers in yours. Not that I am an expert in the matter but are you sure that's Tiger's Eye? It's not like any I have seen before.
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Post by Bob on Mar 17, 2021 19:51:01 GMT -5
I wonder too. It was sold that way and I got 10lbs, this and a smaller piece. I don't know where the smaller piece is now and what it looks like. It does look like golden tiger eye, but there are no obvious fibers, so I bet it has no chatoyance when done.
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,094
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Post by stefan on Mar 19, 2021 11:05:50 GMT -5
Bob, Not sure on that one really, it very well could have fibers and chatoyance inside. The outer rock looks pretty heavily weathered but once cut could very well revel a very nice surprise! Either that or it is one nice honking chunk of Pet wood!
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Benathema
has rocks in the head
God chased me down and made sure I knew He was real June 20, 2022. I've been on a Divine Mission.
Member since November 2019
Posts: 703
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Post by Benathema on Mar 20, 2021 0:08:20 GMT -5
Week -1: Precut/pregrind 2922g. Week 0: 2310g (5.09 lb) Going into 36 SiC with miscellaneous material, such as jasper, chalcedony, quartz, and most of the cutoffs from the original stone. Four sides, rotated 90 from each other. Bottom Getting a decent angle on the chatoyant area. We'll see how well the first week gets the angle grinder marks out. Decent fit. Let it rock.
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Post by stephan on Mar 20, 2021 1:20:36 GMT -5
Good luck!
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Post by Bob on Mar 23, 2021 17:32:24 GMT -5
Boy, that is what I call prep of a rock. I've never seen anything like this! Now that I have my lapidary saw set up and working, my next project is my 8" wet arbor for grinding. I can't wait to be able to do what you have done. You probably just saved 6 months work of my usual method which takes forever.
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