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Post by holajonathan on Jul 29, 2021 14:59:25 GMT -5
Some of my better tumbles from the past 6 months, and a few that just happened to be on the kitchen table when I was photographing the nice ones. 1. Group shot  2. The Mexican's (my favorites)  3a.  3b.  3c.  4.  5a.  5b.  6a. My favorite rock of this group. I spent a lot of time carefully grinding on this one to get the patterns just right.  6b.  6c.  6d.  7a. So called "laguna lace" Lot-O cab. Problematic rock with soft bands and fractures, but colors / patterns too nice not to make the best it. Even has as metallic copper colored band (squiggly line that is shiny in top right of photo)  7b.  8a. Another one where I did a lot of grinding to display the pattern I wanted.  8b.  8c.  9. A few Bots. Better Bots to come in future threads.  10. Autofocus not quite dialed in. Fantastically fine banding in this one. Lost in the photo.  11. The dreaded half moon fractures that plague Botswana tumbles.  12a. Big boy Bot.  12b.  13. Misc  14a. One of the larger fracture free Montana agates slices that I've tumbled.  14b.  15. I see one of those creepy deep sea fish. What do you see? Agate from Morocco.  16. Michigan rocks  17. Blue and gray driveway chert.  18. LSA  Hope you enjoyed the show. |
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catskillrocks
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2008
Posts: 1,270
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Post by catskillrocks on Jul 29, 2021 18:18:47 GMT -5
A really cool selection of beautifully
shined rocks.
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Post by drocknut on Jul 29, 2021 18:48:41 GMT -5
Awesome 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 Jul 29, 2021 19:19:04 GMT -5
That's a great batch! I love the backside pattern shown in photo 6d. And the Montana in 14a/14b is quite spectacular as well. I'm sure the Bot of #10 is even more spectacular in person!
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Post by jasoninsd on Jul 29, 2021 19:27:01 GMT -5
Jonathan - As always, fantastic polish and amazing pictures!  I have to say #12 Big Boy Bot is my favorite...and sadly, when I saw #15, I saw my grandmother's dentures! LOL (And I was scrolling too fast and thought you had named #18 Lisa...then realized there's no "I" in LSA! LOL) |
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Post by holajonathan on Jul 29, 2021 20:22:10 GMT -5
That's a great batch! I love the backside pattern shown in photo 6d. And the Montana in 14a/14b is quite spectacular as well. I'm sure the Bot of #10 is even more spectacular in person! I like the back in 6d also. That was one where I could have kept tumbling it or grinding on it to get the cracks out, but I didn't want to lose the pattern. If I were good at cabbing the Montana slice would have made a nice cab. The fact that so few have a good design and are not full of fractures makes it all the sweeter to find one. I've been trying to find the rest of that rock to see if it's as good. I've got a bad habit of taking a slice or two off a rock and setting it aside because hand slabbing the 2-3" size rocks is pretty tedious. And it's hard to tell which ones are good enough to completely slice up when they have saw marks and I've got oil mist all over my safety glasses. |
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electrocutus
spending too much on rocks
Member since October 2020
Posts: 341 
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Post by electrocutus on Jul 29, 2021 20:26:30 GMT -5
Stunning rocks, all of them! this is mesmerizing :-)
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Post by holajonathan on Jul 29, 2021 20:52:49 GMT -5
Stunning rocks, all of them! this is mesmerizing :-) Glad you liked them. I enjoy tumbling them, and it always seems like a shame that no one other than a few friends of family members gets to see them. I am going to try to do better about sharing photos, since I have much enjoyed the photos of others on this forum. |
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Jul 29, 2021 21:10:19 GMT -5
Beautiful tumbles! You're quite talented in getting those patterns to show how want them to.
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Post by holajonathan on Jul 29, 2021 23:00:27 GMT -5
hummingbirdstones Thanks. After rough rocks have been tumbling for a few weeks I usually pick out the ones that have the most potential -- the best 10% or so. I give them some early grinding if needed to remove any flaws that are going to take a long time to wear down in the rotary tumbler. I then return them to the rotary tumbler until they are almost defect free, or as close as I want to get without tumbling away nice features. Before I move them to the Lot-O, I grind away any easy to fix defects like stubborn little holes common on the outside of nodular agates. And I also decide if there are any areas of the rock that would be more interesting with a little more grinding. This if often the case with Botswana agates and crazy lace agates. In the case of Botswana agates, I am usually selectively exposing more banding. With the crazy lace, I am sort of obsessed with grinding part way through botryoidal layers to expose "eyes" and contracting colors. This is all quiet time consuming, but I'd rather have a handful of really nice tumbles than a whole bunch of so-so ones. Here's a few that recently got a lot of grinding before being finished in the Lot-O. Bad cell phone photos but interesting rocks.  
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Jul 30, 2021 8:40:45 GMT -5
hummingbirdstones Thanks. After rough rocks have been tumbling for a few weeks I usually pick out the ones that have the most potential -- the best 10% or so. I give them some early grinding if needed to remove any flaws that are going to take a long time to wear down in the rotary tumbler. I then return them to the rotary tumbler until they are almost defect free, or as close as I want to get without tumbling away nice features. Before I move them to the Lot-O, I grind away any easy to fix defects like stubborn little holes common on the outside of nodular agates. And I also decide if there are any areas of the rock that would be more interesting with a little more grinding. This if often the case with Botswana agates and crazy lace agates. In the case of Botswana agates, I am usually selectively exposing more banding. With the crazy lace, I am sort of obsessed with grinding part way through botryoidal layers to expose "eyes" and contracting colors. This is all quiet time consuming, but I'd rather have a handful of really nice tumbles than a whole bunch of so-so ones. Here's a few that recently got a lot of grinding before being finished in the Lot-O. Bad cell phone photos but interesting rocks. I think the time you spent selectively grinding on those is well worth the effort! |
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Post by Peruano on Jul 30, 2021 12:14:39 GMT -5
A super array of stones with great shine. Thanks for taking the time to show us your stuff.
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Post by rockjunquie on Jul 30, 2021 13:05:22 GMT -5
Thanks for the ooooos and awwwwwwws. Too hard to pick a fav. You've got some really nice finishes on some really nice material. Haven't seen any red crazy lace in a long time. |
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Post by fernwood on Jul 30, 2021 13:19:11 GMT -5
I love seeing your tumbles.
This batch is excellent as usual.
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lunker
Cave Dweller 
Member since April 2021
Posts: 430
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Post by lunker on Jul 30, 2021 16:20:21 GMT -5
Beautiful shiny rocks.
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quartzilla
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2020
Posts: 1,240
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Post by quartzilla on Jul 30, 2021 21:45:55 GMT -5
Awesome job! 6c looks like a apple pie from that angle and the creepy deep sea fish one looks overall kinda like Tim Curry’s lips from RHPS.
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