Wednesday Cab-o-Thon

I think jasoninsd is taking the squirrel approach in case there's a hard winter and he's snowed in.  Just hope he doesn't forget where he put half of them.

Thanks, Rob.  I am pretty sure I sent you a slab from the polka dotted Montana a few months back.  Look familiar?  My cab is thinner than the slab I sent you, but it's the same rock.  

I think the Montana agate charm is that, other than the good inclusions (plumes, dots, moss, etc), it is something approaching pure chalcedony.  That is why it polished so well, but also why it stand out in its simplicity.  With the crazy lace, for example, there is a fine line between an amazing pattern, and too much going on (hence, crazy lace).  With the Montana agates, there is often just the right amount going on.  

I cab mostly with my bare fingers.  By the time I get to the 3000 wheel, it is hard to hold on to the Montana agates.  They feel slippery and oily they are so well polished.  They start to shine pretty well after the 600 wheel.  I polish the back of the translucent ones, making them even harder to grip.  

I know you sent me some Montana. Now I'm more excited to play with it. I'm almost hoping for winter so I'm pushed into the basement to do something with all my rocks.

Why no dop sticks? I wouldn't want to try to hang onto cabs with my bare hands. I have a friend who cabs that way too. I like my dop sticks.

Cabbing comes a lot easier when you're experienced at tumbling.  Much of the knowledge you've accumulated about shaping and polishing rocks applies directly to cabbing.  If you do some grinding on your tumbles -- which I believe that you do -- you're already half way to cabbing.  Take the plunge.  

Your clear coat spray polish doesn't work as well on cabs, however.  

I recalled you saying that you did some grinding on tumbles.  Me too.   I not only grind to remove defects, but also to shape some rocks so they look better -- a process very similar to cabbing.

I bought a Genie last year and for 6 months used it only to grind tumbles.   Wore out the 80 grit wheel before I made my first cab.  

I'll stop with the clear coat talk before new members start thinking I'm serious.  I should go back to the dead camel thread and post what I meant to say: saxplayer is really good at this (tumbling and photography), and just because his dead camel jasper tumbles look great, doesn't mean yours will.  Proceed with caution.   

That's not to say the less experienced shouldn't try, but there's a fine line between healthy ambition and setting yourself up for frustration.  I am not referring to anyone in particular, just a general observation.  When I was fairly new to tumbling I wasted a ton of time trying to tumble obsidian.  I could never get it polished.  It was very frustrating.  Now, I can pretty consistently put a fine polish on obsidian.  If I had to do over, I would have held off on the obsidian until I had about 6 months of Lot-O experience under my belt.  I'm not sure if this advice applies to dead camel jasper, but I've got a box of the stuff, and it looks like a tumbling challenge.