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Post by jasoninsd on Oct 9, 2021 19:27:13 GMT -5
Montana Moss Agate...this was a bear to get a decent picture to turn out! It's 2" from tip to tip. This shape makes me SO nervous. One of the first times I tried the shape, I had the cab pointed INTO the direction the disk was turning...the point dug into the disk, shattered the cab, dinged my soft wheel, and scared the crap out of me. So now every time I work this shape, I am super vigilant...and keep the point with the direction of rotation! LOL West Texas Moss Agate courtesy of holajonathan...thank you sir!  The moss wants to undercut slightly and you can see that in the reflection of the light. I don't think it's too bad though. Love moss agates the more I get to work them.    |
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Post by mohs on Oct 9, 2021 19:43:04 GMT -5
that an excellent clear point jase
and good good advice
flat out fine grinds and shines~
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NDK
Cave Dweller 
Member since January 2009
Posts: 9,440
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Post by NDK on Oct 9, 2021 19:46:40 GMT -5
Beautiful cabs Jason. Your polish is superb!
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Post by jasoninsd on Oct 9, 2021 20:16:09 GMT -5
that an excellent clear point jase and good good advice flat out fine grinds and shines~ Thanks Ed! I figure if someone else can learn from one of my "Captain Obvious" moments, then I better share one of my stupid moves! LOL Beautiful cabs Jason. Your polish is superb! Thanks Nate! This was the piece I was going to use for the cab challenge last month...except it's an agate and not jasper! (Another "Captain Obvious" moments! LOL) I have another piece of what I think is Montana Agate - it came from a hodgepodge purchase on eBay - and I'm seriously struggling with that one. I've gone up and down the grits several times and can't get the scratches to come out...arghhhh... |
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Post by stephan on Oct 9, 2021 23:09:56 GMT -5
Wowswers! That shine is blinding. Nice work, and great job getting out of your comfort zone with the MMA.
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Post by holajonathan on Oct 9, 2021 23:24:06 GMT -5
jasoninsdThese are very good, Jason. Among your best cabs to date, don't you think? The Montana is superb, both in terms of composition and craftsmanship. It belongs in a high end designer necklace that I can't afford. I know how long it takes, and how much concentration is required, to get an even dome on Montana agates. And you nailed it. I find it to be a good material for sharp points since it is very solid and strong, provided there are no fractures. The moss agate cabs are also quite good. I like the first one the best. The line running through the middle is well placed. Take that away and it would be pretty but boring. I love how the line is connected to a little pocket of chalcedony at its point. You framed the swirly chalcedony well in the second one by putting it in a good spot. And once again, I think the line helps visually. I can see a little undercutting in the first one, but it is not distracting. When viewed at actual size, I doubt it is even noticeable. '' The good thing about the west Texas moss / plume agates is most have little if any quartz, and seem to have a high silica content. In other words, they are fairly pure chalcedony other than the moss or plumes. It makes them more solid than many moss agates, and allows for the high shine you have obtained. The fine details in the west Texas material is often a notch above a lot of other moss agates as well. Finally, you either got a new camera, came up with a better lighting setup, or took a huge leap forward in your photography skills. Perhaps all 3? In any event, your photos are now as good as your cabs. You should be proud of both!
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Oct 9, 2021 23:26:56 GMT -5
Beautiful stones, Jason!
That Montana is the bomb! Unfortunate that you had to learn that point lesson, but once you learn it you don't forget it! 
On that one that's giving you trouble, does it look ok until you get to a certain disc and then you can see the scratches? If so, skip that disc and see if that works.
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Post by holajonathan on Oct 9, 2021 23:27:17 GMT -5
Wowswers! That shine is blinding. Nice work, and great job getting out of your comfort zone with the MMA. MMA? Mixed martial arts?  |
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Post by stephan on Oct 9, 2021 23:39:12 GMT -5
Wowswers! That shine is blinding. Nice work, and great job getting out of your comfort zone with the MMA. MMA? Mixed martial arts? Nope. LOL. Montana moss agate. I’m sure jasoninsd performed some of those MMA moves on the remains of the shattered cab before returning it to nature. I wondered about my abbreviation, and left it anyways. |
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Post by holajonathan on Oct 10, 2021 0:03:27 GMT -5
I wondered about my abbreviation, and left it anyways. I understood your abbreviation, but given Jason's love of gifs, I thought it appropriate to feign ignorance. |
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Post by stephan on Oct 10, 2021 0:41:50 GMT -5
I wondered about my abbreviation, and left it anyways. I understood your abbreviation, but given Jason's love of gifs, I thought it appropriate to feign ignorance. I was just surprised that someone beat him to it. |
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Post by jasoninsd on Oct 10, 2021 0:42:52 GMT -5
Wowswers! That shine is blinding. Nice work, and great job getting out of your comfort zone with the MMA. Thank you my friend! I will say I haven't ever been "nervous" when making a cab...until this MMA. Sometimes I can "zone out" when going through some of the grits when making certain cabs...but I was staring at every move I made with this cab on the disk like I normally stare at a chocolate cupcake! LOL jasoninsd These are very good, Jason. Among your best cabs to date, don't you think? The Montana is superb, both in terms of composition and craftsmanship. It belongs in a high end designer necklace that I can't afford. I know how long it takes, and how much concentration is required, to get an even dome on Montana agates. And you nailed it. I find it to be a good material for sharp points since it is very solid and strong, provided there are no fractures. The moss agate cabs are also quite good. I like the first one the best. The line running through the middle is well placed. Take that away and it would be pretty but boring. I love how the line is connected to a little pocket of chalcedony at its point. You framed the swirly chalcedony well in the second one by putting it in a good spot. And once again, I think the line helps visually. I can see a little undercutting in the first one, but it is not distracting. When viewed at actual size, I doubt it is even noticeable. '' The good thing about the west Texas moss / plume agates is most have little if any quartz, and seem to have a high silica content. In other words, they are fairly pure chalcedony other than the moss or plumes. It makes them more solid than many moss agates, and allows for the high shine you have obtained. The fine details in the west Texas material is often a notch above a lot of other moss agates as well. Finally, you either got a new camera, came up with a better lighting setup, or took a huge leap forward in your photography skills. Perhaps all 3? In any event, your photos are now as good as your cabs. You should be proud of both! Thank you very much my friend! I will agree this Montana is definitely one of my best cabs. It's the first MMA I've done, and it won't be the last! - That's an extremely nice compliment about it belonging in a high-end necklace...hopefully I can come up with a wire-wrap that will do it justice. Also thanks for the comments on the moss agate. I really am starting to like moss agates more and more. I think it started with moss Thundereggs and just took off from there. I HAD to get a new camera...well, I had to get a new phone...which meant a new camera. It took about 20 pictures to get one to finally get in focus with the right lighting. I really do need to get more comfortable with it...I'm not going to get or learn how to use an actual camera, so I need to figure out the best way to get the most out of this thing. LOL Okay...so now I'll tell you about "shaping" that Montana. I started grinding it on the 80 grit flat lap. I was getting NOWHERE! LOL - So, I said to heck with it and took it out to the garage and did the initial shaping grind with diamond bit on the Dremel. I didn't take it all the way down to final shape. I knew I needed to leave some grinding to get rid of any deep scratches left from the diamond bit. Just as I was making the last pass with the Dremel, it popped off the dop...so I had to glue it back on and wait another two days to work on it again. I guess it all worked out pretty well. Beautiful stones, Jason!
That Montana is the bomb! Unfortunate that you had to learn that point lesson, but once you learn it you don't forget it!
On that one that's giving you trouble, does it look ok until you get to a certain disc and then you can see the scratches? If so, skip that disc and see if that works.
Thanks Robin! Yeah...It's going to be hard to get rid of that Montana. My mom has been talking about a MMA that was her mom's that she lost when she was a kid...so I think this might go to her...or maybe I'll give her the one I've been having trouble with! LOL I should take some pics of that other one. I can't tell if it's a MMA or maybe some other kind of agate that closely resembles a MMA. I inspect every cab through my magnifying headband, so I can see the scratches along the way. Every disk is leaving scratches in this thing. I can't get it past the 500. The 1200 will "smooth out" some of those scratches, but it won't remove them. I've taken it back down to the 220 several times. The scratches aren't deeper than the 220. The 350 will remove the 220 depth scratches, but leaves 350 deep scratches. Then the 500 removes the 350 scratches, but leaves 500 deep scratches. The reason I know each level is leaving their own scratches, is before I finish with a particular disk, I let the cab run in one particular direction in relation to the spin of the disk, and the scratches will appear in that direction. Meaning I ran the cab horizontal with the 350, but ran it vertically with the 500 and the scratches ended up vertically. I tried this with several different grits and the same result happened... Wowswers! That shine is blinding. Nice work, and great job getting out of your comfort zone with the MMA. MMA? Mixed martial arts? Twenty years ago I would have been VERY interested in getting into MMA...now, however, it takes WAY too long to heal! LOL Nope. LOL. Montana moss agate. I’m sure jasoninsd performed some of those MMA moves on the remains of the shattered cab before returning it to nature. I wondered about my abbreviation, and left it anyways. I guarantee I said a few choice words when that happened! LOL - I was less ticked off about the loss of the cab then I was about the ding in that disk! When that cab shattered, it startled the ever-living CRAP out of me...figuratively! LOL |
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Post by jasoninsd on Oct 10, 2021 0:43:55 GMT -5
I understood your abbreviation, but given Jason's love of gifs, I thought it appropriate to feign ignorance. I was just surprised that someone beat him to it. I was grinding some Ocean Jasper and couldn't get to it in time! LOL |
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Post by stephan on Oct 10, 2021 10:07:34 GMT -5
I was just surprised that someone beat him to it. I was grinding some Ocean Jasper and couldn't get to it in time! LOL Pictures? You know the rules... no pics, and it didn't happen. |
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Post by rockjunquie on Oct 10, 2021 10:12:17 GMT -5
I'm a sucker for those dendrites! You did a spectacular job on all of those!
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lunker
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2021
Posts: 430
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Post by lunker on Oct 10, 2021 10:13:08 GMT -5
Wow that's a high polish. Very nice job on all
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saxplayer
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since March 2018
Posts: 1,327
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Post by saxplayer on Oct 10, 2021 10:22:16 GMT -5
Great job on all of them, but the Montana is stand-out for sure. I'd find a good jeweler (some good ones here) and keep that puppy as a necklace for my wife Great great job. |
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Oct 10, 2021 10:36:47 GMT -5
You need a 325 and a 600 disc. 
Are the discs you're using resin?
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Post by rmf on Oct 10, 2021 11:49:51 GMT -5
Very nice!!!
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Post by jasoninsd on Oct 10, 2021 18:08:28 GMT -5
I was grinding some Ocean Jasper and couldn't get to it in time! LOL Pictures? You know the rules... no pics, and it didn't happen. I know right?! LOL I'll try to get some pictures up shortly on two OJ cabs. I'm a sucker for those dendrites! You did a spectacular job on all of those! Thanks Tela! I loved all the little "goodies" in that Montana! Wow that's a high polish. Very nice job on all Thanks Lunk! It's amazing what a good shellac will do! LOL (Kidding! LOL) Great job on all of them, but the Montana is stand-out for sure. I'd find a good jeweler (some good ones here) and keep that puppy as a necklace for my wife Great great job. Thank you very much! I'd save it for my wife, but she doesn't like any of my cabs that are as big as this one...or so she says! LOL You need a 325 and a 600 disc.
Are the discs you're using resin?
I'm going to post some pictures here in a minute from my phone. What I finally did was take it all the way back down to 220 again. Then I used nominal pressure on the 350 grit. But when I got the 500, I used an immense amount of pressure. I've never used that much pressure on any of the cabs I've made so far. I spent quite awhile on the 500 and the 1200 using that pressure. Same thing on the 3000. I'm pretty sure this thing isn't a Montana Agate. The material seems like it's softer than Montana Agates. There's a picture I took where you can see the fortification under the surface actually undercut...it's a cool picture. After I buffed it, I showed it to my wife and asked her if she could see any scratches (I made her put on her reading glasses). She couldn't see any. So, I know they can't be seen with the naked eye. So, I'm going to probably wrap this one and give it to my mom. I am curious if anyone might know what it is thought... Thank you sir! The Montana is definitely one of my favorites I've done so far. Here's some pictures of the pain in the tail cab...    |
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The moss wants to undercut slightly and you can see that in the reflection of the light. I don't think it's too bad though. Love moss agates the more I get to work them. 
