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Post by hummingbirdstones2 on Jan 19, 2022 22:17:21 GMT -5
Just for fun - and to see if this little chip would hold together - I worked it up to 3000 grit this evening. Photo of the cab showing the big light reflection on the left side where the big crack in the rough was is the best part. It was fairly well healed, so it held together.
For you folks who got a box (or two) of this rough, maybe this will make it more interesting. It took a while to grind this chunk, but I think it was worth it.
This one is thin - the girdle is only 2mm. That makes the fact that it held together even better.
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Post by rockjunquie on Jan 19, 2022 22:33:29 GMT -5
Beautiful!
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NDK
Cave Dweller 
Member since January 2009
Posts: 9,440
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Post by NDK on Jan 20, 2022 8:40:29 GMT -5
That is really nice Vince.
Sometimes it pays to be optimistic 👍
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Post by hummingbirdstones2 on Jan 20, 2022 9:07:03 GMT -5
NDK - Yeah, and knowing the material does often have partially healed fractures made the "testing" process even more interesting.
This one had a nicer red flower pattern in the center, but lost a lot of it working out a large shallow area on the right side.
The photos do show a little of the polish at 3000 grit. Some pieces have pinhole voids, but this one was good.
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Post by jasoninsd on Jan 20, 2022 9:08:12 GMT -5
Vince that really turned out gorgeous! Nice example to show what it can be like to those who picked up this material...and those of us who didn't! LOL
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,496
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Post by Sabre52 on Jan 20, 2022 10:12:44 GMT -5
Nice recovery job! Really hard to find a nice piece of St, Johns as I was told they used explosives to mine it years ago. I dug through a big pile of rough many years ago and was only able to find a couple of really nice hunks. Tragic as it is really pretty material. Always kind of reminds me of some of the Canadian River Plume out of north Texas.
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Post by hummingbirdstones2 on Jan 20, 2022 20:26:11 GMT -5
Yep, some blasting was definitely done. That's why there are a mix of healed and unhealed fractures in some pieces.
I dug through mud in a rockpile after a rain/snow squall to find the last good little pieces at an estate sale.
There were some really large ones, but cracky. They'd been used as landscaping for many years.
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Post by Starguy on Jan 20, 2022 22:14:25 GMT -5
Holy cow Vince. That turned out great! Thanks for showing. That made my day. The red patches really make it pop.
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Post by holajonathan on Jan 23, 2022 0:01:18 GMT -5
This was a good insight for me about how solid this material can be despite fractures. I'm willing to tolerate a lot of fractures is they don't snap in half while cabbing. Thanks for sharing.
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Post by hummingbirdstones2 on Jan 23, 2022 17:13:14 GMT -5
Yeah, holajonathan, sometimes ugly visible ones heal under the surface - sometimes not.
The bookmatch piece to Robin's pendant stone has one that didn't heal up when I ground the "natural" surface down.
The older fractures in this one actually made that "x" pattern in the center.
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