Justin
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since April 2022
Posts: 76
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Post by Justin on Aug 8, 2022 9:41:04 GMT -5
Ok, I so I got excited about an eBay listing for a 10lb larsonite rough and ended up winning… knowing that I only have a 7” tile saw and a 4-5 hi-tech trim saw I knew I would have to get creative or lucky. My hope was that there would be a section that was short enough to cut through using the “rolling” method… but there wasn’t.
So I started thinking about a video I watched where ancient people would quarry marble by drilling holes and driving wedges to split slabs from a boulder. Could this be done on the larsonite to break a section off that I could slab on the tile saw?
If not…. Anyone got any suggestions? Lol
I’m thinking maybe I need to rent a 10” tile saw for a day if I can’t come up with a solution on my own, or through the brain trust here on RTH
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Aug 8, 2022 17:17:05 GMT -5
Larsonite can have a habit of separating at seams. So I wouldn't try any drilling or "controlled breaking" techniques unless you don't mind turning a portion of it into tumbling rough. Over the course of time as I found myself with a nice piece of rough too large for my saws at any given time, If I couldn't find someone to slice it for me for a reasonable trade then I usually just hung onto it until I did have a saw large enough. Started out with a 6" saw 50 years ago and keep adding. Am up to 20" now but still have a few pieces too large for the 20" so am letting them sit and wait. (One of them a large piece of petrified palm has been waiting since 1980.) Good rough is too hard to come by to risk destroying and very little of it is worth damaging a saw/saw blade for, especially on larger saws.
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Aug 8, 2022 17:24:37 GMT -5
Right after posting that last post I noticed where you are from. I don't know about nowadays but back in the 1970s Johnson City, TN used to have a large club with lots of members. They also used to have a fairly good sized indoor show. So if the club is still around, and since you aren't too far away, you may be able to get in touch with someone thru the club that has a slab saw and is in the area who you can work out a deal with to slab your Larsonite.
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Post by jasoninsd on Aug 8, 2022 18:34:56 GMT -5
QuailRiver brought up a good point about Larsonite that I wouldn't have thought of! I have taken a rock that was too big for my 10"...ran it partway through with the blade...then took a hammer and chisel to the cut-line. It splits the rock pretty well. I wouldn't do this with a picture jasper where you need the piece of rough oriented "perfectly" with the scene. However, with rough that isn't pattern-dependent, I have no issue using the method I described.
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