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Post by jakesrocks on Sept 28, 2015 16:46:16 GMT -5
LOL. Mel, the guy I went out hounding with was already in his 60's, and I wasn't even a teen yet. He'd been hounding the deserts since the 40's at least. He & his old Dodge power wagon took me to places out there that I've never seen in any of the rockhound books. There were some interesting characters living near me when I was growing up. Guy next door had worked the borax mines in Death Valley. Even gave me a mule skinners whip that he had hanging in his garage. Old man across the street had worked on a project in Baja California. When he found out my Boy Scout troop was going down there for a 2 week camp out, He told us exactly where to look for a hot spring, and to be careful of the sting rays in the surf, and the rattlers. Most of the neighborhood was made up of old timers with knowledge of mining and such.
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Post by jakesrocks on Sept 28, 2015 10:35:00 GMT -5
Study the 5th pic down. The dark matrix and an area of the bottom left appear to show coral structure. Also the left side of the hole at top of pic.
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Post by jakesrocks on Sept 28, 2015 10:21:12 GMT -5
By the way, that California cycad is a mind blower. Freaking awesome! I never even knew we had cycad age wood deposits in California. Thought all the wood was much more recent. Just to satisfy my curiosity, what area of the desert did that come from?....Mel Mel, I don't remember the exact location. I was just a kid, and my rockin mentor took me out to the location in his WWII surplus Dodge power wagon. I remember that it was a very rough ride in to the area. About all I can tell you is that it was in the high desert, I believe near the Nevada border. Last I heard, the whole area is now a protected area. Indian artifacts and rock drawings were also found in the same area.
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Post by jakesrocks on Sept 27, 2015 19:49:15 GMT -5
Digging on that display case. (And the contents). I'd like to have a couple like it, but the nearest Ikea is a 4 hour drive away. I'm afraid the glass wouldn't survive the long trip home. Especially after I leave paved roads for our local gravel washboards.
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Post by jakesrocks on Sept 27, 2015 19:02:56 GMT -5
LOL. The sounds coming from my dog Jake after we've had my home made chili.
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Post by jakesrocks on Sept 27, 2015 18:50:45 GMT -5
Does your barrel have a shaft welded to the center of each end ? This is most of an old 1950's Victor 3 chamber tumbler. Ignore the plumbers tape. I strapped it down while moving. On this machine each shaft goes through a stand with bronze bushings. A large pulley on one end, and a smaller pulley on a very old GE 1/4 HP motor. I'm going to restore this one & just display it along with some other vintage lapidary equipment.
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Post by jakesrocks on Sept 27, 2015 10:25:25 GMT -5
Dang Mike, bout time ya got ya a cabber. Now the fun really begins.
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Post by jakesrocks on Sept 26, 2015 12:04:10 GMT -5
You ain't gettin my Cycad. A few years ago I was offered $400.00 for it on the pics alone. I turned the guy down. Other Cycads & pet wood have come from the area where mine was found, but mine is the only known opalized piece from there. Me, an 11 year old at the time showing up the old timers by finding something super rare. How about a fossil tree knot instead ? Or fossil connifer bark.
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Post by jakesrocks on Sept 26, 2015 9:22:21 GMT -5
Updates will be appreciated. I'm looking forward to Hans's latest book. Please find out if signed copies will be available.
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Post by jakesrocks on Sept 25, 2015 22:15:45 GMT -5
LOL. My largest piece of S.D. coral is from Indian Creek. Maybe I'll haul it out and do a light grind on it. Mine is close to a ball shape, so I've been saving it to turn a sphere out of it.
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Post by jakesrocks on Sept 25, 2015 21:39:02 GMT -5
South Dakota does indeed have fossil coral. I have several pieces, but none as nice as the one you found. With the right conditions while forming, you would have had one of the very rare corals with Fairburn fortifications. Unfortunately conditions weren't right, and you have the prairie agate type of fortifications. Never mind that. It's still a beauty and will make a very nice display piece.
You might want to soak it in Oxalic acid or CLR for a couple days to clean it a bit more. Then soak it in hot baby oil to make the colors really pop.
Millions of years ago much of South Dakota was a shallow sea bed. Many marine fossils are found here.
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Post by jakesrocks on Sept 25, 2015 19:19:42 GMT -5
Love it Pat. I don't know how big your pieces are, if you're going to be getting a lot of heat that might get down to the bearings on the lazy susan you might consider coating them with a high temp anti sieze to prevent them from rusting. I use the soft fire bricks and carve out recesses to stand up bezels and ring shanks when soldering, being able to easily turn a piece to get a better angle for the torch seems like a great advantage to me, or when heating large non-jewelry pieces for annealing as well. What I really need is the perfect reading/safety glasses so I can see for sure when the solder is melted. You can get prescription welding lenses which are clear & made to fit under the dark welding lens. I'm sure they make them for gas welding goggles as well. Just use the clear protective lens over them. In the later years of my welding & sheet metal career, I had to use fairly powerful magnifying lenses.
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Post by jakesrocks on Sept 25, 2015 16:08:45 GMT -5
Don't feel bad woodman. I've deleted several hundred pics on here & another forum by doing the same thing. During the long cold winter months my main project will be restoring pics to threads.
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Post by jakesrocks on Sept 24, 2015 21:12:15 GMT -5
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Post by jakesrocks on Sept 21, 2015 19:57:49 GMT -5
Fruits are a subset of vegetables. Vegetables are vegetation we eat. These are then sub divided into root crops, leafy veggies, fruits, nuts....... That veggie residing in the White house is both a fruit and a nut. How would you classify something like that ?
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Post by jakesrocks on Sept 21, 2015 10:34:32 GMT -5
Bout got my saw ready to go. Hope some of the Woodward's I got from Mel turn out like that beauty.
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Post by jakesrocks on Sept 21, 2015 10:32:24 GMT -5
Of course vegetables really exist. There's one existing in the White House right now.
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Post by jakesrocks on Sept 20, 2015 22:33:24 GMT -5
Sal, I'm not familiar with Rocks tumblers, but I can tell you that they built equipment that was made to last. I have several other pieces of their equipment, and they're almost as good as new. With a little TLC, you'll have a tumbler that will probably outlast you. For belts, try a shop that repairs vacuum cleaners and sewing machines. For new bearings, look on ebay for oilite bronze bushings. You'll need to take careful measurements of the existing bearings to find replacements. If the tumbler barrels are in bad shape, meaasure them and check for barrels by one of the present tumbler makers. Post measurements on here and people will measure their barrels to find something that will work. As soon as you can post pics, do so. Chances are that when Rocks went out of business, another company started building a near replica of their machines. Good luck.
Oh, and welcome aboard.
Don
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Post by jakesrocks on Sept 20, 2015 12:50:25 GMT -5
Trump ? Most presidential ? Give me a break. The last thing we need is a big mouth with a squirrel nesting on his head trying to do business with other world leaders.
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Post by jakesrocks on Sept 19, 2015 21:37:10 GMT -5
LOL Phil. I've got a stack of them too. They're great for dressing saw blades.
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