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Post by paulshiroma on Sept 1, 2015 8:44:34 GMT -5
Wow Paul great job on all of those. Man that black and white one from the Rios must have rolled down clear from Marfa, Texas. Don't think I've cut into any of those myself as of yet. That vibe lap is sure a nice way to polish up some fancy specimens. Thanks for posting the Rios. I love to see what's inside of the ones I never get a chance to cut myself.....Mel This one was definitely a surprise. Shaped like a donut as well, go figure. Thanks again for the great purchase, Mel.
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Post by paulshiroma on Sept 1, 2015 8:43:14 GMT -5
Thanks for the replies, gang! Jugglerguy: These are all halved for the below reason. Jugglerguy and Orrum: I tried slabs early on but found that heavy specimens polish easier. Initially, I had too many variables running with trying to figure out how best to use the vib-lap, slurry consistency, cleaning between stages, preventing chips/nicks, that I switched from slabs to just large heavier pieces to practice on. When I first tried this out, I was weighing down the slabs with fishing weights. I still find that getting the starting consistency of the slurry at each stage to be a bit of a hit/miss thing with me and am still adjusting the recipe for each stage. The first stages (46/70 and then 80 grit) and second stages (120-220 and then 300 grit) I seem to have down. What I noticed, though, is that even a small amount of water will make a major difference in grinding. Simply put, after thoroughly cleaning the rocks between stages, I have to dry them. If they're carrying any additional water, it tends to lean-out the mix a bit too much. Then you get splatter and a pretty good mess. This is a much more messy way to polish rocks. I am still playing with the next several stages. Weather makes a difference as well since in SoCal, it's been hot and the water evaporates at a faster rate that it does during winter. There's a lot more clean up involved as you have to clean everything pretty thoroughly between stages. I ended up purchasing a second pan for the polishing stages. The other thing that's been a bit of a challenge is preventing nicks and chips. On the halves, I wrap them in those large rubber bands that you can get at office supply stores by the hundreds (original idea from Covington's manual). That works well although the bands take such a beating you find that they break and come off during the cycle and have to pluck them out of the pan periodically. I end up wrapping three or four bands around each piece. I go through a lot of rubber bands. LOL. I've got another dozen or so halves in various stages now that I'm going to finish up and then I'm going to go back to trying slabs. We'll see how that goes. Thanks!
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Post by paulshiroma on Aug 29, 2015 23:21:26 GMT -5
A little more than a year ago, I picked up a Covington Vibratory Lap from the Agateer folks. Great service and really helpful. Dialing forward after lots of experimentation, trial and error, etc, I finally have a few that were worth posting. This is a 20lb piece of petrified wood that I picked up, already cut, from that last Searchers clearance sale. Not the best piece, given the level of fracturing but for $0.25 per pound, I wasn't going to nitpick. This one I put on the lap by itself. Without flash: With flash: Rio Grande Agate (from one of Mel's sales). With flash: Without flash: Rio Grande Agate (again, from one of Mel's sales). Agate from Yermo, CA Thunder eggs from the Searchers blow out sale last year. These were pre-cut and just needed to be polished. Had some difficulty with the flash tonight. Mexican Coconut Geodes: Hope you enjoy the photos.
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Post by paulshiroma on Jul 24, 2015 8:07:29 GMT -5
catmandewe (Tony) is still going beyond on every deal! Thanks! Dave x2 on this ... got a box of Davis Creek obsidian a while back ... great stuff.
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Post by paulshiroma on Jul 24, 2015 8:06:03 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum. Utah is a beautiful state!
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Post by paulshiroma on Jul 24, 2015 8:05:18 GMT -5
No time for hobbies right now so I'll live vicariously through all of you. Great work, James. Rocks will wait, they are not going away Paul. I gave a nice hollow coral specimen to the family mechanic yesterday. His sons love rocks. Been doing it for years, and he treats us well on his services. Watching those boys enthusiasm better than money. Isn't it great watching a youngster light up like that? Seeing kids get into the hobby or any hobby they're passionate about, is always fun. I took Nathaniel, my younger, down to San Diego a a few weeks ago to visit some of the museums down there. We spent an afternoon looking through the Maritime Museum - they have an excellent set of models there. While we were browsing through the exhibits, we ran across one of the museum staff: A 10 year old carefully building the next exhibit - a US Navy Destroyer. He was being incredibly careful and it was fun to watch him. Anyway, this is a great thread. Keep up posted!
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Post by paulshiroma on Jul 24, 2015 0:11:11 GMT -5
No time for hobbies right now so I'll live vicariously through all of you. Great work, James.
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Post by paulshiroma on Jul 23, 2015 8:05:42 GMT -5
awesome! Looks like you had a great time ... beautiful scenery!
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Post by paulshiroma on Jul 14, 2015 8:24:40 GMT -5
Very, very cool!
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Post by paulshiroma on Jul 14, 2015 8:23:32 GMT -5
You know, I seem to recall that it was around $40-$50 per head??? But I can't find my paperwork and it looks like the owner has closed the site for summer. It's too hot right now anyway but I did notice that the pricing was removed. Sorry! You can probably email them and see if/when they'll be reopening and what the costs will be.
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Post by paulshiroma on Jul 13, 2015 8:22:59 GMT -5
Good to meet you!
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Post by paulshiroma on Jul 7, 2015 8:33:49 GMT -5
x2 on the light box presentation.
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Post by paulshiroma on Jul 7, 2015 8:32:58 GMT -5
Great thread, guys! These are awesome!
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Post by paulshiroma on Jul 7, 2015 8:31:50 GMT -5
Great idea. Hopefully that will sell well at the show!
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Post by paulshiroma on Jul 7, 2015 8:30:50 GMT -5
Whatever they are, they make great looking display pieces. Nice score.
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Post by paulshiroma on Jul 4, 2015 0:29:18 GMT -5
Hey, welcome aboard! Glad to have another international member!
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Post by paulshiroma on Jul 4, 2015 0:28:40 GMT -5
Nice to meet you!
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Post by paulshiroma on Jul 4, 2015 0:28:19 GMT -5
Howdy Castaway! Good to meet you!
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Post by paulshiroma on Jul 4, 2015 0:27:41 GMT -5
Good to meet you and welcome aboard!
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Post by paulshiroma on Jul 4, 2015 0:26:53 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum and great to meet you!
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