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Post by Peruano on Jan 5, 2021 12:59:48 GMT -5
Plenty pretty. I like the mini sonic because it seems less sensitive to differences in load and roughness of the tumble material compared to my vibratories. I too like preserve some of the rough (natural edges) while trying for a good shine on smooth surfaces. Nice material.
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Post by Peruano on Jan 3, 2021 18:45:40 GMT -5
Sugar agate is another misnomer for quartzite. I.E. it has a granular texture, not the true microcrystaline, cryptocrystaline structure of agates and their relatives. www.quartzpage.de/gen_rock.html#quartzite
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Post by Peruano on Jan 3, 2021 16:31:17 GMT -5
I am exploring Aspen Pet Mineral Oil advertised at $14.99 from Tractor Supply. You pick up at store and they promise to ship it to that store within 2 days. I realize you are talking cheaper but not much and I have a TS nearby. As we have noted previously, mineral oils for laxatives vary in viscosity but not significantly enough to affect my use in my saws. Walmart human laxative mineral oil tends to be a bit heavier than the horse laxative I've purchased from feed stores and Tractor Supply. The result is that heavier oils tend to keep rock dust suspended rather than precipitating them out. The result is rock pudding rather than rock putty. I actually like pudding because it involves less scraping and more emphasis on just pushing it toward the saw drain and into the filter bag.
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Post by Peruano on Jan 2, 2021 6:48:49 GMT -5
firehunter You still have to drive to the local club once in awhile to find like=minded folks to show your rocks, talk shop, and trade materials. It is a social activity, but can involve as much alone time as you want. Nice setup so enjoy it.
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Post by Peruano on Jan 1, 2021 17:14:53 GMT -5
I have always assumed that things under $20 in value went duty free as gifts. Mineral specimens sound like a good descriptor.
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Post by Peruano on Jan 1, 2021 17:09:15 GMT -5
So with that impressive collection, you must belong to one or more of the many knife forums. I recently started to explore that community because I have a few vintage and quality knives, but was somewhat frustrated trying to decide which were just shells for selling and which bordered on the fringe of the survival/firearm gang. Do you have a forum for pocket or working knives that you find to be active and credible? I mostly interested in how to maintain, evaluate, and collect knives that come my way semi-opportunistically.
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Post by Peruano on Jan 1, 2021 17:01:35 GMT -5
Along with my holiday greetings I included 1 or 2 pendants or cabs with magnets to a variety of our friends both in the US and abroad. Such stones went to the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, and Oz. A few days after the padded envelopes were mailed we received a Skype call from our South African friend who lives in the south of England. She was asking if we had send a very expensive gift. She had received notice from the postal folks that she had a package that was valued at 1,000 pounds which would have a duty of approximately that same amount. She had checked with her daughters in Canada, and New Zealand and ultimately concluded the package had to be from us. We confessed to having sent the package but that we had marked it as having two stones each valued at $5.00, yes for a total of $10.00 US. Apparently the UK folks missed the decimal point and interpreted the value in pounds and with all zeros counting as units. We supplied her with photos of the stones, and she went forth to the Postal Office to wage a counter argument. They did not have the authority to adjust the duty due, but agreed to send the package back to the central customs unit so that they could consider whether an error was made or not. I advised her not to pay 1000 pounds (the equivalent of $1200 USDS) for the stones and that I would make it up by getting stones to her some other way. There's still a chance she will get the stones duty free, but its likely going to take 6 weeks for the process to be finalized. Go figure, maybe my work is worth more than I thought (or admitted to).
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Post by Peruano on Dec 31, 2020 10:37:58 GMT -5
Not trying to hijack the thread but I'm hoping to hear from Mel on the status of the crunge that was problematic in her initial cleaning. Has the filling it with oil and time helped to soften and self-clean the beast? Oil works wonders on a lot of things, it just does not like to come out of my shirts when I forget to wear the apron.
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Post by Peruano on Dec 30, 2020 8:03:03 GMT -5
You have adapted to the new digs wonderfully.
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Post by Peruano on Dec 28, 2020 12:44:53 GMT -5
Or not!
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Post by Peruano on Dec 26, 2020 7:17:58 GMT -5
Its always dangerous to id rocks on the basis of photos, but like picking horse race winners people try all the time. If I had to place a name on your material I'd call it rhyolite. Perhaps even of marine origin. Did it come from a beach? Nice looking batch.
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Post by Peruano on Dec 21, 2020 12:15:49 GMT -5
The speed and ease of monitoring progress are real advantages to the vibratory tumblers. Most of my initial material was beach cobble and hence was already rounded and in no need of a rotary. By selecting your stones carefully, and or doing a bit of preshaping you can process material "rapidito". Enjoy the vibes.
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Post by Peruano on Dec 19, 2020 17:47:13 GMT -5
I usually recoup about 1/3 of the oil I'm filtering in the first 24 to 36 hours, then things slow down and its a daily dribble of 1 cup or so, but I'm not filtering more than 3 gallons at a time. But it feels so good to recover the clean oil from such contaminated sludge/oil. I've always been one to dive in and not worry about getting oily in the process but of late, I've started thinking about stuff that could be in that sediment and am trying to wear gloves to reduce contact in the cleaning process. Clean saws are like clean cars, they run faster and smoother - or at least that's the way it feels.
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Post by Peruano on Dec 17, 2020 8:53:40 GMT -5
Texas is a largely private property state, so the river bank access is your friend. Read JamesP's comments about the adventures around Lake Amistad further up river. It seems like even Falcon has been mentioned. In some areas the shore line is your most logical spot.
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Post by Peruano on Dec 10, 2020 14:19:26 GMT -5
Taylor says its humble. If its not humble, you are in the game for the wrong reason. Mel says its messy. If it isn't messy, you are not using it. AzRockGeek is moving material outside. If you don't have stuff outside, you are not really in the swing of the game. Stephan is working outside. I guess we know he lives in the SW and many are envious of that capability. Drummond Island is big league organized. And we know that a desire to be organized is important to the process. StarDiamond has a tolerance for clutter on the floor as a way of confining dust and oil. And we do know he generates dust. The South Dakota/Nebraska guys show an efficiency in the shop indicating an emphasis of going out to get those rocks and concentrating on a few "good" ones instead of production. Rockoonz, HankRocks, Mohs, and Tommy are not ready to show us their stuff because they are too busy working life's other activities at the same time maintaining an active lapidary. Diversity is the name of the game. Its therapy for some of us, but good medicine for us all.
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Post by Peruano on Dec 10, 2020 7:40:26 GMT -5
Does it seem to have a crest (ridge) down the middle or approximating some trajectory other than random? I would not have too much trouble guessing that it might be a dermal scute (*skin plate) from some sort of reptile. I have seen scutes from the skin of alligators and crocodilians that amazingly like that. Many dinosaurs had dermal armor which might have resembled something like this pattern. I'm not saying it is but its a possibility. As to the tongue sticking to it, that indicates porosity. A good way to tell treated stones, not porous, from untreated porous stones which would stick to the tongue as the water from the tongue was pulled into the stone (i.e turquoise). Hence like rockpickerforever said lots of sedimentary rocks with the correct texture would fall to the test. At least that's the way I understand it. Edit: a picture is worth a thousand words. Here is a modern alligator scute.
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Post by Peruano on Dec 7, 2020 10:14:22 GMT -5
The Yellow Cat Mine area is a productive one. I once sneaked into that area in a 2x van with limited clearance and only spent a couple of hours. I was picking up surface stones so didn't need a hammer. Found some purple-in-color seam agate and a lot of red material but not sure I was adequately read on what to look for and where to concentrate my efforts. Enjoy the trip. You shouldn't have trouble social distancing in there.
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Post by Peruano on Dec 6, 2020 16:53:31 GMT -5
It probably depends on whether they are 2 dimensional disks or 3 dimensional cylindrical structures. I'd guess they have some 3 dimensional depth and will not go away unless you remove a lot of surface material. One way to check would be to quickly buff them on a diamond wheel, or even a piece of wet sandpaper. Once you remove a little of the surface you will know something about their depth and hardness.
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Post by Peruano on Dec 5, 2020 8:01:16 GMT -5
Great stuff, think about the compromise of facing some of those finds. 80% of the rock is natural and the most beautiful pattern is shown to its maximum. Nice work man. You rock.
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Post by Peruano on Dec 5, 2020 7:54:49 GMT -5
Wow, that is a creative approach to tiger eye. I know how tough it is to be standing with a big piece of rough of that stuff, and trying to decide on what plane to slab it for the maximal buzz. Surprisingly your faceted specimen has many good flash planes, and some remarkably duller ones. Thanks for stretching our minds.
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