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Post by Peruano on Jul 16, 2023 11:01:02 GMT -5
Interesting stuff. My quick consulation of Jay Ellis Ransom's Gems and Minerals of America (section on Union Co. New Mexico which coincides with your mention of Guy, NM) discloses a listing of rose agate on a hill near the 3 state monument having surface exposures of agate. Probably the same stuff. I'm struck with the similarity of colors but perhaps simpler patterns of agates collected further south and west Near Abiquiu, NM. I know there is lots of confusion in the literature as to what is agate and what is the Pedernal chert material from that area, so its a bit messy especially as you go into the reds with black boundaries that show up as rarer than the pinks characterisitic of the chert formations. Any way, nice material. I always enjoy the things you draw out of your historical collections.
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Post by Peruano on Jul 12, 2023 16:44:22 GMT -5
Adding grit as a thickening agent is probably dubious. When I've used too much grit or added it to fast before I had a soap covering on the rocks, I've had it cake/clump in the bottom of the bowl where its largely ineffective. If you really sense that you have too much water you can pour it off, but you are likely to loose grit and have to just guess about how much grit to re-add. But the quantity of grit is no a fixed number either. I'm experienced with vibe 5 sized machine where a couple of tablespoons of borax made a difference; ditto for soap. You have a bigger machine, but add slowly and see where you need to go. Again, I always run my machine without lid for the first hour or two while I'm insuring that everything is shaking correctly.
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Post by Peruano on Jul 12, 2023 13:47:15 GMT -5
All true. When you don't have enough water, the rocks don't move, or they bang like popcorn in the pan. When you have too much they create the flying drops like you are describing. Its very easy to get too much water, and jason's cures are probably the obvious ones. I dont like to use Borax because its toxic to plants and tends to make things a bit more slimy than I like. I guess I'm hung up on my Dawn Liquid as a carrying agent. I sometimes regulate the speed of movement by adding or subtracting weight (i.e. stones) but thats assuming I've got the right water/git blend but still not the perfect action.
The salt shaker trick is a new one for me. I just touch/tap the spoon with the grit to the side of the vibratory barrel and the grit comes dancing out as fast or as slow as I want as I move around the vibrating rim.
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Post by Peruano on Jul 12, 2023 6:38:29 GMT -5
In my vibe 5, if water splashes out of the machine when the top is off, its too much water. Do you have two fasteners (rubber threaded grommets)? One goes on top of the bowl to secure it on the machine, and the other goes on top of the clear top. When you have the one on top of the bowl, you can run the machine without a top, especially while you are adjusting soap, water, and grit proportions. I always run a load with a good dab of dawn liquid with the machine running a minute or so before adding the grit or adjusting the water. The soap helps to allow the grit to cling to the stones, and become evenly dispersed and hence disperse water as well. I use the rule that if I can see water in the bottom of the bowl or its obviously thrown out of the bowl, I probably have too much water. I add grit slowly because dumping it in in one sudden action can cause it to lump to the bottom and take longer to get in motion. Does this help your thinking of what is going on in your shop? If not, tell us more!
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Post by Peruano on Jul 8, 2023 15:57:01 GMT -5
You are having fun and productive at the same time. You are producing nice looking stones. Keep enough variety to preserve your enthusiasm.
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Post by Peruano on Jul 8, 2023 9:50:15 GMT -5
Jason Finding a rock lover is almost as good as finding a new rock site. I work/volunteer in a thrift store and occasionally carry a rock in my pocket to share with someone who happens to show an interest in our conversations about rocks. Since I make money clips from my tumbled rocks, I always have a few that are up for sharing with the right person. As John Prine would say "Hello in there".
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Post by Peruano on Jul 4, 2023 6:08:01 GMT -5
Thanks for carrying the message to a new community of folks. You have good rock resources in Colorado. Don't be afraid to share your photos with us. The endless variety of beauty in stones is what keeps us all interested.
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Post by Peruano on Jul 2, 2023 19:01:16 GMT -5
I think I use oil dri. At wallyworld or your automotive store. It's a sack no bigger than you average big bag of dog food. $10 will last you forever.
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Post by Peruano on Jul 2, 2023 15:31:08 GMT -5
Without trying to hijack this thread from its original direction, this white "rind"/"crust" is quite common on agates and not just petrified wood here in New Mexico. In fact once you are tuned in to its unique white tone, its a great search image when hounding. Few other rocks will have such a white coating. Its not crusty like calcium deposits would be and its quite distinct from the coatings that occur on flints etc. I've always referred to it a crust or oxidized layer, but since we are talking about Silicon dioxide as the primary mineral that would not make much sense. Sometimes I leave traces of the white on the edges of cabs to give them more depth and character. I also realize that some of the features of pet wood end up with white coloration that is distinct from the surface crust I mention above. Some wood is entirely white or beige and some has major streaks internally as well as on the surface. Life is wonderful and thats why we always have to examine that rock !!!
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Post by Peruano on Jul 2, 2023 14:42:45 GMT -5
Congratulations on the saw. Mineral oil likes to creep through threads. Yes work on stopping the leak but in the meantime, place a small try, cookie pan, or whatever with a bit of oil dri in it, under the leak. The oil dri contains the oil, reducing splatters, spills, or tip overs. I have trays under various sites on all four of my saws. Yes I can stop the leaks by super tightening the caps but thats a pain to remove them for cleaning. A couple of leaks are around the arbor entry into the tank. Not big but messy if not contained. A bag of oil dri will last forever and its good for soaking the oil off of slabs when the first leave the saw. Actually, I drain briefly on my trim saw table, then bury them in oil dri overnight or wave them for a minute of vigorous rubbing in the oil dri, and then run them through a water soak with dawn liquid soap.
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Post by Peruano on Jul 2, 2023 14:31:53 GMT -5
Unless you can see an obvious shoulder that will prevent the shaft from moving in the correct direction, I'd suspect you can move it as needed with a press or hammer blows (cushioned with a block of wood). I had to adjust an arbor for an HP trim saw for the same reason.
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Post by Peruano on Jul 2, 2023 14:27:46 GMT -5
Until you do something with it, it is a specimen. If you put in outside its a yard rock, and inside it will be source of contention with your spouse. It looks like it has one or more significant or incipient cracks which properly massaged with a chisel nudged with good hammer blow, might produce two or more rocks of a smaller size. Whether you slab it or face it depends on what you rank the mixture of colors or patterns in the stone. I see mostly browns and black tones. If you get it small enough to sort of place on your saws table, you might be able to cut off one of the points just to get an idea of what a bigger slab might look like. You really never know what you are going to find in wood, but the more contrast and color present, the better in my eyes.
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Post by Peruano on Jul 2, 2023 12:05:26 GMT -5
Everyone has their own biases and tolerances for neatness in their work areas. Admittedly, I cut rocks in my workshop, but its hardly a grease pit -- even though I have three slab saws which use oil, and an 8" trim saw that lacks a cover that also uses oil. By using a deflector in front of the saw table and carefully not iver-filling the tank (not too high) I reduce a lot of the oil mist on the trim saw. Yes when the oil hits a certain curvature of a stone, it may be deflected away from the saw and warrant a clean up, but oil -dri is your friend unless you are cutting in the Living room or on shag carpeting. I buy old carpets for the shop floor that greatly reduce the chances of tracking oil to other areas and use oil dri under any drips or on any oil spots. I commend you for thinking through your decisions on the saw, but nothing will replace a bit of experience and experimentation. The one time I used water with some magic additive, I felt I had as big a mess to clean up as if I had used oil. The additive dried to a white powder that looked like I had painted with baking soda solution.I'll admit I live in New Mexico where our ambient dust probably acts somewhat as an oil suppressant, but I'm convinced that many over react to fear of oil being a mess (which in my eyes its not). If this saw was used for years with oil at your club, where is the mess and how did they handle it?
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Post by Peruano on Jul 2, 2023 10:30:41 GMT -5
Depending on its size you could polish it in a vibe with lots of smalls. In my shop I would Ron it with small scraps of pet wood and a couple of handfuls of small garnets or decomposed granite. I like the natural rough surface when polished. Just don't run so many smalls that they all clump in the bottom. And use some soap to make the smalls carry the grit. Here is a pet wood piece with lots of white that I polished in a vibe. This may be more extreme than your specimen and you might say it looks like a guano rock, but I like it because of the contrast. Just the most readily available example I could find. 2023-07-02_11-09-04 by Thomas Fritts, on Flickr
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Post by Peruano on Jul 2, 2023 6:23:08 GMT -5
I could be wrong but that looks like the white is pet wood too! Those are particularly colorful and varied in coloration and while you may not want the white on the exterior ridges, that's the way this wood came through the fossilization. You can grind it off, but I think you would change the final product.
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Post by Peruano on Jul 1, 2023 6:56:54 GMT -5
Gosh, I'm surprised a rock as "ugly"/ gnarly as the rough you showed, came out as pretty as the tumbles in your last post. It must be brittle looking at all of the chips and cracks that show in your tumbled stones. Its quite attractive colors and destined for a good shine. Based on where you are finding it, its white coating, and brittleness, I'd suspect its in the chert realm as well, it was just born with charm and variety. It will be interesting when you slice a few to see how the layers/color bands are positioned.Now back to the Tour.
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Post by Peruano on Jun 30, 2023 16:47:35 GMT -5
Have you tried Rick Scott at Scott Raytech saws? He doesn't make the 18" but he has the manual on his site, maybe he has a schematic. These are the best 18" saws ever made in my opinion. The blade turns clockwise unlike all other saws, make sure it does after your wiring job or the vise/carriage will not work properly. Its a matter of the motor turning clockwise or counterclockwise. It should be easy to visualize the pulley movements before you select or install the motor.The raytech is a unique saw and certainly has several great attributes relative to any other saw I know of.
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Post by Peruano on Jun 30, 2023 16:42:09 GMT -5
I have a 7" hotdog blade (got it on close out for like $15) and it cuts great, but not any better or worse than cheaper blades. Only thing I will say is that it seems to be lasting longer than my usual blade of choice (the Home Depot workforce blade) In my experience it will last a lot longer than most blades.
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Post by Peruano on Jun 30, 2023 16:40:35 GMT -5
Although its tempting to assume that all white colorations on pet wood and agates in general are calcium salts, its my experience that they are not and hence not altered by acid soaks. Many agatized specimens just have an oxidized film on their exterior and the way to remove it involves diamond wheels and not chemical treatments. Its hard to imagine what you are dealing with without pictures. Please post some examples to stimulate and guide our thinking.
Too often we assume that acids will dissolve salts, and indeed strong acids will alter some of those salts and convert them to other compounds that are also not dissolved in the solution in which the stones were soaked. In essence you are replacing one contaminant with another. My inorganic chemistry was a long time ago so I can't get more specific and "may" be totally in left field.
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Post by Peruano on Jun 22, 2023 5:19:03 GMT -5
Think December and an unheated workshop! In the winter months, I bring in the glued rocks I'm working on just like the geraniums. I could cut the last slab or remnant with the rock saw but my saw time is faster if I do it by hand and free the saw for the next slab candidate. I'm retired and use lots of inefficient acts as a way of generating exercise.
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