Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 25, 2017 18:02:44 GMT -5
OK, I'm far from the greatest cabber but I have gotten 220 wheels that are pretty coarse until they are well broken in and Ive gotten ones that are much more uniform. I actually do most my dome cutting on he 220 so always make sure it's well broken in before I do a lot of doming as I too have a heck of a time getting out those scratches on that first soft wheel. I also try to use a very light touch and always keep the cab moving on that 220 wheel. And here we have the exact reason I hate cabbing *L*. The entire process is just too dang slow and life is way too short....Mel
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 25, 2017 13:43:42 GMT -5
Yeah, what Scott said. This is a large area and there are miles and miles of roads and a good number of folks hunting them. From my experience, many of these hunters are very thorough and if you hit a road they've recently hunted, there will not be much good material to find ( lots of tumbling sized stuff sometimes though). Hard rain freshens the eroded surfaces and it can make the hunt a whole new ball game so it's a matter of finding the good roads and good roads that are unhunted. Very hot or cold type hunting but over several trips, we've never been skunked. However, on some of those hunts, we logged a lot of miles to find a good spot too. For that reason, I don't hunt in winter as the days are too short and the drive is four hours from my house. Texas is a big state and places are further away than they look *L*. On a day hunt, I might spend 3/4 the day light searching for a good spot and then clean up on one small stretch of road in an hour...Mel
PS: If you take your wife, be prepared to find some time to haul them big ole hunks of non gemmy but interesting looking wood for the flower garden *L*. A lot of fun decorative rocks to pick up in the area too. And just don't even look across the fences. It's just too frustrating to see huge hunks of neat wood sitting in a guys field. Trespass in Texas is a dangerous proposition. Do not be tempted to cross fences without the required "written permission" or being dang sure the guy allowing trespass is indeed the owner. Texas does not require signs either. Purple painted posts are allowed also.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 25, 2017 10:26:05 GMT -5
Last time I went to Q, the traffic was so bad I couldn't even get to a burger stand. Just hit Desert Gardens and turned around and drove home. So many big bully motor homes and most all refused to take turns or even stop at the stop signs. Impossible to get around to all the shows.....Mel
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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I.D. ?
Dec 24, 2017 21:11:42 GMT -5
Post by Sabre52 on Dec 24, 2017 21:11:42 GMT -5
Yeah, I was thinking it bears some resemblance to badly weathered llanoite too. Usually it looses the red colors with weathering and becomes more tan and crumbly and less usable than the unweathered material which is very solid.....Mel
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 23, 2017 16:33:26 GMT -5
Well, dang fernwood, It's a thumbnail on my computer. The when I click on it it looks OK. Didn't use my fancy camera though.
rmf. I have not found any yet but there are mosasaur fossils round here, mostly vertebra and teeth. Buddy of mine had a drawer full but no luck for me yet. Mostly just the typical shallow water lower cretaceus stuff for me. Giant moon snails, huge number of oysters and clams, lots of small sea urchins and a good array of gastropods. Find the occasional ammonite but the Fredericksburg formation where they occur has soft fossils and they do not last long after exposure. Little pet wood and lots of blah stromatolite? stuff. I take the kids out for hunts and they have fun but it's not nearly as nice as other parts of Texas where they really have spectacular stuff. There should be fish fossils and shark teeth too but I've also not found any of those yet. matrix here is limestone unless the fossils are in chert. Acid would just leave a pile of free quartz shells...Mel
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 23, 2017 11:25:18 GMT -5
Harley ( agatemaggot) is an excellent knapper and makes great tools too....Mel
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 23, 2017 11:21:08 GMT -5
*LOL* Desert Gardens was always my favorite part of the show too, though the Pow Wow can be good also. Tickled me to read your comment on the late sleepers. Being an early riser, that always pissed me off and a lot of them were grumpy as Hell in the AM too. Man, had to wait hours before some of those jokers opened up. Heck some slept all day. I think there is more than a little drinking going on in the evenings, going by how some of them guys smelled in the AM. Maybe being hung over accounts for some of their grumpy attitudes too.....Mel
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 23, 2017 11:12:41 GMT -5
Since these counties in Texas have hunting and ranching as the main enterprise, we have lots of good butchers and fantastic meat. Had me a one pound cowboy ribeye for a treat last week that was the best steak I've ever eaten in my life and that's from a guy who is a real carnivore. Our favorite butcher cuts a pork roast that is flat out of this world. The wife loves Axis meat too, but me being raised by a taxidermist and hunter, wild game is not my favorite, though axis deer do eat real well as they graze grass like cattle......Mel
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 23, 2017 10:46:37 GMT -5
Howdy folks, Tried to post this on the other thread but no way to make an attachment of a pic I can see, so I'll just do a new post. These are not fancy but I like them because they come right out of the creek bed by my house. Eons of erosion etches them from the Texas Turritella ( actually Cerithium sp. ) deposits in the lower Cretaceous Edwards Limestone. Shells are completely replaced by quartz so are erosion resistant and exposed when the acid rain dissolves away the limestone matrix. Inside all are filled with tiny quartz crystals. Gastropods run from minute to about three inches long.....Mel
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 22, 2017 23:57:33 GMT -5
Can't ID it but it is very cool!.....Mel
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 22, 2017 23:56:11 GMT -5
Just guesses but it may be a piece from the top of a botryoidal section of Creede Colorado Sowbelly Agate or it might be a hunk of Amethyst Lace out of Mexico.....Mel
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 22, 2017 22:16:16 GMT -5
Tethered snap rat trap. Chew up some Quaker instant oats in your cheek. Put a patty on the trap with just a dab of peanut butter (optional). Sets up almost like a cookie so it takes some work to eat it. Catches all kinds of rats and mice....Mel
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 22, 2017 16:54:16 GMT -5
Unk. That's why you are always supposed to tether snap traps. If for instance, you are trapping in an attic, the dang rodents often drop down in between the walls where they really stink. Tie a tether to a nail and you can reel them right in. No stink!.......Mel
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 22, 2017 11:24:51 GMT -5
Wow Jeremy, that wet road looks like a dream find. That's the kind of road you really need to come across!.....Mel
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 22, 2017 11:20:52 GMT -5
I love to use Sherman live traps for rodents. Got used to them when I was setting research trap lines in college. They fold up so you can carry a hundred at a time in your backpack. Using Shermans allows me to separate out the good rodents from the bad ones. Very few rodents here in the hill country so I hate killing the neat little white footed deer mice and other seldom seen native species, so the live traps allow me to free the good'uns away from the house. So strange to live somewhere where there are no gophers or moles too...Mel
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 21, 2017 9:37:08 GMT -5
Just a reality check here guys. Before you all get too excited, just remember that there are a lot of wood collecting experts working this area regularly, including Matt Dillon. We've gone there multiple times and each time we've found places that were good before were, on the next trip, hunted out or covered over. When this happens, you may have to drive half a day on these roads to find a fresh unhunted spot and it is a big area. If you hit a good spot you can score some great wood fast but it may take a lot of driving to find that spot. As I said in a previous post, on our last trip down, every road we had previously done well on was either no good or had obvious evidence of just being hunted quite thoroughly. We encountered several truckloads of hunters midweek that had all been pretty much skunked and were still hunting a good spot. We too would have been skunked except we hit a couple of small spur roads that dead ended and still had the original surface. Those were great spots but we had driven several hours to find them. Right after a heavy rain is when you want to go if you can work it that way. They have real gully washers down that way.
So if you go, don't expect to hit a bonanza on your first road. Watch for roads not yet covered by white crushed rock or bar ditches that show indications of erosion and larger gravel as much of that will be wood. Sample a lot of roads and don't waste time on those showing little gravel. I have my wife drive so I can hang my head out the window and survey the ditch banks. Using this method we usually manage to fill maybe a five gallon bucket of tumbling stuff and another of bigger hunks. Be selective though, as much is just earth toned wood. A little judicious chipping can really help find the good stuff and bring a squirt bottle. And during spring, summer or fall, you will want a gem scoop as the area is full of big rattlers. Better to reach into the bushes to pull out that big hunk of wood with something other than your bare hand. Last spring trip we took, we found a skeleton of a car hit rattler that had a rib cage about seven inches wide and it's a good drive to a hospital from this area. Another note too. If you have allergy problems, don't go here on a wet spring. We went one time and the flowers and bushes were spectacular but the pollen was so bad I actually got sick from it, similar to Texas's famous "ceder fever". No fun at all. Never had that problem in fall and more ground is exposed due to lack of greenery. Worse time to collect is when there is a lot of grass and foliage....Mel
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 20, 2017 18:47:44 GMT -5
Holy smokes that fish in jasper is cool Jean!
Spiceman. That does look like a fish too but I think it might be a horn coral piece.
My fossils are buried under a pile of books right now. Will have to dig out my favorite....Mel
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 19, 2017 8:07:25 GMT -5
Man, that is an interesting find. I went there to dig once and after a bit just decided those eggs were not worth messing with. Great find and I really like how you cabbed it to leave the botryoidal material....Mel
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 18, 2017 17:42:43 GMT -5
Yeah, I actually have a wonderful specimen I got off Matt Dillon where neither of us could figure the type of wood. Wild stuff! The wife and I were just discussing where to go next time we go hunt wood for fun. Don't know exactly where to go as the whole area has changed so much. Probably just head for George West and head NW from there exploring until we hit a good spot. So many folks hunting there now that we came across groups even on weekdays and all were complaining about how badly it had been hunted just previously. Many of the roads had plainly just been explored as dug and chipped stuff was all over. Sure a big change over the first time we went. We had a five gallon bucket full of good stuff on the first half mile stretch of road we worked and the road itself was actually topped with big hunks of wood. Wife found a bunch of good hunks right by where we parked while I was out walking....Mel
PS: If you are ever in Washington state, you've gotta go see the museum at Ginko PF. It is outstanding for pet wood.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 18, 2017 17:30:35 GMT -5
Super cool! That specimen sure resembles Utah red horn coral, even down to the matrix. Potentially sure shows how much ancient rivers moved stuff around. Trying to remember though, if there was some red to pink horn coral near Lake Valley, NM too...Mel
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