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Post by tims on Mar 12, 2017 22:17:26 GMT -5
With round wire with 3 strands on each side, wrapping the bail kind of works but it's hard to round it over without marring it up. I'm also having a problem being so scotch and keep shorting myself on wire at the end. I like the front on this but was the back of the bail is a fail. Back
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Post by tims on Mar 12, 2017 21:07:44 GMT -5
Great batch. The dendritic opal is really pretty, and the shape of that first laker plays superbly with the color and contours.
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Post by tims on Mar 12, 2017 20:57:18 GMT -5
Looks like you definitely got some basics down. Your binding looks really good. I saw that bail on youtube a while back and I really wonder about it. Seems like it might snag clothes. It's interesting, though. Bails are killing me. I want to find something dead simple but end up trying to get creative and make a mess.
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Post by tims on Mar 10, 2017 16:20:14 GMT -5
Neat stuff. That brown Brazilian is screaming to be backlit, the thick clean white bands are amazing contrasted with the chocolate brown. Reminds me of grandma pouring milk in her coffee.
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Post by tims on Mar 10, 2017 1:48:31 GMT -5
Those are cool. Stopped for a second at "car wax" and had to un-rock my brain before it made perfect sense. Bowlerite, you must share a pic if you have one.
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Post by tims on Mar 9, 2017 1:48:13 GMT -5
Odd shaped little piece of obsidian probably wasn't a great first choice but it was fun:
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Post by tims on Mar 9, 2017 1:45:01 GMT -5
Gorgeous work, will have to check out more of Wyatt's videos that's a very cool wrap.
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Post by tims on Mar 8, 2017 3:24:06 GMT -5
This project sounds fun. Don't think i'll have access to proper equipment to play but am watching with interest.
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Post by tims on Mar 7, 2017 17:13:17 GMT -5
Killer shine, that's a neat piece.
I love the Viking videos, wish they'd put a volume knob on the tumbler itself. Of course it would go to 11.
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Post by tims on Mar 7, 2017 16:44:25 GMT -5
Do you think that piece is grainy throughout? There are chips on the rim that look smooth and conchoidal. Maybe it got naturally exposed and then acquired the crust?
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Post by tims on Mar 7, 2017 2:21:57 GMT -5
Thanks guys. I swear i looked up tablespoons / cup conversion before i started tumbling and know it's not metric, but had 10/1 locked in. Senility is sneaky.
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Post by tims on Mar 6, 2017 22:03:37 GMT -5
Very informative thread. Was curious captbob , when you reuse the polish slurry do you still add polish on the next load? If so, the normal amount or significantly less? I've only finished one load in 12# rotary and used 1.5 cups of polish, where the manual calls for 2.4 (24 tablespoons). Sounds like it's safe to trim that back a bit more.
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Post by tims on Mar 6, 2017 21:49:16 GMT -5
Jamesp's suggestion makes sense. I also wonder if that might have been used as a lapping polish instead of for tumbling.
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Post by tims on Mar 6, 2017 21:12:44 GMT -5
Hey thanks for posting those pictures. Looks like a lot of rough to sort through and cut. How often do the nodules turn out to have the fortification agate in them? I wish I knew more about the Teepee canyon agate. Glenn I will have to just get out there and start looking and learning. The nodules are really hit and miss. If you see that deep red showing through there's a good chance of a solid agate center, but even then sometimes they aren't distinctly banded. If the nod is broken or chipped and you see bright orange that's often a good indicator. I know lots of people that take a sledge with them, hammer nodules out of the main quarry, and break everything they find. I avoid the quarry and just hunt the surrounding hills looking for exposed faces (usually very small) and exposed signer nodules. The "normal" teepee agate has the banded center surrounded by a thick layer of chert. I have found a few there that were nearly all agate but those seem uncommon. This is a good representation of a good, "normal" nodule, with the oddity being that it has a naturally exposed face: Here's an uncommon signer i found that turned out to be mostly agate: The natural fracturing of the exposed pieces and tendency to fracture when breaking the mined nodules can make teepees hard to work with, but you're almost guaranteed to find something there even if only a specimen piece.
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Post by tims on Mar 5, 2017 17:58:49 GMT -5
would like to see the teepee canyon nodules too. Got sidetracked with bikes and didn't have time to clean things up, but here are some quick pics that give an idea:
Teepee, Brazil and Madagascar leftovers
The first tub of teepees
the old water cooler full of nodules:
The first tub is missing about 11 pounds of small pieces I threw in the tumbler. It might turn into a big waste of time as they don't tumble very well; usually the matrix likes to crater and fracture but hopefully a couple will shape up. Hard to tell if the big nodules are winners or not until you cut them. If anything turns out pretty i'll get better pics.
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Post by tims on Mar 5, 2017 17:34:01 GMT -5
Neat little agates. My bucket list includes hounding on a beach and that one looks worthy of 2 buckets.
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Post by tims on Mar 5, 2017 5:01:01 GMT -5
Wow, too many nice ones to keep track of. Setting the bar pretty high for March.
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Post by tims on Mar 3, 2017 5:41:32 GMT -5
Thanks for the updated Don. Good to hear you're on the mend and get well soon.
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Post by tims on Mar 2, 2017 21:09:21 GMT -5
would like to see the teepee canyon nodules too. If it thaws out this weekend i'll get some pics; right now they're frozen into a big snowy lump in their bucket. The friend that dropped off the first tub of all teepees stopped over again last night with a few Brazil and Madagascar end pieces and a couple more small teepee pieces. The teepee nodules usually aren't very pretty but occasionally there are exposed faces. I'm very curious to get a good look at them myself.
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Post by tims on Mar 1, 2017 22:55:12 GMT -5
That is pretty. For some reason i'm craving cheesecake.
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