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Post by tims on Mar 1, 2017 7:17:19 GMT -5
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Post by tims on Mar 1, 2017 7:02:31 GMT -5
Really nice specimens Mr. Jello. Mel's slabs make them very tempting to cut.
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Post by tims on Mar 1, 2017 2:53:46 GMT -5
I like the video idea but for a serious look the photos are preferable. Never heard of sand opal before, those are cool. Thanks for sharing.
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Post by tims on Feb 28, 2017 7:15:42 GMT -5
Beautiful stones and shine. How do you drill them? I'm surprised the holes don't indent more running from 220-, they seem to stay pretty flush.
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Post by tims on Feb 27, 2017 4:09:47 GMT -5
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Post by tims on Feb 25, 2017 1:09:07 GMT -5
Fossilman any clue what that fossil is? The nacre on what i thought was the matrix is confusing. I don't envy your brothers, you couldn't pay me enough to Rig Pig at least in the winter here. The downtime in nice weather would allow for some paid rock kicking but the rest can be hard, dangerous work. I ground down a spot on the back of that infinity rock a little, maybe 1/16" and it goes to a thin layer of red / orange then to pearly chalcedony beyond that. The features of the eye and surrounding band seem to continue but are less distinct. Will probably have to split it open for a look and try to miss the eyes and infinity in case they turn into faces. Nacre? Google that word. Why? I know what nacre is. If you're confused by the association of the word with that photo, you misread the post. The nacre is on the fossil piece not that jasp-agate whatever it is (still haven't cut it). This is the one with confusing nacre:
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Post by tims on Feb 21, 2017 1:33:39 GMT -5
Takes me back to my wasted youth when no brass fitting was safe. The bug is greatness.
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Post by tims on Feb 20, 2017 20:34:55 GMT -5
Beautiful agates. That first little guy is the quintessential pet rock.
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Post by tims on Feb 20, 2017 16:32:58 GMT -5
Black stuff looks like obsidian:
Hard to show the shine on the white quartz
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Post by tims on Feb 20, 2017 16:00:14 GMT -5
tims - Got a barrage of questions and a request. Will you take one of the frosted black rocks and crack it with a hammer ? Curious if it is obsidian; if it is it will break like glass. Did the white/clear quartz have any dings like the black rock ? Even slight dings or frost ? How much AO 80 and how much AO polish ? Did the slurry get thicker than water in the AO 80 run and was it still milk colored ? Did you have a slight shine after 10 days in AO 80 ? How full was the barrel during AO 80 run ? Did you run media during AO 80 run ? Or is the first photo the entire contents of the barrel ? The run time for the batch in the photo(assuming that is about 15 pounds) is 48 to 60 hours for AO 80 in the Viking, 18 hours in AO polish. Both w/Borax. However the white/clear quartz and (assuming) black obsidian may frost a bit depending on Viking settings. I would have replaced the white/clear quartz and obsidian with pea sized media and ran the balance of colored rocks in the Viking. I'll go smack one of the black ones here shortly and report back. - Almost all the quartz shattered when i dropped the batch, but aside from impact chips they don't show any dings or frosting. - I used 2 cups of AO80 with no thickener then 1 cup of polish + 3/4 cup sugar. Instructions call for 24 tbsp / 2.4 cups polish and i'm not going to be so stingy next time. That is my mantra now, that and "don't drop the rocks." - The slurry in 80 did thicken up and at the end looked like a melted vanilla milkshake. - After 10 days in AO80 only the pet wood had any shine, the rest was all smooth but matte. - Barrel in AO80 was 5/8 full, 5" up the 8" tall barrel. - I didn't use filler in AO80, just the rocks pictured. In polish i added marbles to fill the barrel to 3/4 (6" up the 8" barrel) - I ran a final burnish after cleanout with fill to 3/4, 1/2 a bar of ivory soap chips and a handful of plastic pellets. Will cut down the soap to about 1/8 bar next time.
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Post by tims on Feb 19, 2017 22:17:06 GMT -5
Darn. You beat me to a rotary finish using AO 80 for middle step. Just started an AO 80 after SiC 30. This time going to let the AO 80 run longer like 14-18 days in attempt to get final polish. Or see how close it gets. How long did you run AO 80 ? How long on polish ? Was hoping your buddy would drop some of that off here. Tee Pee has many variations, great stone. what is the black rock ? I ran the AO80 for 10 1/2 days straight, and the polish one week (AO polish from Rock Shed). Not sure what the black rock is, dug it up from various piles around the yard. It was fairly round to start and matte black, thought possibly obsidian but it's very opaque ... Only the very thin pieces show slight translucence. About half of them shined up nice, the other half developed dings on the corners / edges:
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Post by tims on Feb 19, 2017 18:34:48 GMT -5
Smoked it. Fine rotary tumble and colorful rocks. <star> for rotary Never have seen many of those. Well rounded, great job on them. Thanks Jim. Ran the 80 SiC / 80 AO / Polish method. Hoping to start running the AO stages in the Viking but i'm still wary of the weather. A buddy just dropped off a big tote full of Teepee scraps and i'm going to try running a batch of only teepees, though it will probably shrink enough in coarse i'll need to fill with other stuff eventually.
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Post by tims on Feb 18, 2017 21:04:13 GMT -5
Great looking batch tims . All self collected? It's about half my finds and the rest yard finds from my grandparents' collection. All the dendritic stuff (not sure if it's Montana or Sweet water) came from a can i found in the shed. All the teepees are mine. There are a few yellow ones from Fairburn that started off really plain but show lots of color after tumbling, will probably have to cut them and see if they're banded. I'm tending to do everything completely backwards so far. Thanks for the encouragement everyone!
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Post by tims on Feb 17, 2017 21:35:55 GMT -5
Hey man you got lots with cool swirly pattern stuff going on in them! Nicr!!! Thanks! Swirly banded stuff is Teepee canyon, it fractures and chips like crazy but i can't resist it.
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Post by tims on Feb 17, 2017 18:50:09 GMT -5
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Post by tims on Feb 17, 2017 18:27:49 GMT -5
I was googling trying to ID rocks and found several results here.
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Post by tims on Feb 16, 2017 16:37:51 GMT -5
Fossilman any clue what that fossil is? The nacre on what i thought was the matrix is confusing. I don't envy your brothers, you couldn't pay me enough to Rig Pig at least in the winter here. The downtime in nice weather would allow for some paid rock kicking but the rest can be hard, dangerous work. I ground down a spot on the back of that infinity rock a little, maybe 1/16" and it goes to a thin layer of red / orange then to pearly chalcedony beyond that. The features of the eye and surrounding band seem to continue but are less distinct. Will probably have to split it open for a look and try to miss the eyes and infinity in case they turn into faces.
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Post by tims on Feb 16, 2017 0:33:54 GMT -5
Tims I have been tempted to head out to Indian Creek also and wondered how wet everything was. I figured the snow was mostly gone but am not really interested in fighting the mud. Can you give me a scouting report? It wasn't bad until about halfway down the hill as you drop down to the creek ... i drove halfway down in my old exploder and ended up pulling off where it turns from rock cobble to dirt (mud). It was sticky mud from there down so i just hunted up and down the sides of the hill, didn't hike down to the creek. The road in from Scenic was still half frozen and solid, but if it stays warmish that might get pretty mucky too ... Lots of big puddles over packed snow on that gravel road going in. I have 4WD but garbage tires FWIW. I'm definitely going to wait until it dries out before going back, all the people that find crazy fairburns there seem to pull them off the creek banks. Hadn't been there before but hope to get a camping trip or 2 out there this summer. This was mainly a scouting trip to find the place. Scenic, pardon the thumb: You can kind of see the road dropping down the hill:
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Post by tims on Feb 15, 2017 23:35:00 GMT -5
Plant that big guy in your yard, guarantee a rock garden will grow around it.
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Post by tims on Feb 15, 2017 20:53:52 GMT -5
Nice work and some guaranteed sentimental value.
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