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Post by HankRocks on May 2, 2024 12:14:43 GMT -5
Don't have a great method, especially for the smaller slabs as I just fill the plastic shoe boxes. For the larger slabs I have used an assortment of re-purposed plastic containers that my wife sends to the garage. Tried organizing by type, but it breaks down with too many one off's. Problem now is that to impose a system would require a lot of table space to lay them all out.
I sold slabs for the first time this past February. Filled 2 square plastic containers about 15" x 15" maybe 5 inches tall. One had the larger slabs in two stand up rows and the other had the smaller ones in 4 rows. The large slabs were individually priced and the small were a set price for each with a discount for multiples. Both containers get set out on the table as is. One thing I have done since the Show that as I cut slabs, say 5 large slabs from the same rock I will put 2 or 3 in the sell container after they have been de-oiled. Did find 2 more square containers in garage attic and will start filling those as Show slabs.
One thing dawned on me about a year ago, pack as many sell items in flat plastic trays with lids. Most small to medium sized items will work that way. Get to the show, lids off and underneath the container on the table. Have about 40% of my show material in ready to set out containers and hope to get to about 70 to 75%. Set and pack up becomes a lot easier. The only items that will resist that method will be the larger pieces, minerals and large polished geodes, wood or agate.
Always looking to streamline the processes, especially since the force of gravity is getting stronger!!!
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Post by HankRocks on Apr 24, 2024 15:48:45 GMT -5
When I found my 24" saw I was not really in the market for one, just happened be browsing Craigslist about an hour after it was posted and promptly e-mailed the seller. As it turned out it was 15 minutes before the 2nd buyer e-mailed. In life one has to recognize opportunities when they arise and move on them. The seller threw in about 400 pounds of agate and geodes for free as he was retiring and moving out of the country.
A couple things about my 24 inch Highland Park model, it occupies a good bit of floor space, That and it can cut rocks that I cannot safely place on the carriage without help from someone. There are folks who can place a 50 pound rock gently on the carriage, I am not one of them. It also takes about 15 gallons of oil to fill. And cleanout is a character builder!!
Henry
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Post by HankRocks on Apr 24, 2024 8:57:08 GMT -5
I would say that unless you have a need and you are able to find a real bargain do not buy one. In my case I had a good selection of large pieces and access to more and I lucked into a bargain 24" saw. In addition I have also developed a bit of a business, 3 to 4 shows a year, to recover "some" of my expenses.
Good luck Henry
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Post by HankRocks on Apr 20, 2024 13:12:08 GMT -5
victor1941 Good looking flowers and fruit crop. What variety of apricot and peaches do you have? We have way too much humidity and critters for most fruit trees. The squirrel problem in my neighborhood is really bad. They are way over populated and will wipe out a fruit tree long before the crop is ready. I have counted 5 in my back yard at one time and that's just the ones I could see. Built some screen covers any for new seeds in the ground otherwise they would dig them all up. The hawks don't make much of a dent as the squirrels duck into bushes and thick foliage trees where hawks can't safely go. Our dog was pretty good at squirrel control until she got too old for the game. Henry
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Post by HankRocks on Apr 20, 2024 5:36:11 GMT -5
It looks fine to me. My bet is someone will buy it for the color that happens to go with what they like to wear, or they just like the color.
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Post by HankRocks on Apr 17, 2024 10:07:43 GMT -5
Anyone familiar with Baseball and the book "The Boys of Summer", Carl Erskine the last player from that Brooklyn Dodger team passed away earlier this week. A short article with a brief write up on his life, a truly wonderful person. If you have never read the book, it is a really good read. The setting is baseball but the book is really about life. I have read it 3 times and plan on starting it again in a few days. Henry Carl Erskine
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Post by HankRocks on Apr 17, 2024 5:39:41 GMT -5
I'm glad you're not Lost... The wife and I were watching the Masters golf tournament this past Sunday and noticed, no cell phones. They are not allowed at the tournament. What a refreshing idea. The spectators had to actually watch what was going on. ...." and the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made".... Those words ring true even louder these days.
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Post by HankRocks on Apr 12, 2024 5:45:00 GMT -5
The larva in the pet wood really caught my eye because of its counterpart I've found in coprolites. Can you tell if it's the remains of a larva, or the cast of its dung, or something else related? I said Larva, however it's probably Pupa or a Cocoon stage from some worm creature that lives in mostly dead or dying trees. I have seen the giant white caterpillars that you see when you break up old dead trees. I do not really see any internal structure. There is a void in part of the wood from this same piece that seems to indicate there was some decay in the original tree and the critters were working on it when it was buried in whatever preserved it. That's as much speculation as this amateur entomologist cares to engage in!
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Post by HankRocks on Apr 11, 2024 19:26:49 GMT -5
Here's a few pieces I have finished in the last month; Not sure what this is, looks to be river tumbled Jasper-Agate, not sure of the source. it's comes in at 1-3/4 pounds; IMG_6028 by Findrocks, on Flickr If you remember my "Mickey & Minnie" Thunderegg halves, it appears they had twins, Zombie-Apocalypse twins; IMG_6029 by Findrocks, on Flickr Piece of West Texas Petrified Wood. These are adjacent pieces. I did not notice what I think to be a Larve of some sort that was preserved in the wood; IMG_6031 by Findrocks, on Flickr Closer view of the Larve? IMG_6032 by Findrocks, on Flickr A polished thick slab of West Texas Petrified Wood measuring 8-1/2" x 6". Not sure the pic shows the all of the different colors in this one. I have 6 more 1/2" thick slabs cut from the same rock to polish(Vib Lap). Also have the remaining un-cut piece glued to a double 4x4 piece of wood. Probably get 2 maybe 3 more thick slabs befor the piece starts tapering down. IMG_6034 by Findrocks, on Flickr The last piece I call "howling at the moon" piece of white chalcedony from Round Mt collecting area in Arizona. IMG_6035 by Findrocks, on Flickr Henry
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Post by HankRocks on Apr 11, 2024 5:21:12 GMT -5
I believe I have 2 or 3 cubes, maybe 3 inch, that were going to be trimmed up for spheres. They are in a flat with various other cubes for sphere trimming and shaping. When my back get's a little bit better I will pull them out. Was not aware of the value of these, they were in a bucket full I brought home several years ago. Here's a piece that was ready for the sphere machine that I tumble polished; IMG_4340 by Findrocks, on Flickr
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Post by HankRocks on Apr 10, 2024 13:51:32 GMT -5
I am probably a week or two away from freeing a tumbler to run them in. I was thinking about adding a few scraps of the Neoprene I used to cut out new lid liners. I have have both 1/16 and 1/8 inch thick pieces. Not sure how it will affect the tumble, however I should be able to move the pieces from stage to stage as they will wash out easier. Also thought about putting less grit, especially in the coarse, so that I can clean out more often and check on everything.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
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Post by HankRocks on Apr 10, 2024 12:33:31 GMT -5
I just bought about 10 pieces of obsidian grapefruit size, all different types. So I have no choice but to use the 12lb barrels but I will tumble them only with cushioning small pieces of something. Found 3 - 1 gallon Ziploc bags of Snowflake Obsidian in a bucket of material I bought 5 years or so ago. Sizes ranging from 1 1/2 to 3 inches. Will pull a few tumble candidates out of the bunch and give them a try. I have successfully tumble polished Apache Tears. The larger size will be the challenge. That and being sure to bleed any produced gas off every 2 or 3 days, especially during the coarse stage. Hope to run several of these in a single batch with lots of smalls. Also have about 3 buckets of large pieces including a few that will not fit into a model B barrel.
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Post by HankRocks on Apr 4, 2024 19:02:59 GMT -5
I usually give most people the benefit of the doubt as it's not always possible to know what personal issues they may be dealing with. Everyone has a different tolerance level for the troubles that happen in life.
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Post by HankRocks on Apr 4, 2024 18:38:10 GMT -5
Magnets area good idea. The only thing I do is make sure I use darker material so that the magnet is not visible through the rock. That's a personal choice for me. I also use the gel variety super glue so that it stays in a nice drop until I place the magnet on the it. Also have a plastic tweezer to hold magnet while placing it.
Henry
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Post by HankRocks on Mar 29, 2024 12:23:41 GMT -5
Very nice batch. Correct me if I am wrong, but this looks like blue Chalcedony, not Blue Lace. Am I mistaken?
Henry
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Post by HankRocks on Mar 28, 2024 8:28:59 GMT -5
Question, are they scratches or are they marks. If they marks I would not worry about them, they will go away. Most rocks are harder than metal. I have been using a metallic wire colander to wash my rocks out for years and have never seen a scratch Including twice after polish, the polish run and the after polish soap run with no marks. Is this the first time using the colander? if so maybe it's a coating of some sort on the colander that is coming off and will eventually be worn off. I believe jamesp polishes his glass pieces in a metal hopper he built and they come out great. Henry Just went out into the garage and tested a piece of polished Brazilian Agate with a dental pick, I could not scratch the agate no matter how hard I applied the pick to the surface of the rock. That is different that applying the pick at great force into the rock, it could be chipped but that is a result of the force applied. That's how rock chisels work on rock outcrops, a tip of the chisel applied with great force will damage and eventually crack a rock.
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Post by HankRocks on Mar 28, 2024 8:20:08 GMT -5
Question, are they scratches or are they marks. If they marks I would not worry about them, they will go away. Most rocks are harder than metal. I have been using a metallic wire colander to wash my rocks out for years and have never seen a scratch Including twice after polish, the polish run and the after polish soap run with no marks. Is this the first time using the colander? if so maybe it's a coating of some sort on the colander that is coming off and will eventually be worn off. I believe jamesp polishes his glass pieces in a metal hopper he built and they come out great. Henry
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Post by HankRocks on Mar 26, 2024 13:11:34 GMT -5
I have been using a 20" Vibe Lap to face polish all of my Geodes and Petrified Wood pieces. Over the last few years I have developed a decent work process that usually gives me very good results. Two big issues with the Vibe Lap. The first is not enough rock weight such as a slab or poor weight distribution with the specimen. This can be resolved by adding weights. I use caulk to secure the weights. With caulk it's important not to create any voids between the rock and the weight where grit can hide and come out in a later stage. I tend to have two or 3 batches, one on the Lap, one with the weights attached waiting for the caulk to cure, and one waiting to be caulked. Note, I am a non-believer when it comes to grit contamination in the tumbling process. A few grains of 80 grit into the 220 stage is not a big deal in my book when tumbling. For Vibe lapping, I am back on the grit contamination wagon. A couple pieces of 80 grit into the 220 stage is not good and those marks are noticeable. Good cleaning of the rocks and the pans is a must. The other problem with Vibe Lapping is Pan wear which is not even and pans will become dished with the center being to low point. This is ok for pieces 3 to 4 inches or smaller. For the large pieces 5 inches and larger a dished pan does not allow for a flat surface on the rock and it shows up at the polish stage with un-polished areas. Haven't solved the dished pan issue yet. The "Skunk-Works Team" has been working on that problem and has some promising ideas but so far no solution. My imperfect solution is to reserve any flat pans for the larger rocks. Any smaller rocks go one of the dished pans. Fortunately for me, one of our Forum members, snuffy who is a good neighbor which in Texas means less than a two hour drive!, had an old 20 inch Vibe lap with 2 pans that he was willing to part with. The polish pan he had was naturally still flat as it's surface never gets any wear so it became my large rock processing pan. I did spray paint all of the pans I have with identifying colors so as not to mess up. Henry
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Post by HankRocks on Mar 25, 2024 5:15:08 GMT -5
I wonder how long before they are able to "polish" a rock. or even shape one. My old way of thinking says it's not possible, so that means in a few years newer models of these machines will be able to create Cabs out of a slab.
Henry
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Post by HankRocks on Mar 22, 2024 10:42:46 GMT -5
Tela you set the bar pretty high, this is about the best I can do;
R.I.P. Mojo Nixon - 1957 - 2024
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