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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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Post by HankRocks on Mar 21, 2024 15:33:58 GMT -5
We need to start desalination of sea water. That is an option, an expensive one. Water bills would definitely go up. Being close to the Gulf it would be viable for Houston. If you are more than a couple hundred miles from the coast and the cost starts to be prohibitive.
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Post by HankRocks on Mar 21, 2024 13:06:07 GMT -5
The Houston area population has more than doubled to almost 7 million in the last 30 years. Subsidence has been a big issue with some areas near the coast having subsided over 10 - 12 feet and more. One of the biggest contributor to that subsidence has been the pumping of ground water. The city of Houston gets most of their water from Lakes. The county areas were I live has been pumping water from wells. The state passed a law several years back mandating a conversion to Lake water and the shutting down of wells. That has been completed for most part as we have been on Lake water for the past 4 or 5 years.
The growing metro area is scary here. I believe that in Toffler's book from the 70's, water would be the resource that will be the most limited.
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Post by HankRocks on Mar 14, 2024 18:36:26 GMT -5
City of the Lost children. Tombstone Can I assume that's the Kirk Russel version of Tombstone. Val Kilmer was very good in the Doc Holliday role.
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Post by HankRocks on Mar 14, 2024 17:23:56 GMT -5
After watching it a couple times on commercial TV, I will need to add "All About Eve" to my list. Stellar cast with outstanding dialogue. Betty Davis's performance is as good as it gets!!
Also add "Miracle" - "The name on the front is a hell of a lot more important than the name on the back!!" I think that's 3 Kirk Russel movie's on my list.
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Post by HankRocks on Mar 11, 2024 5:41:42 GMT -5
That's a good idea and worth a try. Will pick some up on my next buying expedition.
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Post by HankRocks on Mar 11, 2024 5:35:40 GMT -5
I wonder how many agates slip a bit in the vise. My experience says that the smaller the rock the more difficult clamping it securely becomes. This is especially true with the more rounded pieces.
With all the neat features I would have thought that a better rock clamping method would have been designed.
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Post by HankRocks on Mar 5, 2024 19:24:45 GMT -5
If I can find the small agate table top I have somewhere in the garage I will get a picture posted( I am at mercy of the warehouse and the photography departments). Traded for it with Paul Wofford who owned a Rock Shop in Marfa Texas. He had taken us down to Lajitas for the first time back in 77 or 78 and I had found a 25-30 pound piece of petrified wood he wanted so he gave me the table top for it. Unfortunately the epoxy he used has yellowed over the years. It has a good bit of West Texas material in it so I was considering submitting it to an Acetone bath to rescue the agate slabs. victor1941 Do you remember Paul Wofford?
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Post by HankRocks on Mar 4, 2024 10:01:02 GMT -5
13000 years ago? No + of - any % or years given so apparently that dating system is perfect (sarcasm) however call me crazy but from what I know sand gets deposited most easily but massive water movements. Just look at the elwa rivers sand bar pre dam removal and the post sandbar in the strait of juan de fuca at the mouth of the elwa it's huge now... I'm a flood apologist myself. Has anyone scene the videos on the geological devastation at Mt Saint helens? The grand canyon could have formed really fast geologically speaking with a world wide catastrophic event. I have hiked the Canyon Lake Gorge in the Texas Hill Country, formed in 2002 in a few weeks by runoff from an estimated 34 inches of rain in the Guadalupe River watershed. It caused the flood waters to flow over the spillway for the first time ever. The resulting gorge is very impressive. Water always wins, sometimes slowly, sometimes over a very short period. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canyon_Lake_Gorge
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Post by HankRocks on Mar 3, 2024 10:41:44 GMT -5
It does appear to be a Choyas geode, it's just that it filled in during it's formation. Contrary to the popular definition Geodes/Thundereggs do not always have hollow centers. The solid ones can form in the same beds as the hollow ones.
Henry
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Post by HankRocks on Feb 29, 2024 20:15:21 GMT -5
If the carriage is moving then the clutch is working.
What is the motor rpm? and what size pulley on the motor shaft and the arbor shaft? You said 5 blades to do 100 cuts, something's definitely not right. The blade in the picture has a lot of kerf left so it should have lots of life left in it. Did you buy this saw new or used from someone?
And one more question, the blade is turning isn't it.
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Post by HankRocks on Feb 29, 2024 18:02:26 GMT -5
valorguy I have this same saw and it works pretty well for me. Question, is the threaded rod turning? If it is and the carriage is not moving, your clutch mechanism may be wore out and not engaging the threaded feed. Or your blade needs sharpening? have you tried running the saw without a rock cutting to see if the carriage moves. I have wore out a couple of the clutches over the last 7 years. That and I have had to sharpen the blade a couple times int hew last several months. Henry
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Post by HankRocks on Feb 29, 2024 6:59:02 GMT -5
I am going with a much more pragmatic approach to Inventory for all the rocks that I have; A- Rocks that I have and need to be processed. There are several sub-categories here; need to be cut, need to be slabbed, need to be tumbled, need to be vib-lapped, etc,etc. A particular rock can move from one sub-category to another over time as I refine my work processes; "This was easy to polish and came out neat so I will do the rest that way" or "Wow! these are really selling, I need more of them".
B- Rocks that I have processed. These fall into several categories; available to sell, give away, or find a spot in the cabinet.
As far as cost, it's a wash. As far as type, I follow the "cats and dogs living together" method and a good bit of what I have the type is unknown, some sort of agate, some sort of jasper. At the Rock Show this past weekend, a couple of folks came by and identified a particular rock. That was especially true for the slabs as several unknown pieces were identified.
Hopefully this does sound like I am trying to be a wise-ass, it's just the way my system works in my own head. I am somewhat closer how I suspect realrockhound has his rocks, as mine are scattered in various concentrations around the yard, Rock Garden, around a couple trees, buckets in the garden are, buckets in the garage. flats on the shelves in the garage. I do mow the lawn so I keep that area clear!!
Henry
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Post by HankRocks on Feb 26, 2024 13:59:35 GMT -5
The show is Indoors at the Pasadena Convention Center so setup Friday and break it all down and pack up and load up Sunday at 5:00pm. The city of Pasadena has a Police Officer working security. The facility has started an expansion so not sure how all that will affect the next couple years or affect the pricing. One thing about the facility they really cannot squeeze another row of booth space in so the aisles are very adequate. I think they have 42 to 45 vendors.
I managed to net $33 more than last year. Polished Petrified Wood pieces were the top money winner followed by Geodes which have been languishing the past 3 or 4 years. Arkansas Quartz crystals fell to 4th on the money list. The 3 large face polished deep blue Sodalite slabs sold. They were the first thing folks noticed on that table. I will spend some time cutting and polishing the rest of the one piece I have, probably get an additional 5 or 6 thick slabs to go with the 3 I still have un-polished. Also managed to sell 4 spheres.
Did not add it up, but I suspect that 25% of my sales were to Vendors. Not sure if that means my prices are too low, or my stuff is that good, lets go with low prices. I do get compliments on the shine on all of my tumbles. I have(was) volunteered to give a presentation on rock tumbling at one of the Clear Lake Club meetings this summer. Apparently my Quartz digging presentation last year was a hit. Will definitely reference the forum.
Almost finished unloading and putting the garage back in some sort of order. Have 3 Model B's that need tending today and need to start a new load on the vibe Lap that has a larger piece of wood to be done. One of the Model B's has 30 larger slabs going to soap after polish, will get some pictures of them posted.
Sleep and rest is over-rated!!!
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Post by HankRocks on Feb 26, 2024 7:44:52 GMT -5
I take Meloxicam 15mg prescribed by my PCP but am limiting myself to 1 tablet every 5 days which will hopefully that will extend it's effectiveness. By the 4th day I can feel the pain creeping back in.
Interesting thing is that this morning is day 5 and I am due to take 1 pill this morning, however I feel no real pain. That is odd considering that I just finished the Show this weekend with all of the moving of show material. Maybe I am still tired from the long days and lack of sleep to feel everything!! I will see how I feel after I unload the truck this morning and finish changing stages on 3 model B tumblers and cleanup on the latest Vib Lap batch polished pieces and starting a new batch.
You may want to check into the use of Uric acid and Kidney stones as there may be some relationship.
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