whyofquartz
spending too much on rocks
So, Africa is smaller than I expected...
Member since December 2019
Posts: 316
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Post by whyofquartz on Feb 11, 2024 10:28:27 GMT -5
I was checking my tumbles yesterday and I am now more convinced than when I was cutting that The rock I cut down to fit in the tumbler may have been a section of fossilized long bone. I will have to get some good pictures when I get home, because whatever it is looks super cool.
this got me thinking, how much paleontological evidence has been destroyed by the lapidary community? anybody have any stories about tumbling something you shouldn't have?
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Post by Pat on Feb 11, 2024 12:48:06 GMT -5
What a delightful wide-open question!
Where should I begin? Looking forward to enjoying other’s experiences….
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Post by realrockhound on Feb 11, 2024 19:46:17 GMT -5
Too much material gets butchered far too often. That goes for all materials. Hurts my soul.
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whyofquartz
spending too much on rocks
So, Africa is smaller than I expected...
Member since December 2019
Posts: 316
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Post by whyofquartz on Feb 12, 2024 7:09:58 GMT -5
Too much material gets butchered far too often. That goes for all materials. Hurts my soul. that is another aspect, it hasn't really happened to me yet but I am sure someone on here has a "I cut on the wrong axis/angle" story
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whyofquartz
spending too much on rocks
So, Africa is smaller than I expected...
Member since December 2019
Posts: 316
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Post by whyofquartz on Feb 12, 2024 19:28:41 GMT -5
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Post by Mel on Feb 25, 2024 1:23:12 GMT -5
Yep. Not particularly valuable material but material that could have gone a lot further if I wasn't just hacking at it haphazardly. Live and learn. Luckily there is almost unlimited quartz in my area so I think I'm safe from destroying true valuable material. However, the thought has crossed my mindwith fossils that I've donated to our local rock museum. I don't know enough about them and I don't want to destroy them so off they go.
I bet there's a lot more damaged/destroyed material when it comes to those who work with things like dino bone, baculite and ammonite though.
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whyofquartz
spending too much on rocks
So, Africa is smaller than I expected...
Member since December 2019
Posts: 316
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Post by whyofquartz on Feb 25, 2024 7:18:21 GMT -5
Yep. Not particularly valuable material but material that could have gone a lot further if I wasn't just hacking at it haphazardly. Live and learn. Luckily there is almost unlimited quartz in my area so I think I'm safe from destroying true valuable material but the thought has crossed my mind, especially with fossils that I've donated to our local rock museum; I don't know enough about them and I don't want to destroy them so off they go. I bet there's a lot more damaged/destroyed material when it comes to those who work with things like dino bone, baculite and ammonite though. how besides getting it less-than-ideal over and over again does one do anything other than pick a side, pick an angle and roll the dice?
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Post by Mel on Feb 25, 2024 16:52:53 GMT -5
Yep. Not particularly valuable material but material that could have gone a lot further if I wasn't just hacking at it haphazardly. Live and learn. Luckily there is almost unlimited quartz in my area so I think I'm safe from destroying true valuable material but the thought has crossed my mind, especially with fossils that I've donated to our local rock museum; I don't know enough about them and I don't want to destroy them so off they go. I bet there's a lot more damaged/destroyed material when it comes to those who work with things like dino bone, baculite and ammonite though. how besides getting it less-than-ideal over and over again does one do anything other than pick a side, pick an angle and roll the dice? Pretty much! The piece in reference though was a very beautiful (and large) boulder of black basalt with a bright white quartz vein through it from a friend's family farm so it was sort of special in that hunting for it reignited a love of rocks between my best friend & his mother. Had I not been so foolhardy, I would've planned my cuts better and made a lot more use of the material. I still have some chunks left but almost none with the white streak. Come to think of it, I believe it was 1dave who helped me identify it back when I first joined RTH! How time flies...
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Post by 1dave on Feb 25, 2024 16:59:49 GMT -5
Why worry about it? Earth does it all the time.
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gemfeller
Cave Dweller
Member since June 2011
Posts: 3,786
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Post by gemfeller on Feb 25, 2024 17:35:20 GMT -5
Why worry about it? Earth does it all the time. Yeah but the time scale is usually very different. I think of all the beautiful Morgan Hill poppy jasper and original Howardite, to name just a couple, that were busted up and tumbled in the 50s and 60s.
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Post by stardiamond on Feb 25, 2024 21:02:31 GMT -5
It used to bother me seeing rare and expensive material being tumbled. I don't rock hound so I have to buy all my material. I adjusted my attitude since a person who has an abundance of material can do whatever they want with it.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,685
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Post by Fossilman on Feb 26, 2024 12:37:23 GMT -5
If you're not making mistakes, you aren't doing anything..LOL Lost count on tumbling mistakes with material...
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dshanpnw
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since December 2020
Posts: 892
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Post by dshanpnw on Feb 27, 2024 9:14:25 GMT -5
Where should I begin? Let's start with Owyhee jasper, then there's the Biggs. Nothing super gemmy or important though.
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Post by Mel on Mar 2, 2024 21:08:43 GMT -5
You know, really the one true answer to this question is "Yes, I bought a rock tumbler." WE ALL KNOW HOW IT ENDS!!!!
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
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Post by stefan on Mar 3, 2024 14:32:43 GMT -5
There was a member on here a ways back (16-18 years ago?) who was selling Mexican Crazy Lace for $1/ Lb! Yea I only ordered like 10 Lbs. I kick myself all the time over that one. It was beautiful material and at the time a Med Flat Rate (I don't think they had introduced the Lg yet) was like $8.95. It took me like 2 years to cut and tumble those 10 Lbs and of course the deal was long gone by then. I also got some opalized pet wood in the same deal if anyone remembers that. It was not opalized but super agatized and harder than anything (pet wood wise) I have ever cut. Made some beautiful tumblers for sure! I think it was RockyRacoon?
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