RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,217
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Post by RWA3006 on Feb 28, 2024 18:06:56 GMT -5
RWA3006 crap gabions in the garden, gotta love that... When (if) I finally do a true inventory of the tons around here I seriously want to put the stuff I will never get to, and stuff really not worth cutting, into actual gabions at the front gate to hold the fence down. khara maybe google organized hoarder? Elizabeth and I have different approaches to organization, but equally difficult time remembering where we put "that rock". It can be entertaining to onlookers I'm sure. People walking by sometimes ask me what they are. I've responded with a number of tall tales... Beakons for extraterrestrials, seismic dampeners, water purifiers...
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khara
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,751
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Post by khara on Feb 28, 2024 18:34:28 GMT -5
Thanks Starguy Ya, it's possible I don't need to worry about it as much as I do. I like your bucket system though. Wouldn't take up too much space stacked vertically. I don't have that much of one material but I'd be fine combining stuff and having multiple types listed on the outside. The 2.5 gallon buckets are a good idea. I could probably get some of those at work. In fact, I know they just threw out a whole bunch of old ones a month or so ago. Bummer.
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khara
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,751
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Post by khara on Feb 28, 2024 18:44:06 GMT -5
I don’t keep an official inventory, but…. I label plastic drawers to match what I have such as long and thin, fossils, glass, pink, green, black, from Ed, John, etc. These are in a home made shelving unit that holds about 25 3-drawer dresser type units. Items (mostly slabs) that don’t fit go to a bigger plastic box and labeled by color—- green box, red box etc. these bigger boxes are under a nearby table. I’m not particularly interested in original source or cost. I’m not a dealer. I don’t really need another rock, but I’m frequently tempted 😀 Works for me. Pat, I need to come live with you. :-) I like the sound of your "homemade shelving unit that holds 25 3-drawer dresser type units". Are these dresser units large, like a clothing dresser, or smaller like the medium sized plastic craft drawer units? Ooh, craft drawers, that's actually a thought, for nicer material and slabs anyway. Thank you.
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khara
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,751
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Post by khara on Feb 28, 2024 19:30:03 GMT -5
khara it’s not that bad, but yes, sometimes rocks do end up in the yard, and I have found stuff seeded down in the ground 😂 Hmmm. You could charge a fee for people to come and look for buried stuff. Easter "egg" hunt this year at @realrockhounds place!
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chris1956
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2022
Posts: 1,265
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Post by chris1956 on Feb 28, 2024 19:46:25 GMT -5
Great thread and a lot of good ideas already! When I visited Tony's shop in Idaho a couple years back. He stored a lot of higher end rough in file cabinets and mentioned how well they worked. It turned out to be an excellent idea and the older heavy duty file cabnets work great, it amazing how well the shelves slide even loaded with like 100 lbs of rock lol. I have one file cabinet that is a newer made in China one and it's absolute junk. The old heavy ones are the ones you want. The file cabnets are nice because you can access any level at anytime, unlike stacked boxes or crates. I keep the higher grade rough and slabs in file cabnets the garage and the mid/lower grade stuff in milk crates and buckets outside. I hear you on the file cabinets. I store rock related stuff in mine. Over the last 20 years or so, the place where I worked phased out file cabinets and hard copies in lieu of computer storage. They let employees have most of the old stuff. I have two-5 drawer file cabinets and three-2 drawer ones. Plus 3 or 4 metal shelves. At the time I didn't know what I would do with them. Now I wish I would have gotten 3 or 4 times that many. They aren't the super old really tuff ones but still a lot better than what you get today.
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chris1956
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2022
Posts: 1,265
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Post by chris1956 on Feb 28, 2024 19:48:17 GMT -5
RWA3006 crap gabions in the garden, gotta love that... When (if) I finally do a true inventory of the tons around here I seriously want to put the stuff I will never get to, and stuff really not worth cutting, into actual gabions at the front gate to hold the fence down. khara maybe google organized hoarder? Elizabeth and I have different approaches to organization, but equally difficult time remembering where we put "that rock". It can be entertaining to onlookers I'm sure. People walking by sometimes ask me what they are. I've responded with a number of tall tales... Beakons for extraterrestrials, seismic dampeners, water purifiers... They would probably be more surprised if you told them what they really are.
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Post by jasoninsd on Feb 28, 2024 21:14:13 GMT -5
khara - When I first got going in this hobby, I thought it would be a great idea to keep track of "inventory" on an Excel spreadsheet - including types of material, types of forms (rough/slabs/slabettes). I got it all up and going...and then after about the 5th time I turned slabs into freeforms, I realized trying to keep up with the spreadsheet was going to take up more time than working on the rocks themselves. Now I just realize there's no point in trying to track the numbers...I've just accepted the fact I spend way more than I get in financial return! LOL
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khara
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,751
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Post by khara on Feb 28, 2024 21:28:39 GMT -5
Rockoonz "Organized hoarder". This is excellent! I didn't even know this was a thing. :-)
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chris1956
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2022
Posts: 1,265
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Post by chris1956 on Feb 28, 2024 21:34:02 GMT -5
khara - When I first got going in this hobby, I thought it would be a great idea to keep track of "inventory" on an Excel spreadsheet - including types of material, types of forms (rough/slabs/slabettes). I got it all up and going...and then after about the 5th time I turned slabs into freeforms, I realized trying to keep up with the spreadsheet was going to take up more time than working on the rocks themselves. Now I just realize there's no point in trying to track the numbers...I've just accepted the fact I spend way more than I get in financial return! LOL LOL. I am right there with you Jason when it comes to spreadsheets. I make Christmas ornaments and other little crafty type things and give them to friends and family. Not having the best of memories anymore, I thought it would be a good idea to keep a spreadsheet of what I have given to who and when. It has become so large and complicated that I often think I might have just put what I gave someone on a piece of paper and keep a stack of the papers by person. Or maybe better yet, just keep giving them stuff and let them gift it to others if they already have it. As far as keeping track of what I have in "inventory", not going there! I "try" to put stuff in plastic boxes with some sort of name on it but.....
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chris1956
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2022
Posts: 1,265
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Post by chris1956 on Feb 28, 2024 21:36:02 GMT -5
This thread is great, by the way. Way to go khara.
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khara
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,751
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Post by khara on Feb 28, 2024 21:36:31 GMT -5
Great thread and a lot of good ideas already! When I visited Tony's shop in Idaho a couple years back. He stored a lot of higher end rough in file cabinets and mentioned how well they worked. It turned out to be an excellent idea and the older heavy duty file cabnets work great, it amazing how well the shelves slide even loaded with like 100 lbs of rock lol. I have one file cabinet that is a newer made in China one and it's absolute junk. The old heavy ones are the ones you want. The file cabnets are nice because you can access any level at anytime, unlike stacked boxes or crates. I keep the higher grade rough and slabs in file cabnets the garage and the mid/lower grade stuff in milk crates and buckets outside. This is a great idea. Key is to finding the nice old school cabinets. Years ago a large local business had a sale of old office furniture and equipment. That type of scenario would be a good place to find these because you could snatch up several at time. And they might all match :-). Thanks!
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khara
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,751
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Post by khara on Feb 28, 2024 21:46:42 GMT -5
RWA3006 crap gabions in the garden, gotta love that... When (if) I finally do a true inventory of the tons around here I seriously want to put the stuff I will never get to, and stuff really not worth cutting, into actual gabions at the front gate to hold the fence down. khara maybe google organized hoarder? Elizabeth and I have different approaches to organization, but equally difficult time remembering where we put "that rock". It can be entertaining to onlookers I'm sure. People walking by sometimes ask me what they are. I've responded with a number of tall tales... Beakons for extraterrestrials, seismic dampeners, water purifiers... You know what's really weird... RWA3006 When you first posted, I mostly focused on your large gunpowder barrels as I'm storing everything inside. I scrolled over your "gabions" quite quickly. I only know the word now because I looked it up, thanks Rockoonz . Here's the weird thing, I had a dream last night that the government had come along and removed part of my backyard fence and replaced it with a long and low gabion filled with rock. Not good rock, just boring barrier rock. They then built a sidewalk and bus stop so I had people milling about and access to my backyard. No idea where all that came from, but now I wonder if my quick glance of your poo gabions set it all off! :-)
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khara
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,751
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Post by khara on Feb 28, 2024 21:49:44 GMT -5
khara - When I first got going in this hobby, I thought it would be a great idea to keep track of "inventory" on an Excel spreadsheet - including types of material, types of forms (rough/slabs/slabettes). I got it all up and going...and then after about the 5th time I turned slabs into freeforms, I realized trying to keep up with the spreadsheet was going to take up more time than working on the rocks themselves. Now I just realize there's no point in trying to track the numbers...I've just accepted the fact I spend way more than I get in financial return! LOL Hi Jason. Ya. My brain has gone down that path. I was thinking it might be nice cause it could be sorted by name, by vendor, etc. At some point it's just better to spend time on actually doing rather than planning to do.
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,217
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Post by RWA3006 on Feb 28, 2024 23:44:27 GMT -5
People walking by sometimes ask me what they are. I've responded with a number of tall tales... Beakons for extraterrestrials, seismic dampeners, water purifiers... You know what's really weird... RWA3006 When you first posted, I mostly focused on your large gunpowder barrels as I'm storing everything inside. I scrolled over your "gabions" quite quickly. I only know the word now because I looked it up, thanks Rockoonz . Here's the weird thing, I had a dream last night that the government had come along and removed part of my backyard fence and replaced it with a long and low gabion filled with rock. Not good rock, just boring barrier rock. They then built a sidewalk and bus stop so I had people milling about and access to my backyard. No idea where all that came from, but now I wonder if my quick glance of your poo gabions set it all off! :-) It's the special powers of the coprolites. Nobody's immune to their beckoning.
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Post by Rockoonz on Feb 29, 2024 1:43:40 GMT -5
Rockoonz "Organized hoarder". This is excellent! I didn't even know this was a thing. :-) I didn't either, I was being facetious. Guess I shoulda looked it up first.
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khara
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,751
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Post by khara on Feb 29, 2024 5:27:41 GMT -5
Rockoonz 🤣🤣🤣 oh my gosh, that’s hilarious.👍
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khara
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,751
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Post by khara on Feb 29, 2024 5:30:36 GMT -5
Quick update. I snatched a few 2 gallon buckets from work tonight. Unfortunately the folks there haven’t been consistent about keeping the same amount of lids as buckets. Argh. 🤨🤨🤨 But, it’s a start and I’ll see if it works for me. 👍 Starguy
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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 Rockoonz on Feb 29, 2024 12:15:22 GMT -5
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wargrafix
Cave Dweller
Member since June 2023
Posts: 566
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Post by wargrafix on Feb 29, 2024 12:22:46 GMT -5
You are not a rock hoarder. You are saving the planet..piece by piece
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