|
Post by paulshiroma on May 21, 2011 18:40:33 GMT -5
Several months back, I took my boyz out to the Field Road site off of Highway 15. We picked up several buckets of tumbling rough and three or four large specimens. We've got batches three through five running in the tumblers now and should be done in several more weeks. Batch one was ... well ... a first batch LOL. Batch two came out well enough although nothing remains - we used it, along with samples of our other materials, to make a collection for Andrew's 2nd grade teacher. She didn't have anything other than photos for her geology section. Tumbling Rough box one (>two inches): Tumbling Rough box two (<two inches): Here's a few photos of the larger pieces. My local club helped me with the initial cuts until I can get my saw up and running. Thanks for looking. Paul
|
|
|
Post by tanyafrench on May 21, 2011 18:59:43 GMT -5
Those are some beautiful rocks. Can't wait to see the finished tumbles.
Tanya
|
|
|
Post by paulshiroma on May 22, 2011 13:05:14 GMT -5
Ditto, Tanya. The rocks out there often seem to have this nice "varnish" on them so we generally are never sure what we're picking up. Often, we'll chip them to see what's underneath. Some turned out to be nicely shaped duds . The colors in the area are typically reddish-brown or orange-brown. Sometimes white or opaque. My boyz like it since it's an easy site to reach and it's basically all flat. Minimal hiking for the youngsters. Hop out of the car and start picking things up. And Nathaniel likes watching the BNSF trains that go through that area
|
|
|
Post by tntmom on May 22, 2011 13:17:38 GMT -5
Very cool Paul and that is so AWESOME that you are donating material to your sons school!!!!
~Krystee
|
|
jasperblue
starting to spend too much on rocks
Diggin' This
Member since August 2010
Posts: 140
|
Post by jasperblue on May 23, 2011 23:43:39 GMT -5
Nice! Been wanting to go out there. You say it's fairly easy access? Is 4 wheel drive needed at any point?
|
|
|
Post by susand24224 on May 24, 2011 0:32:34 GMT -5
It looks like you found a good variety of stuff that will make a nice tumble, especially judging from the sliced ones. What a great combination--rocks for the school, great times with your kids and a good tumble mix to boot!
Susan
|
|
|
Post by paulshiroma on May 24, 2011 14:38:02 GMT -5
Nice! Been wanting to go out there. You say it's fairly easy access? Is 4 wheel drive needed at any point? Hi Jasperblue - Right off the freeway offramp. No special vehicle required. I drive a 2001 Dodge Intrepid and have two small boyz so I'm always looking for places that my Intrepid can handle. My boyz liked it a lot since basically, it was: Get off the freeway - drive down the service road - park on the side - walk around and pick stuff up! It's that easy. The farther you range from the freeway the more stuff you'll find. (Alternately, wait until after a heavy rain, then the new gravel bars are exposed.) The site's been visited for decades so just be prepared to do a little walking. The area's completely flat so it's not a chore or anything. We've typically walked somewhere around 100-200 yards from the car and come away with five gallon buckets full of stuff so it's still a productive site. I should mention that the large pieces in the above photos came from the dirt road. The maintenance vehicles probably uncovered them and they were shoved to the side berm. At least that seems like a good explanation! LOL. Do you use Mitchell's Gem Trails books? Not sure if I'm supposed to "mention" stuff like this but I use them and we post to the Gemtrails.com site that is used to keep the sites listed in the book current with up to date information. If you go here: gemtrails.com/631/field-road-socal-site-50/ you'll find our post for the Field Road site along with a few pictures.
|
|
|
Post by paulshiroma on May 24, 2011 14:44:01 GMT -5
Krystee and Susan: Thanks - and yes, any day out with the boyz is a great time. And it helps out Mommy as she sometimes appreciates a day to herself to do what she'd like to do . Rockhounding isn't really her "thing" although she's got a really good eye. When we were up in Wrightwood, CA, she was the first to find several actinolite specimens. After I briefed the family on what actinolite looked like, she took a few steps, bent down and picked up a rock and said "You mean like this?". LOL! "Yup, dead right, Mommy!"
|
|
|
Post by Toad on May 24, 2011 15:04:37 GMT -5
Nice, also looking forward to seeing how they turn out.
|
|
Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,687
|
Post by Fossilman on May 24, 2011 17:40:22 GMT -5
Very nice.................I'm glad to see you helping out the school on this project.....I applaud you...
|
|
unclestu
Cave Dweller
WINNER OF THE FIRST RTH KILLER CAB CONTEST UNCLESTU'S AGUA NUEVA AGATE
Member since April 2011
Posts: 2,298
|
Post by unclestu on May 24, 2011 19:38:04 GMT -5
Dam the only thing I ever find on the road is road kill/LOL Great tumble material
|
|
jasperblue
starting to spend too much on rocks
Diggin' This
Member since August 2010
Posts: 140
|
Post by jasperblue on May 24, 2011 21:06:30 GMT -5
Hi Paul. Yes, most of the places we hit up are in the Gem Trails book. Also Rockhounding California By Gail Butler is another good source. Try Kramer Hills, @ the 395 and 57. And Gem Hill in Rosamond, for a couple more family friendly locations. Good hunting, - Chris.
|
|
|
Post by paulshiroma on May 24, 2011 23:36:23 GMT -5
Hey, Chris-
Several people have mentioned Butler's book so it looks like I'll have to get a copy. Thanks for the recommendation. Gem Hill looked like a lot of fun but it's close to being an overnight with my family if we were to do that. Kramer looked good too!
|
|
|
Post by paulshiroma on May 24, 2011 23:46:13 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by frane on May 25, 2011 14:54:19 GMT -5
Beautiful stuff and yep, the last looks like impact fracturing but the good thing about rocks is that you can add it back in to the next batch and run it through again until it looks the way you want it to. Are you using tumblers or a vibe? I would add a lot of little filler to the batch or plastic pellets if it is tumblers and ceramics to a vibe batch just to add more contact material. Looking good so far! Fran
|
|
sampson
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since April 2011
Posts: 222
|
Post by sampson on May 25, 2011 17:18:43 GMT -5
Nice Batch Paul, My favorite piece is in the first picture, bottom, second from the right. I love the orange/red/almost purple colors it shows.....as well as being quite shiny too. I think these pictures turned out pretty good and am looking forward to seeing the rest when you re-shoot.
One trick i have tried with some measure of success is to use a small hammer and sometimes a small chisel to remove the chips and try to leave behind the most solid "core" of the piece before tumbling. Other than that i have learned in the last couple years tumbling fractured rough that patience can be your best tool......sometimes it just takes lots of time in coarse grind to remove the fracture lines and chipped pieces..... but that can also lead to much smaller finished pieces that what you started with.
I look forward to seeing the rest of the batch.
Sampson
|
|
|
Post by paulshiroma on May 25, 2011 19:12:33 GMT -5
Hi Fran- yep, I may re-run some of these through again and see what happens. I use a tumbler, by the way and may start using more filler material, as you recommend. Thanks!
|
|
|
Post by paulshiroma on May 25, 2011 19:21:31 GMT -5
Hey, Sampson - I've been using your photo tips from your earlier thread; they've been really beneficial - thanks! - now it's been a lot of experimentation with those ideas to see what I can do. That's a great idea about "pre-shaping" the rough. Never occurred to me to give that a try! <duh moment> To your point about patience/coarse grind - I ended up ordering a pound of 45-70 grade grit from The Rock Shed to see if an additional stage with that grade would also help. Three weeks and three "charges" of 60-90 grade grit only got me so far but ... as you say, maybe I just need to be more patient! Thanks for the ideas and encouragement.
Thanks for checking the thread out. And I agree with you, that piece has some interesting colors. Paul
|
|
|
Post by paulshiroma on May 26, 2011 0:11:02 GMT -5
I may take Fran's advice and drop a few of these back into the tumbler for another go as soon as I have a free barrel. Still not satisfied with the overall outcome but, oh well. My photos skills are another thing entirely LOL ... So, after another 60 shots tonight, I found three that I ... sort of like. One thing that might have helped was changing the lighting venue somewhat. The first set of photos I used a fluorescent spot light which may have contributed to the overall glare. This time, I moved to the dinning room and used the indirect lighting provided by the fixture above the dining room. Sampson, this is the one you mentioned: A few other shots: Thanks for all the advice with this, folks! Do appreciate everyone's help.
|
|
|
Post by paulshiroma on May 26, 2011 23:12:37 GMT -5
I was checking a follow on batch from this pile and pulled this one early thinking that I was going to have to re-run it through the coarse grind. The reason for that was a small "hole" that had appeared on one side. Needless to say, I was sort of irritated until I inspected it a bit more closely. Turns out, it had small quartz(?) crystals hidden inside the cavity. Andrew suggested that we keep it out of the final stages to maintain the little crystal cave we found Unfortunately, my camera skills aren't all that great and it IS a small hole. The rest of the batch, after some inspection, I decided to re-run through a coarse grind anyway, after some chiseling in an attempt to round out the piece.
|
|