jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,175
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Post by jamesp on Jul 25, 2013 17:42:14 GMT -5
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Jul 25, 2013 18:12:57 GMT -5
Very cool. How did you crush the material?
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,175
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Post by jamesp on Jul 25, 2013 18:20:40 GMT -5
Three pound engineer's hammer and heavy block of steel for anvil.
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Post by rockpickerforever on Jul 25, 2013 20:14:48 GMT -5
Those are sweet!!! Do you consider the 3# hammer a SMFH? As opposed to a MMFH or BMFH...
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cardiobill
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since March 2012
Posts: 879
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Post by cardiobill on Jul 25, 2013 20:22:48 GMT -5
Very, very cool Bill
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Post by orrum on Jul 25, 2013 20:26:05 GMT -5
James thats way cool!
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,175
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Post by jamesp on Jul 25, 2013 23:25:45 GMT -5
It's not the size of the hammer Jean, but the man behind it LOL
That stuff looks cool tumbled. It is fussy about creating pressure though.
If ya mix all colors it gets wild looking. I do it with crushed glass, marbles, glass beads, colored glass stirrers even broken breccia mixed in a breccia of breccia. Really takes a month to cure to max hard for tumbling, preferably several months. You can pour the mix in seedling trays and make thimble size cylinders like 1/2 to 3/4 inch for tumbling. I would say those slabs are hard enough to cab.
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Post by rockjunquie on Jul 26, 2013 11:17:45 GMT -5
It's not the size of the hammer Jean, but the man behind it LOL That stuff looks cool tumbled. It is fussy about creating pressure though. If ya mix all colors it gets wild looking. I do it with crushed glass, marbles, glass beads, colored glass stirrers even broken breccia mixed in a breccia of breccia. Really takes a month to cure to max hard for tumbling, preferably several months. You can pour the mix in seedling trays and make thimble size cylinders like 1/2 to 3/4 inch for tumbling. I would say those slabs are hard enough to cab. AWESOME! But, does it polish? If not, then I suppose if you soaked it in tile sealer it would polish better. I can see lots of potential and uses for these. Very cool.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2013 11:52:06 GMT -5
Jim, if you use epoxy, it will then cab and polish well! That is how Ceasarstone is made.
Home made Ceasarstone!
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,175
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Post by jamesp on Jul 26, 2013 13:50:42 GMT -5
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2013 15:53:12 GMT -5
do you screen the chards so you can properly proportion the sizes?
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,175
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Post by jamesp on Jul 29, 2013 8:34:44 GMT -5
Yes. It is best way. Can do by eye for small pours. But I got stashes of different materials.
I collected all the Texas concrete from Rio area I could find. It had so much agate in it.
Some tumbling notes: I just break up a wide range of sizes Scott. Throw em in there and let them break up at weak spots for a couple of days. Then add more after cleanout. I have learned to wear gloves on first wash outs due to hand pickling PH (alkalinity). I notice the alkalinity dissipates after 2-3 cleanouts, but it is worse than straight wet concrete at first 2 cleanouts. It surprised me how much ammonia blasted me when I opened it. I did not do any neutralizing for fear of gas production... I am leaning toward old fashioned Portland with silica sand to keep matrix wearing at same rate as jaspers and corals. But the weird high dollar counter top stuff is softer. Better for flourites, serpentines, apatites and other 3,4,5 mohs hardnesses. The old school Portland with a wide range of silicates is wicked strong. Instead of using sand I made my own out of the agate I was crushing. That gave a sexy texture, color and wear rate. Sharp particles too, exponentially increasing the strength. The strength is all about the aggregate and sharply broke agates/jaspers/glass are great. Mortar is much weaker but is trowel friendly and uses rounder river sand for aggregate.
I want to try the new jewelry mixes. They were not around when I poured all this stuff. A premix is so much simpler.
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