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Post by Bluesky78987 on Sept 18, 2013 9:23:27 GMT -5
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,466
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Post by Sabre52 on Sept 18, 2013 10:15:18 GMT -5
Howdy Susan,
I've only tried to cab a few of these and actually have one waiting on the stick right now. The matrix on Berrendos tends to be fairly soft and porous except for directly adjacent to the agate center. I always thought these t-eggs were a bit similar to Bakers until I tried to cab some. Baker Rch T-eggs have much more silica in the matrix and are much more workable. In my limited experience, with Berrendos, it's better to just cab the agate center.....Mel
PS: I should note too that the centers on Berrendo t-eggs tend to pinch out fairly quickly so if you are lucky, you'll get one nice slab if you figure your cut perfectly and are cutting a whole t-egg. If you were to buy cut halves and try too slab them, the agate face would be much larger on the precut side of the slab and would pinch down to much smaller on the other side. Since Berrendos seldom run over three inches max with most being in the two inch range, this makes for a pretty dang small cab after you cut away the soft matrix. I've never been able to get one big enough to cut a 30 X 40 for my collection.
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Sept 18, 2013 10:58:54 GMT -5
Excellent information, thanks Mel!
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turnedstone
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since January 2006
Posts: 766
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Post by turnedstone on Sept 18, 2013 15:17:19 GMT -5
I would agree with Mel but I have only cut two of them and only cabed one I do not think I have one over 1 and 1/2 inches and I have about 35 plus of them. George
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Post by bobby1 on Sept 18, 2013 23:08:41 GMT -5
I'm tumbling two 10lb barrels of 3/4" pieces. I don't know if there will be much to see when I'm finished. Bob
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