Paul
starting to shine!
Member since April 2015
Posts: 38
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Post by Paul on Apr 23, 2015 18:20:39 GMT -5
Wow... that's serious business. I don't have a backyard to dig a big 'ol hole in but I should have realized the stuff would harden at some point. I wonder why the beginner's guide suggested keeping the slurry, because you're right, it sounds like a pain (and messy).
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Post by Jugglerguy on Apr 23, 2015 18:50:12 GMT -5
If you have some time, read This. It's a really nice experiment on whether it's better to recharge your tumbler or completely clean it out each week. Some people save old slurry to add to their new slurry to thicken it. I don't believe in it, but others do. I think some people just pour their tumbler water on the ground. Just be careful if you use borax, because it kills plants. That's one of the reasons I like to dump mine in a hole.
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Paul
starting to shine!
Member since April 2015
Posts: 38
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Post by Paul on Apr 25, 2015 1:40:46 GMT -5
Thanks for the link... that was a very interesting read. I think we'll start off with the clean out method and see how that goes. We've gone through another few pounds of our rocks and I had forgotten about these: Full sizeI know it might be hard to identify these from a picture but does anyone have any ideas? I think we found these along the Oregon coast somewhere. There is a rock and gem show this weekend near us so we're going. I'm hoping to get some more rough and maybe get some of our other rocks identified.
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Post by Peruano on Apr 25, 2015 7:34:45 GMT -5
I'm thinking - ideas are cheap - that your stones are quartzite (likely to be white inside), but they have iron oxidized on the outer surfaces. The streaks are likely where another mineral (or other quartz) invaded after initial formation. I'm just guessing with too little info so accept other input as you receive it. Enjoy the hobby and don't overthink the process. All your grit water can go on plants (except borax), but you don't want to dispose of it where you might track it into the house. Tom
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peachfront
fully equipped rock polisher
Stones have begun to speak, because an ear is there to hear them.
Member since August 2010
Posts: 1,745
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Post by peachfront on Apr 25, 2015 9:49:43 GMT -5
I built a box in the woods behind my house that I pour it into. Over the past three years, I've poured too much slurry in and it's not draining as well, so I might have to move it over. Now I let the water set in a bucket overnight so the slurry settles. Then I pour the water into the hole and try to retain as much rock dust as possible. I pour the rest of the water into a separate bucket and let the rock sludge dry out in the first bucket. When it's dry, I dump it in the garbage. I always have two buckets for slurry/rinse water. Maybe someone else has a better method. We have something like this but I'm not posting our pic now that I see how much nicer the construction is on yours!
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,155
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Post by jamesp on Apr 25, 2015 10:22:25 GMT -5
My wife has one of those for PIA husband.
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Paul
starting to shine!
Member since April 2015
Posts: 38
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Post by Paul on Apr 25, 2015 15:19:02 GMT -5
I'm thinking - ideas are cheap - that your stones are quartzite (likely to be white inside), but they have iron oxidized on the outer surfaces. The streaks are likely where another mineral (or other quartz) invaded after initial formation. I'm just guessing with too little info so accept other input as you receive it. Enjoy the hobby and don't overthink the process. All your grit water can go on plants (except borax), but you don't want to dispose of it where you might track it into the house. Tom Thanks Tom, both for the idea and the advice. I decided to crack one of these open: Full sizeI'm guessing you might be right. It seems crystalline inside and the red bands run through. Do you think these would polish up or would they end up falling apart? I did find this image on Google labeled "banded iron ore"... could that be this? Hard to tell since this is polished:
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Post by Jugglerguy on Apr 25, 2015 15:32:45 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure it's not banded iron formation (or jaspelite). There's literally a mountain of jaspelite in Ishpeming, Michigan. [/url] [/url] The stuff I got from there didn't polish up as nicely as the one in the picture you found though.
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Paul
starting to shine!
Member since April 2015
Posts: 38
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Post by Paul on Apr 25, 2015 16:26:25 GMT -5
Well, I guess I'll find out soon enough. Our tumbler arrived after I wrote that last reply. Got our two barrels tumbling already... Doesn't look like it but that's a little more than 2/3rd full with 4 tbsp of 60/90 and 1/2 cup of water. Also got a nice looking selection of rough: Full sizeNot sure what most of it is but there is a lot of quartz (rose, clear, smoky). One piece of Dalmatian stone I think and I think one amethyst maybe, or very purple quartz I guess. Gonna take samples of these to the gem show (which is two weeks from now, not this weekend like I thought) and see if I can get help identifying some of them.
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Paul
starting to shine!
Member since April 2015
Posts: 38
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Post by Paul on Apr 25, 2015 16:35:01 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure it's not banded iron formation (or jaspelite). There's literally a mountain of jaspelite in Ishpeming, Michigan.
I suppose it could be red jasper (or is jasperlite = red jasper?). I found this image but it's hard to tell since this is already polished: Those pieces in the upper right hand corner look really similar to what I have. Can wait to get this stuff tumbled out. I have enough of our decent self found stuff for another double load. Hoping we get enough out of those two do at least one load to the next stage. It will be interesting to see if my daughter keeps her interest. She was really excited today. More so than I expected. She took the picture of our new rough.
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Post by Peruano on Apr 25, 2015 16:59:23 GMT -5
Well . . . they are not as white (or lighter colored) as I expected if they were just quartz or quartzite pebbles that had been oxidized with iron on the exposed surfaces. My second thought would have been that they are quartz mixed with feldspar (often red, often shiney due to having planar cleavages), and your interior view seems to agree with that. I see some quartz crystals and some dull red (could be feldspar), but certainly something that will polish well for a first run. Jaspers are microcystaline (actually cryptocrystalline) and hence you can't see crystals (they tend to break in conchoidal or bowl shaped divets) hence not your specimen. Search out a web page entitled quartzpage.de and you can learn a million things about quartz and its relatives (with great pictures). Enjoy and my apologies for not being more definitive. Cheers. Tom
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Paul
starting to shine!
Member since April 2015
Posts: 38
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Post by Paul on Apr 25, 2015 18:25:32 GMT -5
Thanks for the website reference Tom. I've only looked at a few pages on that site and it's clear you're correct. To be honest, when I first thought we should figure out exactly what sort of rocks we had been finding all these years I thought it would be a lot easier. I didn't think it would be extremely simple but I didn't think it would be so difficult. It's amazing how complex it is and how easily one thing can be mistaken for another based on visual inspection alone.
Thanks again for the tips.
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