jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on May 24, 2015 16:45:29 GMT -5
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Coral
May 24, 2015 17:15:16 GMT -5
Post by captbob on May 24, 2015 17:15:16 GMT -5
Wow, coral porn! Nice photo album pics. Super shine!
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Coral
May 24, 2015 19:46:18 GMT -5
Post by jamesp on May 24, 2015 19:46:18 GMT -5
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,680
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Coral
May 24, 2015 20:32:19 GMT -5
Post by Fossilman on May 24, 2015 20:32:19 GMT -5
Awesome as always James!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Coral
May 24, 2015 20:53:29 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by orrum on May 24, 2015 20:53:29 GMT -5
Very nice work !
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,339
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Coral
May 24, 2015 23:04:00 GMT -5
Post by quartz on May 24, 2015 23:04:00 GMT -5
Great color and variety, all well polished; thanks for the show.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on May 25, 2015 6:51:41 GMT -5
Have been real busy for 2 months and coarse grind was predicted 10 weeks. So I used 4-5 cups of grinding wheel chunks for the first 5 weeks and 4-5 cups for the 2nd 5 weeks. Added 3 cups of clay at start. Slurry was pretty thick at start, do not notice a reduction in cutting w/fairly thick slurry. When I added the more chunks at 5 weeks I poured some thick slurry off and added fresh water to thin it up some. So the barrel only got opened once in 10 weeks. Using loose grit I would have added 1 cup at least every week, so 10 cups of grit total anyway. The chunk method does a great 'time release SiC 60'. I ran out of loose SiC 30/60 and have just been using the SiC grinding wheels for a good while now. Alum Oxide wheels work with softer rock, not agate. Note: Grit never really breaks down as long as some grinding wheel chunks are still in batch. Makes 220 run mandatory after removing all 60 grit chunks.
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
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Post by tkvancil on May 25, 2015 10:49:13 GMT -5
First off very nice tumble, good shape and shine. Have always really liked the corals. The agates in the album were sweet too!
Secondly I sure like the "grinding on a budget" thing with the busted up wheels. They were free or cheap, right?
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on May 25, 2015 11:04:56 GMT -5
First off very nice tumble, good shape and shine. Have always really liked the corals. The agates in the album were sweet too! Secondly I sure like the "grinding on a budget" thing with the busted up wheels. They were free or cheap, right? Ken, they are old and stashed in the corner of an industrial junkyard. Probably before they started using AO grinding wheels. About five 5 gallon buckets full for $50. So cheap. I think he charged me 50 cents/pound. They still make them. If you can find an operation that uses them they likely get thrown away when used to a point. Maybe tumbled with them 5-6 times. They round like the rocks as they wear.
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Post by fantastic5 on May 26, 2015 12:34:03 GMT -5
[quote author=" jamesp" source="/post/811432/thread" timestamp="1432503929@fantastic5 what is this ? Beautomis more stuff [/quote] That is old stock material from the Cranberry Mine in NC. Epidote and magnatite. I love the polish that took! I can certainly give you some more. I have a little less than a 5 gal bucket of smaller pieces left. I was cleaning out the PVC barrel you gave me. I had gotten busy and let it run for almost 3 weeks without adding grit. Still was able to pull out several pieces that are ready for the vibe. I haven't taken any pictures but two of the pieces of coral have the most brilliant blue streak in them. I am really excited and hope the color continues to develope as I get them into the vibe. I've mixed my corals and corals that you have given me together in 3 barrels, so I am not sure, but I guess this was some of the heat treated material you gave me.
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Coral
May 26, 2015 13:36:28 GMT -5
Post by iant on May 26, 2015 13:36:28 GMT -5
Love the colour variety in that coral - really special! That last piece is very different too! Thanks for showing us all.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on May 26, 2015 13:37:21 GMT -5
fantastic5 Epidote/magnetite was quite polishable. Was certain it wold not take one, but have had luck with Rob's epidote. I was going to say if you could find that by the truck load it would sell like hotcakes. Old stock sounds like hard to find stock. to bad... No worries about the coral, heated/not heated. It all tumbles together very well. Easy, just slow to shape, heated faster. Helps if you add grit . The blue stuff would not be heated, blue and gray just turns to yuk beige and gets cloudy when heated. The bluish coral in this tumble in this thread was not heated either for the same reason. It is some hard rock. pure silica like Montana good luck on the tumbles, may take a while in the rough o
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on May 26, 2015 13:39:13 GMT -5
Love the colour variety in that coral - really special! That last piece is very different too! Thanks for showing us all. Magnetite/epidote Ian. the stuff is beautiful. must have a lot of silica
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