ziggy
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 483
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Post by ziggy on Apr 27, 2017 20:36:17 GMT -5
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Post by wigglinrocks on Apr 27, 2017 21:05:13 GMT -5
I picked up these fossil laden stones at a popular lightning stone beach. They are the same mud as lightning stones but are filled with fossil shells instead of calcite. I aways passed them by before but I decided to try polishing up a pendant or two. They cut nicely then I ran them against the belt sander to smooth out the marks from my little saw. The shells stick out real well after the belt sander like the one in the first picture below but after cabbing, they look kind of crappy with at least half the inclusions fading to dark like the one in the bottom picture. I think this is the first time an unpolished rock looks better. Here's an uneducated idea , may be the fossils are a bit porous and the cabbing smeared some of the mud into them . Might try washing them with a good soap bath to see if it helps . Cool stone by the way .
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Post by deb193redux on Apr 28, 2017 9:49:10 GMT -5
I think matrix dust is getting into softer calcium of shells.
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zarguy
fully equipped rock polisher
Cedar City, Utah - rockhound heaven!
Member since December 2005
Posts: 1,791
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Post by zarguy on Apr 29, 2017 0:24:36 GMT -5
It could be that you ground past the best, contrasty shells & into a sparser section that's less shell & more matrix. Lynn
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