scottyh
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2007
Posts: 181
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Post by scottyh on Oct 8, 2014 2:32:28 GMT -5
Nice moss agate, how hard is the area to find. I will be in TX December/January and am hoping to get some rock hounding done. Would be a shame to come from the other side of the globe and not pick something up ?
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scottyh
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2007
Posts: 181
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Post by scottyh on Nov 9, 2013 14:59:35 GMT -5
Hi,
Just wondering if these have been agates have been transported by water to the collection site sometime in the distant past. The reason I ask is that I collect a lot of beach agate and they all have a layer of these "impact crescents" on the outer layers. To remove them you may need to spend up to 6 months in repeated stage one. Also looking at your photos I don't see one stone that really should have been moved out from stage one.... Sorry not meaning to be harsh but if you want a great tumble be prepared to sit through repeated stage one grinds. I have a very large tumbler drum (200 lb+) that runs 24/7 and on clean out days it is not unusual for me to just put the whole lot back in. I only do 2-3 15 pound stage two through to polish runs a year as I am looking for the perfect competition winners. So my advice would be to go back to stage one and keep going until you have flaw free material to move to stage two. Looking at you material I would absolutely guarantee that I lot of it may remain at the first stage until it is dust but if you want great results just and accept that less will come out than went in.
Patience is a virtue that you will need to develop to get those perfect tumbles.
Cheers Scott
Patience
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scottyh
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2007
Posts: 181
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Post by scottyh on Jan 11, 2013 1:05:17 GMT -5
Hi,
Looking through the pics I see a number of issues. First up you do have some keepers... I would say about 10% of the load look great. I would also agree with previous assessments that a large chunk of the Jasper material looks a little porous. As for the rest of the material I would say that it may have been moved on a little too soon.
In my experience I would say that a lot of the problems that I see are people trying to move material on too soon, expecting highly flawed material to turn out perfect or a combination of both problems.
If it were me take out the keepers and put the rest back into a rough grind and just keep going. Take the one or two perfect stones each week and keep going that way. In my 100 lb barrel which I use for processing rough I find that there may be weeks where I don't take one single stone out as I am not happy with the results. If you get dedicated and very patient then you can get every stone coming out of the final polish perfect.
Cheers Scott
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scottyh
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2007
Posts: 181
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Post by scottyh on May 12, 2012 20:50:41 GMT -5
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scottyh
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2007
Posts: 181
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Post by scottyh on Jan 9, 2012 0:14:29 GMT -5
Apologies for the double up.. things are running very slowly at this end
Cheers Scott
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scottyh
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2007
Posts: 181
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Post by scottyh on Jan 9, 2012 0:11:24 GMT -5
Hi Guys, I see that I have had some request for pictures. Slight problem at this end in that I haven't taken pictures of finished material to date. I would be happy to take some pictures but all my show pieces are in storage due to the earthquakes (8000 aftershocks and counting) here... see following link en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Christchurch_earthquake. Been pretty bad as I lost my saw, one of my tumblers and all of my grind stones and my workshop. Managed to save most of my best finished pieces-some need refinishing. However, I have some good news, I am about to start a completley fresh tumble in the very near future (next two weeks) in my very destroyed workshop. It will include some very large pieces of agatised wood that are off cuts from a sphere blank that I had made up. I will re-teach myself how to use photobucket (sp?) and step everyone through each week. It may take a while (I am picking a year). Any one a taker? Cheers Scott
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scottyh
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2007
Posts: 181
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Post by scottyh on Jan 9, 2012 0:10:32 GMT -5
Hi Guys, I see that I have had some request for pictures. Slight problem at this end in that I haven't taken pictures of finished material to date. I would be happy to take some pictures but all my show pieces are in storage due to the earthquakes (8000 aftershocks and counting) here... see following link en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Christchurch_earthquake. Been pretty bad as I lost my saw, one of my tumblers and all of my grind stones and my workshop. Managed to save most of my best finished pieces-some need refinishing. However, I have some good news, I am about to start a completley fresh tumble in the very near future (next two weeks) in my very destroyed workshop. It will include some very large pieces of agatised wood that are off cuts from a sphere blank that I had made up. I will re-teach myself how to use photobucket (sp?) and step everyone through each week. It may take a while (I am picking a year). Any one a taker? Cheers Scott
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scottyh
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2007
Posts: 181
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Post by scottyh on Jan 6, 2012 21:39:32 GMT -5
Its a hobby honest.... When I was young and first started I did keep a lot of my material however as the years have gone buy I realised that although it was well polished and very shiny it was really rubbish. I now start with very large tumbler (100 lbs) for my rough grind. However in saying that I am looking for absolute perfection for my stones (no flaws, no cracks, no chips and absolutely smooth) so only ever take a small number (and sometimes none) out of the drum each week. Also I like to do the occasional large (2-3 times the size of a softball) stone perfectly therefore I need a large stone. Very rarely do I have a mass clean out. I then finish everything in 15-20 pound drum lots. I lot of material goes into the rough grind and never comes out as I am not that happy with it. The keepers however are competition winners. I would be lucky to keep 30-50 individual stones a year for myself and probably give way up to 40-50 pounds a year to friends and family. I don't sell any of my "seconds" but am willing to give them away to others. The key to this hobby is patience and only moving something on when it is done combined with the willingness to get rid of the second rate material. Cheers Scott
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scottyh
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2007
Posts: 181
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Post by scottyh on Jul 20, 2011 0:44:53 GMT -5
When I was looking at making a set of tumbler barrels I decided to go the one time only or do it once do it right route so I got some hexagonal sections made up out of 2mm mild steel and put plywood ends on them. They have never given me a problem. They are used year round and the only down time is to renew the rubber lining and seals every couple of years . The only issue is that they are not big enough . However, getting round that with a monster barrel for the rough grind. Will hold about 110-120 pound of material ;D. Its just about finished and will post the pics when I get done so all can see. Probably will cost about $200 all up by the time I finish. Cheers Scott
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scottyh
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2007
Posts: 181
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Post by scottyh on May 15, 2010 21:36:30 GMT -5
Looking good, my partner Sal has long collected sea tumbled glass and although we don't see as much on the beach as you do, it's still fun
Cheers Scott
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scottyh
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2007
Posts: 181
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Post by scottyh on May 15, 2010 21:23:50 GMT -5
I agree with John, don't mix the polishes its a waste of time and money. Use the tin oxide and save the other polishes for something else.
Cheers Scott
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scottyh
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2007
Posts: 181
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Post by scottyh on Mar 22, 2010 18:47:45 GMT -5
Hi,
I have to agree with the previous replies in that
1: the rough will need many more (3+) repeats of stage one to get anywhere near being ready to move on.
2: much of the rough in the pictures will never make it to the next stage. If you really want to take it further then it needs to be cut or ground flat (but my feeling is that if you do that it is likely to still be flawed and not really up to scratch).
3: The way forward is to just take out the odd stone that is ready and replace it with new rough until you have enough material to move on to stage 2.
4: yep you need a lot more small grit carriers uin the mix
However, all is not lost. Just take you time and you will get there
Cheers Scott
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scottyh
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2007
Posts: 181
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Post by scottyh on Nov 20, 2009 16:15:30 GMT -5
Well I went and did it,
I have been cutting all my agate at our clubs work shop and when they got to big paying others to cut them (nodules 12 inch's and bigger) I was holding out for a nice second hand 18 inch saw for the home workshop but they are as rare as hens teeth in this neck of the woods. As I have a heap of material to cut and it was building up was starting to get a bit desperate. so when talk of second hand lortone 10 in slab saw coming up for sale went round the the club I made sure I got in fast and got it. It is in fantastic condition and has been really well looked after.
It is now in in the home workshop cutting away.... The really good news though is there are rumors that a 18 inch saw maybe coming on the market very soon and I am on that case as well...
Cheers Scott
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scottyh
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2007
Posts: 181
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Post by scottyh on Nov 15, 2009 0:35:03 GMT -5
Hi,
Apologies I know this is a bit late, but ..... in our (local and national level) competitions intarsia and mosaics are considered two totally different classes.... intarsia has edges that are perfect matches and then is lapped flat so that it appears to be one piece, while mosaics have pieces that are not perfectly fitted, grouted and not lapped flat....
Cheers Scott
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scottyh
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2007
Posts: 181
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Post by scottyh on Oct 26, 2009 2:04:11 GMT -5
Nice... reminds me a lot of the woolshed creek moss that we get in NZ
Cheers Scott
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scottyh
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2007
Posts: 181
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Post by scottyh on Oct 26, 2009 2:01:00 GMT -5
Hi Zero...
I have been tumbling for a few years now and I just give most of my tumbles away. I tend to find that only about 1 in every 3-500 stones are are a real keeper..... (I guess I am fussy). I Tend to keep a drum of rough going and only take out the flawless perfect ones to send to the next stage. As a result I rund a 100 pound rough drum all the time where as I only run the 15 pound 220 upwards drums 2 maybe 3 time a year
So in short the answer is give them away to friends family and vistors
Cheers Scott
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scottyh
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2007
Posts: 181
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Post by scottyh on Oct 10, 2009 15:50:54 GMT -5
Congratulations Tom,
You did a great job on what looked to be a bunch of rough that was rubbish. I wouldn't be too displeased with third. Having done some judging all I can say that there is usually not much between the top three. I can email you the scoresheet we use here that shows you how tumbled stones are judged.. if you want. At the end of the day you did a great job and it would have been a close call
Cheers Scott
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scottyh
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2007
Posts: 181
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Post by scottyh on Sept 8, 2009 20:16:03 GMT -5
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scottyh
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2007
Posts: 181
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Post by scottyh on Sept 8, 2009 20:00:53 GMT -5
The concretions at Moeraki are natural formations
Cheers Scott
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scottyh
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2007
Posts: 181
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Post by scottyh on Aug 27, 2009 1:54:08 GMT -5
I just use carpet (wool or nylon-anything I can get) and a tin oxide slurry and have had no problems,
Cheers Scott
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