panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Jan 2, 2017 12:19:19 GMT -5
Hey jamesp and others, You all know a lot, so I was wondering if you had a guess on how they polished these big pieces of petwood? The pieces are in Indonesia, so it may involve hand-polishing by "slave" labor. I have many very large pieces of nice petwood stumps and full rounds. Biggest is about 300+ lbs. I would like to polish them up as they have desert patina. Maybe a car polisher repurposed for the task would work. I have one and have bought the diamond disks, but have yet to try it. Any thoughts come to mind? BTW, if you haven't checked out the Indo Petrified Wood member/group on FB you should. They have a big-arse and dangerous looking saw for their wood that would be fantastic to have access to. Interesting method of controlling the cut. (definitely non-OSHA site) I am a bit dubious of the petrified bamboo as all too often the segment joints line up perfectly. Probably bamboo, but sanded and shaped to fit. But check out this coral piece from them: Thanks for any ideas
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Jan 1, 2017 10:04:02 GMT -5
That is cute, panamark. Did you raise it or take to a place that does that? We took it to the local Smithsonian Research Station. They know a lot on care, etc. Unfortunately they could not save it. It seems it did not have enough time with its mother to acquire the antibodies, etc from the milk. Sad, it sure was adorable.
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Jan 1, 2017 9:08:50 GMT -5
Okay, only mammals = whitetail and mule deer, moose, elk, mountain lion (next door), beaver, otters, muskrat, skunks, porcupines, assorted mice and vole species, pocket gopher, moles, fox squirrels, pine squirrels, mink, weasel, red fox, cottontail rabbit, flying squirrels, brown bats, raccoons, coyotes. That is about it. No bears or wolves yet, but it is just a matter of luck and timing. We feel blessed to live here for sure. Oh yeah, add humans and dogs and cats. That's quite a list, Mark. I've seen beaver on or close to our road, just not in the yard. Do you see anything interesting in Panama? I should add that one of the cutest mammals we have had in our yard in Panama is a baby sloth. The adults are weird looking, but the babies are adorable. One was orphaned and we rescued it. PS: the orange monkey is not endemic. We have the Black Howler Monkeys here. About the size of a small watermelon, but their loud roaring voice would make you think they are the size of a gorilla
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Dec 31, 2016 20:55:04 GMT -5
Okay, only mammals = whitetail and mule deer, moose, elk, mountain lion (next door), beaver, otters, muskrat, skunks, porcupines, assorted mice and vole species, pocket gopher, moles, fox squirrels, pine squirrels, mink, weasel, red fox, cottontail rabbit, flying squirrels, brown bats, raccoons, coyotes. That is about it. No bears or wolves yet, but it is just a matter of luck and timing. We feel blessed to live here for sure. Oh yeah, add humans and dogs and cats. That's quite a list, Mark. I've seen beaver on or close to our road, just not in the yard. Do you see anything interesting in Panama? In Panama we get some weirdos - along with the monkeys: the most unusual are coatimunde and agouti. Coati: agouti (like a cross between a rabbit and a deer. I crouches like a rabbit, but then stands up and walks like a deer) And we had a feral cat around, but we watched a boa constrictor get it. A terrific battle. My wife said "should we try to save the cat?" Which is hilarious as I don't have any experience in untangling cats from a boa.
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Dec 31, 2016 16:58:30 GMT -5
Okay, only mammals = whitetail and mule deer, moose, elk, mountain lion (next door), beaver, otters, muskrat, skunks, porcupines, assorted mice and vole species, pocket gopher, moles, fox squirrels, pine squirrels, shrews, mink, weasel, red fox, cottontail rabbit, flying squirrels, brown bats, raccoons, coyotes. That is about it. No bears or wolves yet, but it is just a matter of luck and timing. We feel blessed to live here for sure. Oh yeah, add humans and dogs and cats.
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Dec 31, 2016 11:36:43 GMT -5
A weirdly fascinating site featuring only coprolite (fossilized poop). Some of those must have hurt. www.poozeum.com/coprolites.htmljamesp and others, have you found much of this? After reading the stuff (esp. the SCarolina items) I wondered if you have found some crappy stuff?
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Dec 30, 2016 17:01:46 GMT -5
Looks like the rocks roll left to right and rotate simultaneously panamark. Or does it just rotate on a tilt ? yes. It doesn't seem to run on 2 rollers, but rather an accentric shaft. Strange
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Dec 30, 2016 16:57:38 GMT -5
#26 might be Chicken track jasper. Might be disaster peak but seems a bit too yellow
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Dec 30, 2016 9:03:23 GMT -5
Interesting the "with lateral and rotary action" marketing angle from the tilted barrel. Seems like that was a big concern back then. Also, this must be the deluxe model because it says right there it has a RED barrel. Wowzers.
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Dec 28, 2016 20:41:07 GMT -5
nice colored petwood!
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Dec 24, 2016 17:25:05 GMT -5
I like the looks of that "just-off-parallel" cut Andy. Very nice!
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Dec 24, 2016 13:17:45 GMT -5
My vibe has a big motor and is costly to run, so I was trying to take a load off of it and do some lazy finishing in the rotary with the AO 80. Very happy with the AO 80 rotary run. No one uses AO 80 in a rotary that I am aware of. Consider it a new way to use your rotary to get to pre-polish. James, you are one of the most creative, innovative guys I know. Amazing how you are always thinking on many different topics. How does your wife keep up with you, ha ha. Now get to designing a diy BIG vibe tumbler that we can all afford :-)
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Dec 24, 2016 9:46:55 GMT -5
So good to have you back and posting. Have been seeing some of your stuff on FB, so I knew you were alive and producing. Really nice cabs here and on FB
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Dec 21, 2016 9:59:27 GMT -5
Like you said, when I examined my piece of coral, the weight was wrong for petwood. I had seen some coral jewelry so I had a guess. I finally got the black coral out with a magnifier and I could see it wasn't petrified wood but perfectly matched black coral pictures I googled. I know the corals are somewhat protected now, but from what I could find the black coral is still legal to own. And in Hawaii they still carefully and conservatively harvest it from the depths. It takes a pretty darn nice polish for coral.
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Dec 19, 2016 16:26:48 GMT -5
Great stuff. Estate rock sales are the next best thing to rockhounding it yourself.
I wonder if the black stuff you asked about is black coral. I got some in an estate sale and was puzzled by it for a while too.
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Dec 15, 2016 23:59:55 GMT -5
good on you Andrea !
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Dec 15, 2016 17:10:18 GMT -5
those are really nice. The beads came out great. I am confused on the new unwrite rock though
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Dec 14, 2016 14:02:08 GMT -5
Looking at the heavy concrete base of a Lot-O. Has to do with it's ability to function properly by design. I stuck 2 layers of cardboard under the right side of my Viking vibe and it altered the mixing substantially. I had tried tilting it and it had little effect. Seems the softer padding under the right side is the cause for the change. Easier than putzing with the counterbalances. Interesting. I guess the dampening of the spring on that side was more effective than tilting. On my vibe I can grab one side to dampen and the rocks start climbing the other side pretty quickly. Some complicated physics going on in a vibe
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Dec 14, 2016 7:39:41 GMT -5
Anyone know where snowmom has been? Hasn't been on in long time it seems, and I hope she is okay.
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Dec 13, 2016 17:41:41 GMT -5
Order this book Mike. Points of TN river valley. Got a friend that is a mollusk diver at L Wheeler in N AL. He finds wicked points. I think he makes a small fortune selling them. Remind me again James, do they get the mollusks for buttons, pearls, ? ?
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