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Post by tims on Aug 9, 2023 18:06:04 GMT -5
Lots of chips, fractures and other imperfections. Some turned out ok but as always i fear they could have been much better. Rolled in 3# for about 8 weeks total. All plucked from hillsides in and around Tepee Canyon by my grubby fingers. This is about 2/5 of the batch, the rest are hard to look at. These are some of my favorites
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hypodactylus
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2021
Posts: 440
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Post by hypodactylus on Aug 9, 2023 18:20:39 GMT -5
Nice! Those are very pretty rocks!
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titaniumkid
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since June 2023
Posts: 236
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Post by titaniumkid on Aug 9, 2023 18:32:19 GMT -5
They look lovely!
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Post by rockjunquie on Aug 9, 2023 18:35:12 GMT -5
Oh wow! Thanks for the eye candy!
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Post by jasoninsd on Aug 9, 2023 19:14:59 GMT -5
tims - Those are great results for one of the toughest tumbling materials I can think of. It's not tough like obsidian...it's tough because of the amount of fractures which seem to be so prevalent with this material.
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Post by Starguy on Aug 9, 2023 19:33:16 GMT -5
Nice job on some tough material.
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ashley
Cave Dweller
Member since February 2023
Posts: 919
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Post by ashley on Aug 9, 2023 21:30:59 GMT -5
Those look great! very pretty!
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Post by tims on Aug 10, 2023 1:17:41 GMT -5
Thanks for the kind words guys. Means a lot.
jasoninsd Starguy if you guys have any secrets for these let me know Cutting or tumbling them is just a crapshoot for me still.
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chris1956
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2022
Posts: 1,320
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Post by chris1956 on Aug 10, 2023 7:21:27 GMT -5
The colors are amazing. Thanks for sharing.
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Post by jasoninsd on Aug 10, 2023 8:15:24 GMT -5
Thanks for the kind words guys. Means a lot.
jasoninsd Starguy if you guys have any secrets for these let me know Cutting or tumbling them is just a crapshoot for me still. The only secret I know is to let Brent ( Starguy) tumble them rather than me!! LOL
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hplcman
spending too much on rocks
Just getting into this....
Member since August 2022
Posts: 417
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Post by hplcman on Aug 10, 2023 10:08:07 GMT -5
Those are great! I still can't believe you can just walk out into nature and find rocks like this. Were they all just sitting around? Or do you have to dig a bit to find them?
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pebblesky
fully equipped rock polisher
Purchased another UV mini bowl for tumbling
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,509
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Post by pebblesky on Aug 10, 2023 12:11:32 GMT -5
These look delicious! Is your avatar also a group picture of tumbled Teepee Canyon agates?
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Post by tims on Aug 10, 2023 15:12:26 GMT -5
Those are great! I still can't believe you can just walk out into nature and find rocks like this. Were they all just sitting around? Or do you have to dig a bit to find them? I don't dig but lots of people do. There are limestone formations you can dig / break into and find full chert nodules, some of which are agate inside and some which are just chert all the way through. The huge trenches rimming many of the hills out there that have appeared over the past few years are testament that it's a popular method for some, and i assume they're having some success because the trenches seem to get longer and deeper every week.
Digging is not my thing. I just pick a hill and wander around and pick up what i find exposed on the surface. There is plenty of pretty agate that gets naturally exposed but sometimes you have to scour quite a bit of ground to find them. Sometimes you'll hit a great spot and fill your pockets in an hour. I find mostly bits and pieces but do score the occasional full nodule (the 2nd and 4th pic are little nodges).
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Post by tims on Aug 10, 2023 15:19:01 GMT -5
These look delicious! Is your avatar also a group picture of tumbled Teepee Canyon agates? Yep that's this load wet prior to pre-polish. They looked better then than finished and dry
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pebblesky
fully equipped rock polisher
Purchased another UV mini bowl for tumbling
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,509
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Post by pebblesky on Aug 10, 2023 16:46:42 GMT -5
These look delicious! Is your avatar also a group picture of tumbled Teepee Canyon agates? Yep that's this load wet prior to pre-polish. They looked better then than finished and dry Yeah my tumbled rocks also looked the best when shown wet. Water hides all the cracks and undercuts. Your finished tumbles are still super nice!
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rocknewb101
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2022
Posts: 1,352
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Post by rocknewb101 on Aug 11, 2023 6:36:03 GMT -5
Those look amazing IMO! So many colors, patterns and love love the druzy spots on them. I think their 'imperfections' make them perfect! The 5th one down looks like it's layered and the spots are showing through from underneath. Those concentric rings are fascinating - they are natures perfection...well done!
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Post by velodromed on Aug 18, 2023 3:24:31 GMT -5
Thank you for posting these, tims. I saw just in time to include some with my Richardson rocks order. The don’t look easy to polish but I love a challenge! Do you have any suggestions? Like is there anything you did during the process that you wish you hadn’t, or is there anything that you didn’t do that you wish you had? I see that you rolled them for three weeks in stage three grit, so no course or 2 stage? How do you think these would hold up and a vibratory tumbler? Many thanks!
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Post by jasoninsd on Aug 18, 2023 7:39:46 GMT -5
velodromed - When you get the Teepees from Richardson's, would you post pictures of what they send?
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Post by velodromed on Aug 18, 2023 9:44:51 GMT -5
velodromed - When you get the Teepees from Richardson's, would you post pictures of what they send? Sure will!
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Post by tims on Aug 19, 2023 13:40:37 GMT -5
Thank you for posting these, tims . I saw just in time to include some with my Richardson rocks order. The don’t look easy to polish but I love a challenge! Do you have any suggestions? Like is there anything you did during the process that you wish you hadn’t, or is there anything that you didn’t do that you wish you had? I see that you rolled them for three weeks in stage three grit, so no course or 2 stage? How do you think these would hold up and a vibratory tumbler? Many thanks! My suggestion would be to roll them as gently as possible, for as short a time as possible. 3# meant a 3 pound tumbler ... I rolled those in 80SiC for about 5 weeeks, then 10 days in 80 AO, a week in 500 AO, then a week in polish. Cracks and chips started developing at around 2 to 3 weeks in stage 1. I used small and medium ceramics (approx 1/5 of the load) from start up to polish, then swapped the ceramics for marbles i've used many times that have shrunk to 1/4" to 1/2" for polish stage. I have no idea how these would polish in a vibe ... it might be gentler than the rotary, or they might hate the vibratory action and fracture even worse. Curious to see your process and results.
I've thrown many tepees in with previous 12# loads and lost many to breakage, but a few have tumbled in loads with fairly large rocks (3"+) and came through unscathed. Some look completely free of fractures to start and literally come apart in the tumbler. Some look iffy but turn out fine (a very few). They're difficult to predict.
FWIW a friend of mine is currently running her first ever load, a batch of tepees we hounded together. She got a Natl Geo tumbler used from some rando at a gas station for $20 and started the batch week before last. That thing runs a fast speed for stage 1 and i thought it would just destroy her load, but she only ran stage 1 a few days and from pics it looked like her stones had smoothed out pretty well (not rounded out completely but smoothed) and the chip / fracture issues seemed far less severe than mine after a month plus. Really curious to see how her batch shapes up and polishes, and if she nails it on her first try i'll make her give me detailed notes after i cry in shame for an appropriate time.
Best of luck, and hope to hear how your batch progresses.
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