dillonf
fully equipped rock polisher
Hounding and tumbling
Member since February 2022
Posts: 1,592
|
Post by dillonf on Nov 7, 2023 21:36:18 GMT -5
Real black onyx is rare and extremely expensive. A better alternative would be ilmenite. From what I'm reading, isn't ilmenite on the softer side? I'd be nervous about it getting banged up in the bag. I'm fine with things being a fake black onyx. In my amateurish research, it looks like it might be a black chalcedony, which might hold up a bit better. I have some black flint that would be durable and take a nice shine.
|
|
|
Post by vegasjames on Nov 10, 2023 3:14:16 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Mel on Nov 10, 2023 8:27:39 GMT -5
What an amazing idea!! Azul is awesome and can only imagine how the rocks will add to it. Closest Iāve come to mixing gaming & rocks is a mandala board.
Canāt wait to see more.
|
|
iamchris
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2023
Posts: 667
|
Post by iamchris on Nov 10, 2023 9:49:14 GMT -5
Wow, talk about going above and beyond, vegasjames . Insert Foo Fighters's "My Hero" in the background here. Presuming you are willing to part with any of these, I'd love to purchase the following: jasper (red) moss agate (yellow/red) chalcedony (white/teal) obsidian (black) That leaves only the blue. Of course I'm just finishing up some blue quartz in the vibratory tumbler and no longer have any rough. I know you had mentioned that you might also have some but it's broken up but I didn't see it in any of the pictures. If that's not an option, I saw this guy which might be kind of close, but I don't know what it is or how it would polish up. Might be too close to the black though.
|
|
|
Post by vegasjames on Nov 10, 2023 17:36:45 GMT -5
Wow, talk about going above and beyond, vegasjames . Insert Foo Fighters's "My Hero" in the background here. Presuming you are willing to part with any of these, I'd love to purchase the following: jasper (red) moss agate (yellow/red) chalcedony (white/teal) obsidian (black) That leaves only the blue. Of course I'm just finishing up some blue quartz in the vibratory tumbler and no longer have any rough. I know you had mentioned that you might also have some but it's broken up but I didn't see it in any of the pictures. If that's not an option, I saw this guy which might be kind of close, but I don't know what it is or how it would polish up. Might be too close to the black though. Second stone down is a bluish chalcedony. Best I could find for blue so far. Are you looking for a dark blue?
|
|
wargrafix
Cave Dweller
Member since June 2023
Posts: 546
|
Post by wargrafix on Nov 11, 2023 16:58:13 GMT -5
Goddammit, those rocks are stunning! Its a great project. I am getting shawshank redemption vibes, and I like it!
|
|
khara
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,722
|
Post by khara on Nov 11, 2023 18:03:27 GMT -5
Fun project! Iāve always thought itād be fun to make a backgammon set. Would only need two stones, a light and a dark, and there could be so many variations. Maybe in my retirement, sighā¦.
|
|
|
Post by vegasjames on Nov 11, 2023 18:32:21 GMT -5
Wow, talk about going above and beyond, vegasjames . Insert Foo Fighters's "My Hero" in the background here. Presuming you are willing to part with any of these, I'd love to purchase the following: jasper (red) moss agate (yellow/red) chalcedony (white/teal) obsidian (black) That leaves only the blue. Of course I'm just finishing up some blue quartz in the vibratory tumbler and no longer have any rough. I know you had mentioned that you might also have some but it's broken up but I didn't see it in any of the pictures. If that's not an option, I saw this guy which might be kind of close, but I don't know what it is or how it would polish up. Might be too close to the black though. I have all these set aside for whatever you want. The one you have the arrow pointed to I think is a rhyolite. In the raw, it has a weird rock candy look. I find it in various colors and patterns such as blue and white striped, brick red, etc. Mostly a grayish color or this purplish-brown color.
If you need more photos of specific pieces including a size reference , let me know.
|
|
iamchris
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2023
Posts: 667
|
Post by iamchris on Nov 15, 2023 10:24:04 GMT -5
I picked up an old Lortone LS10 slab saw on Monday ( back when the LS was a slab saw), and the gentleman that sold it to me also had some sodalite slabs that I decided to snatch up for the blues in this project. Pics of that to come once I get it set up! Sending you a PM, vegasjames!
|
|
iamchris
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2023
Posts: 667
|
Post by iamchris on Jan 31, 2024 17:13:40 GMT -5
Thanks to vegasjames, I acquired a good amount of rough for this project late last year. Unfortunately, I managed to bend a saw blade in my new slab saw before I received it. The saw's previous owner only gave me enough oil to fill it once, and I dillydallied on buying more. I lost enough volume on my filtering that I no longer had enough oil to run the saw, so this project sat dormant. I had ordered oil from Highland Park on Black Friday along with my cabber. They've been backordered on it and giving me the runaround on shipping time for the last two months, so finally I gave up and ordered from Kingsley North, who shipped it immediately. Of course when I called HP to cancel the oil, they told me that a container was set to arrive the following day and my order would ship then. Funny how all the other times I called, they didn't know what would and wouldn't be in the container, so they couldn't promise me anything. While they did follow through with the CC refund after I rejected their offer of store credit, the chances I believe them are 0%. KN will be my go-to in the future. Anyway, I now have oil and have started cutting tiles! Here are some obsidian tiles that came out of 120/220 in the MT-4 just a few minutes ago. I skipped rough grind, as I just want to round the edges. Two days seemed perfect, so now I'm running them in 500 SiC. I'd be fine with a bit more rounding hence the SiC instead of AO, but I didn't want to rerun them through another round of 120/220. I ended up swapping out the ruler for a square, but I don't think any cuts are noticeably off. The greatest difficulty was cutting longer rows straight from my slabs. I don't have the skill to cut a long line without pushing the blade to one side or the other. I think for the next group I'll try cutting them the short way to minimize that error. Thank you again James for all your help and patience finding this material for me!
|
|
|
Post by jasoninsd on Jan 31, 2024 17:46:43 GMT -5
Chris, I think those are turning out really well!
|
|
dillonf
fully equipped rock polisher
Hounding and tumbling
Member since February 2022
Posts: 1,592
|
Post by dillonf on Jan 31, 2024 19:07:58 GMT -5
They look great Chris. Awesome job!
|
|
pebblesky
fully equipped rock polisher
Purchased another UV mini bowl for tumbling
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,416
|
Post by pebblesky on Jan 31, 2024 21:25:31 GMT -5
These look great! Keep us updated!
|
|
iamchris
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2023
Posts: 667
|
Post by iamchris on Feb 2, 2024 11:56:51 GMT -5
Just took them out of 500 SiC. I didn't do a burnish after 120/220, but I did use my wife's toothbrush to clean them by hand. So it may be due to contamination. but some of these scratches look more significant than 1000 AO would remove. What's the verdict on where these should run through again? Or am I crazy and should just advance them?
|
|
khara
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,722
|
Post by khara on Feb 2, 2024 18:30:40 GMT -5
Really fun project so far.šIām impressed with the smoothing that can be gotten with pieces like this in a tumbler. Iāve seen other people do craft projects like this too where they tumbled shapes to smooth them. I just never tho of it till I saw it. I always used my tumbler to simply tumble small stones. Might have to get myself a vibe some day. I was thinking as I looked at your obsidian lay-out with the original game tiles there alsoā¦ if you wanted that decoration you could try glass etching to get a simple design on them. Likely not nearly as ornate but maybe a simple X or something. Iāve seen people on here who used glass etching to put designs onto polished stones and it turns out pretty good. Althoughā¦ I also think Iād like the look of these game pieces plain and simply different colors.
|
|
|
Post by vegasjames on Feb 3, 2024 1:39:02 GMT -5
Just took them out of 500 SiC. I didn't do a burnish after 120/220, but I did use my wife's toothbrush to clean them by hand. So it may be due to contamination. but some of these scratches look more significant than 1000 AO would remove. What's the verdict on where these should run through again? Or am I crazy and should just advance them? Do you have a vibe tumbler, which does a great job of polishing? Or maybe a small flat lap to take out the minor scratches?
|
|
iamchris
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2023
Posts: 667
|
Post by iamchris on Feb 3, 2024 6:09:48 GMT -5
Just took them out of 500 SiC. I didn't do a burnish after 120/220, but I did use my wife's toothbrush to clean them by hand. So it may be due to contamination. but some of these scratches look more significant than 1000 AO would remove. What's the verdict on where these should run through again? Or am I crazy and should just advance them? Do you have a vibe tumbler, which does a great job of polishing? Or maybe a small flat lap to take out the minor scratches? I had them in my MiniSonic. That's where they got the scratches. I don't have a flat lap, but do have an 8" cabber. The roughest soft wheel I have is 280 - maybe I should have given that a try. I ended up putting it back in 120/220 in the vibe and plan on checking it out tonight.
|
|