More Tumbles and Lap polished pieces

[HankRocks]

Here's a few I have been setting aside the past couple months;

A few larger Snowflake Obsidian pieces. They took a very high polish. They went from a Model B - Coarse, 3lb rotary for 220 and 600, 10lb Mini Sonic pre-polish 500AO, to a 4lb mini-Sonic for polish Tin Oxide.

IMG_6045 by Findrocks, on Flickr

A larger flat piece of Mohogany Obsidian, same path as the Snowflake. No frosting, I was happy

IMG_6048 by Findrocks, on Flickr


Unknown Agate. It was from a milk crate that a good friend of mine has. The only place it could have come from is somewhere near Lajitas Tx. I found another pieces with same coloration in my rock garden 3 days ago. Have no idea what slope or area we may have picked it up

IMG_6050 by Findrocks, on Flickr


From the Marfa Rock Shop 40 to 50 years ago. There was pile kinda of buried that the owner let us pick thru for a $1 a pound. It was cut and polished over 35 years ago.

IMG_6052 by Findrocks, on Flickr


I like the colors on this White-skinned Brazilian agate

IMG_6053 by Findrocks, on Flickr


Another one from the rock pile at the Marfa Rock Shop from years ago, Wish I had a bunch of these geodes!!

IMG_6054 by Findrocks, on Flickr


Bouquet Agate Geode from Marfa. Seen a few of these with a nice Bouquet with the crystal cavity.

IMG_6056 by Findrocks, on Flickr

West Texas wood. I call it  "Flame Wood". It's one of about 6 or 7 larger slabs from the same piece, I am working on polishing the others.

IMG_6058 by Findrocks, on Flickr


The end piece of the "Flame Wood".

IMG_6060 by Findrocks, on Flickr


An interesting piece of petrified wood from a friend. Clamping it was  not too bad with the custom built Miller 3000!!

IMG_6062 by Findrocks, on Flickr


Same rock, the outside of it.

IMG_6063 by Findrocks, on Flickr


Thanks for looking. I have some nice pieces in the process that I hope to get done in the next 3 or 4 weeks.
Henry

[RWA3006]

Tell us about the Miller 3000. Have you shown it to us here yet or am I just having a senior moment?

Nice job on the obsidian. I had a bunch of it for sale a while back but not many people bought any. I was under the impression it's perceived to be a hassle to tumble and that turned people off.

[HankRocks]

Aug 11, 2024 16:56:32 GMT -5 RWA3006 said:

Tell us about the Miller 3000. Have you shown it to us here yet or am I just having a senior moment?

Nice job on the obsidian. I had a bunch of it for sale a while back but not many people bought any. I was under the impression it's perceived to be a hassle to tumble and that turned people off.

I posted these pictures about 3 months ago? It uses bicycle type chains to allow for flexible gripping of the rock. There are also a series of holes for the chains to hold larger or smaller rocks. It's the 3rd version of the clamp my friend made, each version got better and better as he added improvements.


IMG_6037 by Findrocks, on Flickr

IMG_6040 by Findrocks, on Flickr

The yellow pieces secure the chains to the posts. There are several of the really strong flat magnets on top to secure the chains out of the way of the blade.

One of the pieces of the Snowflake has different color centers in the snowflakes, the piece just to the left of the quater.

Talk about senior moments, I was going thru some rocks in buckets a while back and I found 3 1-gallon ziploc bags with the Snowflake. Cannot for the life of me remember where I got it!! I do remember the name of the Marfa Rock  Owner; Paul Wofford. Odd how the brain remembers some things and forgets others.

[chris1956]

The agate in the fourth picture is spectacular!

[python]

Great specimens and great photos!
Thanks for sharing!

[victor1941]

HankRocks, the Alpine/Marfa/Big Bend area definitely has some beautiful material.

[Drummond Island Rocks]

Nice batch. I am surprised your snowflake obsidian did that well with those other rocks. Cool clamp too.

Chuck

[HankRocks]

Aug 12, 2024 22:04:34 GMT -5 Drummond Island Rocks said:

Nice batch. I am surprised your snowflake obsidian did that well with those other rocks. Cool clamp too.

Chuck

Chuck, The larger obsidian pieces along with some others not pictured ran in a couple 1st stage loads in the Model B. I was fortunate to have a couple of buckets of Mule Creek Apache tears I purchased from an old gentleman now deceased. Many of them are less than 1/2 inch in diameter. They made up about 60 to 70 percent of the batch.  After the first run I sorted out any larger ones ready for the next stage. Then added more large pieces and a few small Tears to fill the batch and then run again.

The larger pieces that were deemed "ready for next stage" go into my large rock process. That involves a Lortone double 3 pounder and a 3 bay Mini-sonic running a 10 pound hopper and a 4 pound hopper. The Lortone does 220 and 600 SiC, the Mini-Sonic 10lb does 500AO and the 4 lb does Tin Oxide. Every 5 days I move the rocks in the Lortone barrels and the 10 pound mini to the next stage. I will run the 4 pound mini in polish a bit longer as I keep the vibration dialed down a bit. 

I keep marked trays with different stages. The ready for polish tray begins to stack up  with the longer runs. When it fills up I run a batch of larger ready for polish rocks in the UV-18. I also run some of the non-obsidian batch large pieces all the way to 600 SiC before taking them out. The petrified wood pieces are good candidates for this as they seem to be a bit more resistant to damage in the latter stages. By pulling large rocks out early I keep the trays with enough pieces to keep the whole process running.

I use ceramics in the pre-polish and the polish runs and previously tumbles smalls in the Lortone 3 pounders. It sounds complicated but it's really not and as long as I keep my log it's easy as 3 of the stages all move on the same day.

I did not have the idea for this and then acquire the equipment. I acquired equipment over time here and there and then sort of built the process around what I had. 

One other twist to the journey, I stopped doing cleanouts after each run on the Mini-Sonic hoppers. When it is time for a cleanout, I have a large slotted plastic spoon which I use to retrieve the big pieces along with a few of the small fill. Next batch, throw the removed fill back in maybe refresh the AO and the polish by a 1/2 tbl or so and keep on trucking. Maybe after 5 or 6 runs I do a full hopper cleanout. It's a bit unorthodox but it seems to be working.

(apologies for the long winded explanation)

Henry




 

[miket]

Very nice Henry!

[dshanpnw]

Great piece of mahogany obsidian, really spectacular colors. I came across a nice piece of white skin Brazilian agate a couple weeks ago. I should have snagged it. Thanks for sharing.