WilliamC
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2003
Posts: 416
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Post by WilliamC on Jan 2, 2004 15:28:19 GMT -5
Greetings All, Welcome aboard! I'm always a bit jealous of those like you who actually live amongst native rocks. I'm in North Mississippi and aside from gravel and granite used for construction all we have is dirt and sand and clay It sounds to me like you are doing some true experimental tumbling, what with working on such a variety of rocks and not knowing what they are to begin with. Given the fact that so much of your starting material is weathered makes for difficult identification, unless maybe you break off a piece to get a fresh part to look at. For sorting your rocks I would be doing exactly what you are, start with a load of promising rocks and see what happens. After the first run through coarse grit maybe only do scratch tests on rocks that stand out to you due to color or pattern. Since you have so much starting material you can gradually build up enough rocks of similar hardness to pass on to the later stages that will remove any scratches used to sort them. As for tumbling rocks that have minerals of different hardness, as long as they shape up I would just keep on with them. If the softer minerals wear away faster it seems that the rocks would be pitted after coarse grind and never shape up very well, I would just discard these and keep on with the rest. It's not as if you are going to run out of starting material any time soon WilliamC
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Post by mike taylor on Jan 2, 2004 16:01:37 GMT -5
hi michiganrocks. i am mike and also from mi. up by traverse city. have you ever been up to copper harber. i herd they have rare jems up there if your luckey. i get most of mine from rapid river. some are beautiful. there medium green transe parent. glad to here from a michigander welcom..
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Post by mike taylor on Jan 2, 2004 16:02:43 GMT -5
hi michiganrocks. i am mike and also from mi. up by traverse city. have you ever been up to copper harber. i herd they have rare jems up there if your luckey. i get most of mine from rapid river. some are beautiful. there medium green transe parent. glad to here from a michigander welcom..
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Post by puppie96 on Jan 3, 2004 2:04:47 GMT -5
Hi -- I like to pick up rocks in parks or anywhere else and try them. I found some beautiful stuff in my brother's back yard in just a few minutes -- they have a lot of quartzy gravel with some beautiful clear crystals and others with coloration and inclusions -- a lot of this found stuff has been really nice. I also have a fair number of rocks that I guess are some sort of conglomerates, where there are crystalline areas sort of popping out of opaque, usually colored areas (orange, a lot). I found that these would shape pretty well, and then on some, only the shiny crystal areas would polish and the rest stay dull, but on others, the entire stone would polish including the opaque spots. I'm not sure how helpful this is, but I also like this kind of material. I'm also a very very new addict.
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llanago
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,714
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Post by llanago on Jan 25, 2004 12:14:02 GMT -5
WOW, those are great!
You have inspired me to collect up a bunch of field/river rocks and see what I come up with!
I just got my first tumbler and am tumbling quartz I have picked up here at the lake. Can't wait to see what comes out. Just started yesterday afternoon, so I have a long wait! While I am waiting, I will be collecting more for the new tumbler I just ordered! A new Lortone QT66 I found on eBay for $129.99. After checking prices on every Lortone tumbler on the web, this was the rock bottom price I found on one!
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llanago
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,714
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Post by llanago on Jan 25, 2004 12:38:24 GMT -5
I'm always a bit jealous of those like you who actually live amongst native rocks. I'm in North Mississippi and aside from gravel and granite used for construction all we have is dirt and sand and clay
I am in Llano, Texas and there is an abundance of quartz here. It's certainly not as pretty as some I have seen on the web, but I have found lots of nice pieces in all different sizes.
If anybody is interested, I would be happy to send you some - cheap - to play around with. Will take some pictures of what they look like fresh off the ground and post them if anyone is interested.
I am going in search of topaz and petrified palm wood today. Celestite, selenite crystals, and several other kind of specimens can be found here with some serious looking.
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RiverOtter
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2004
Posts: 339
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Post by RiverOtter on Jan 25, 2004 16:08:40 GMT -5
I'm truly inspired by your pics michigan. I live in Indiana near glacial morain and on old river bottom land. (The river moved across the street Some of those rocks I recognize as the type we have around here. I can't wait until summer when I can go looking. My Dad works at a gravel pit that digs from old river bottom land. They have a huge pile of rock they crush and use as driveway stone. I'd like to go through that pile. We have some of the crushed rock in our drive. It's been fascinating going through some of it. We have been considering having crushed rock put on the remainder of the drive but I'm afraid my husband will want to build a homemade tumbler from a 55 gallon drum and polish it all first!! Thanks for sharing your pics!!
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Justme
starting to shine!
Member since March 2003
Posts: 38
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Post by Justme on Jan 25, 2004 20:51:07 GMT -5
I just love your rocks. I have a question though , in the 3rd picture down, the largest stone, what is the light area (like a crack in the rock under the surface). What is that called? I have many agates with those and I thought they were flaws. They sure don't look like flaws in your finished specimens.
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donwrob
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2003
Posts: 509
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Post by donwrob on Jan 25, 2004 21:20:45 GMT -5
Very nice pics MIRocks! Nice polish, you did them justice. Cheers! Don
To Llano, Texas is the land of flint. While most of it is grey or tan with a heavy cortex, all of it will polish beautifully. There is one from down there that is really beautiful if you can locate it. It is called Alibates, reds and purples. Really pretty. I polished some small pieces I had left over and it turned out great. Try some if you can.
Happy tumbling all, Don
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Justme
starting to shine!
Member since March 2003
Posts: 38
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Post by Justme on Jan 25, 2004 21:21:55 GMT -5
So if you wish to get rid of the flaw how do you (I do not own a saw or grinder)? Could I have caused the flaw when I broke the rock up or were they formed that way. One more question, can you just polish with the flaw if they don't come to the surface so they do not possibly carry grit from one phase to another? I am on my third week of phase one with a load of agate is why I am asking.
By the way, I live just a few counties west in Eaton county. Our farm has 16 buried rock piles and a new "crop" of rock surfacing every year. In fact, when my house was build 100+ years ago one rock was too big for them to remove so it became part of the foundation and wall of the basement. I use it for a shelf.
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MichiganRocks
starting to spend too much on rocks
"I wasn't born to follow."
Member since April 2007
Posts: 154
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Post by MichiganRocks on Jan 26, 2004 8:59:25 GMT -5
You bet. Sub-surface flaws just add to the character. If you can't rough down the rock with a grinder, then you pretty much have to rely on running it through the stage one rough cycle repeatedly. With agate, this can take a considerable amount of time, depending on how severe the fracture is. If the fracture is too great, you might want to try a well placed whack with a hammer and chisel to try and split the rock completely through the fracture into two rocks. When it comes to breaking, agate is not the easiest rock to deal with because is has no discernable crystalline structure. I know what you mean, I have to "harvest" my yard every spring before I mow!
MichiganRocks
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llanago
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,714
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Post by llanago on Jan 26, 2004 11:15:02 GMT -5
Texas is the land of flint. While most of it is grey or tan with a heavy cortex, all of it will polish beautifully. There is one from down there that is really beautiful if you can locate it. It is called Alibates, reds and purples. Really pretty. I polished some small pieces I had left over and it turned out great. Try some if you can.
Yes, lot of flint down here, I have found a few pieces. I looked up Alibates in my Gem Trails of Texas Book and also checked a poster the Texas Parks and Wildlife has, but didn't see anything on Alibates. But, I know I have seen/heard something about them somewhere. Will have to ask about them my next trip to the rock shop.
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