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Post by jakesrocks on Nov 1, 2010 13:02:31 GMT -5
Hey Chuck, Sears, Montgomery Wards and several other companies sold that tumbler in various sizes. They were made by an unknown company, and labeled for the stores that sold them. I just mailed the motor and gears from a Mongomery Wards machine to a member in Florida who needed replacement parts for his Sears tumbler. Don
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Nov 1, 2010 14:24:42 GMT -5
Yep, Don, that's the one! I forgot to mention the other '70s fad that may or may not have had anything to do with tumblers (or anything else for that matter): does anybody remember Pet Rocks? Chuck
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nuevomundo
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2010
Posts: 222
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Post by nuevomundo on Nov 1, 2010 15:15:59 GMT -5
My great-grandfather was a lifelong rockhound. I know he was taking geodes from the Keokuk area out west to sell and trade. I think everyone else is right that it really came into its own shortly after WWII once people found themselves with some disposable income after several decades of war preceeded by great depression preceeded by more war.
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garock
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2006
Posts: 1,168
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Post by garock on Nov 1, 2010 17:52:38 GMT -5
I got started about 50 years ago from my my uncle, moms brother. He tumbled creek gravel from the pits in northwest Alabama. He had pillow blocks, 1/2 in shafts, washing machine motor and used old paint cans lined inside and out with old tire tubes from trucks. It worked well for him. He built every piece of equipment he used. I started my tumbling at age 14 around 1964.
Still Digging in the Georgia Dirt, Frankie
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reelman
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2008
Posts: 114
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Post by reelman on Nov 1, 2010 19:49:04 GMT -5
I have a magazine DeWitte Hagar's Handbook of Rock's & Gems dated 1958-1959. There is a 3 page section on tumbling along with pictures of tumblers. They started with 80 grit, then 220 and 400 for final grit. then a polish and ended with a burnishing. It sounds the same as 50 years later. The main difference was 1 lb of grit for each 6 lb of rock. That would be expensive.
Arne
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elementary
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2006
Posts: 1,077
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Post by elementary on Nov 2, 2010 20:25:17 GMT -5
Well, I can safely say I wasn't around when this hobby began, but my dad worked for Joel Hauser, the one who popularized the Hauser Geode Beds in Imperial California.
Joel was taken the the beds by his father who ran a mule train through those hills in the first decade of the 1900's and noticed spherical rocks on the ground. When Joel showed his father in 1936 some of the nodules and rocks he had collected elsewhere, Joel's father took him out to these hills. This was about 1937. The area was pretty much closed during WWII so Patton could run his troops around, but the benefit was more bulldozed roads afterwards. By the late 1940's, field trips were being run out there. It amazes me that 70+ years later you can head out there and still find virgin geode fields to dig.
As for when the hobby became popular, look at when the oldest rock and gem clubs were formed. In california, clubs date all the way back to the mid to late 1930's. Ventura was formed in 1944 - oddly enough by high school kids who had seen a local lady's mineral collection and wanted to collect themselves. (I'm the club's historian hand have access to thousands of pages of material from 1944 to present.) In our history, it's been documented that the hobby seemed to be focused (at least in our club) on minerals and crystals initially with an emphasis on fluorescents. In the 1950's there was an increasing interest in radioactive material. But as lapidary equipment changed from the homemade structures of the 1940's & 1950's to the first companies that focused on this type of machine in the late 1950's and early 1960's (my dates are general), lapidary arts increased in popularity. (Obviously interest existed before companies built the machines, but I think increased road building and technology helped make the hobby more accessible.)
I am constantly amazed at the ingenuity of the early practitioners of this craft. The machines they pieced together, from mud saws to hoists to lift giant chunks of petrified wood, are constant feats of engineering. Joel Hauser also had a keen sense of trade. He went to the local stone cutter who handled tombstones and traded slabs of petrified wood to the guy in exchange for cutting the logs he got in Arizona. (Which he gained partially by trading ironwood grabbed from the Colorado River region.)
The other publication to check is Desert Magazine. In checking the Index to the magazine (owned by a friend of mine) you can see field trip articles published as far back as the late 1930's. After WWII these were almost a monthly feature. What is great about these articles is that the maps are better than almost anything put out these days. I still use them when out in the field.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth - if anyone is interested.
Lowell
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turnedstone
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since January 2006
Posts: 766
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Post by turnedstone on Nov 3, 2010 3:31:16 GMT -5
Hi all I have gotten so wrapped up in reading some of the story's in the 1950's LJ that I fore got I was trying to find out when tumbling started.Here is add from Ohio Lapidary Supply. A GEM CUTTER'S SPECIAL 1PIECE OF ROUGH CABOCHON AMETHYST 1 BLANK BRAZILIAN AGATE 1 BLANK AMERICAN JADE 1 SLAB TEXAS AGATE 1 CUT CABOCHON 1 STICK DOP CEMENT 1/2 LB. CERIUM OXIDE 1 6''X1'' HARD FELT BUFF
ALL FOR $5.25 POSTPAID Great article in here about how to make your own diamond blade out of a copper disk. The guy went to Denver and got his diamond dust from Henry Lindemann no kidding. Wish I could post it here it is great reading. So back to the research nothing so far on tumbling in 1950 one more to read>All LJ from 1947 to 1958 are the small size 6 1/2''x 9 3/4'' George
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Post by johnjsgems on Nov 3, 2010 8:06:31 GMT -5
I'm just a youngster (60). My experience selling at a lot of shows is the vast majority of people getting into the hobby are my age and older. My favorite was a guy that showed up and said he recently retired. After two months his wife told him either get a hobby or go back to work. "So, what you got?" He was driving his wife crazy.
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chassroc
Cave Dweller
Rocks are abundant when you have rocktumblinghobby pals
Member since January 2005
Posts: 3,586
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Post by chassroc on Nov 3, 2010 11:28:19 GMT -5
I'm a youngster like John.
I've always been interested in geography and maps but ... 2 things prevented me from getting into rock tumbling and rock hounding
1) When I was younger .. it wasn't hip to polish rocks...yeah, yeah, ThumbThings were cool and pet rocks were cool, but otherwise its hard to tell people you are polishing rocks when you are 21 without receiving ridicule for your efforts...at 60 you know that no one has better ideas than you do... 2) It takes too much time to polish and collect rocks.. 3) Not many rocks(that you could tumble) where I grew up...we did have a petrified forest in Jersey, but when you're 5 you just want to go swimming and I didn't hear about Frankin until after Y2K...
Now I'm older, my knees are shot from competition and need replacements and I appreciate things that aren't hip, not that I think anyone knows more than I do. I bought my wife a tumbler and when she didn't use it, I did.
Then my kids grew up and the lake and the pool and the ocean and the amusements were no longer places we wanted to vacation so we took the advice, Go West Young Man. Due to the foresight of our Government that everyone hates there is still some land you can collect rocks without trespassing and some fee mines taht are lots of fun and the rest is history
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Post by Roller on Nov 3, 2010 11:32:34 GMT -5
Wow ! a petrified forest in new jersey??
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chassroc
Cave Dweller
Rocks are abundant when you have rocktumblinghobby pals
Member since January 2005
Posts: 3,586
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Post by chassroc on Nov 3, 2010 11:42:04 GMT -5
yeah ...think it was somewhere in Sussex County...
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pebblepup
has rocks in the head
Succor Creek Thunder Egg
Member since July 2008
Posts: 515
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Post by pebblepup on Nov 3, 2010 12:46:44 GMT -5
My grandfather was a rock hound well before 1970. I remember being a small kid and asking my father about old rusty equipment belonging to my grand father. I was told it was rock cutting equipment. I don't recall seeing anything that resembles the rock tumblers of today. however, there were bottles of tumbled rocks in the house and piles of them around his shop. The rocks around the shop made great throwing stones, especially when breaking grandma's antique bottle collection.
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CallMeShane
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2010
Posts: 112
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Post by CallMeShane on Nov 3, 2010 19:54:32 GMT -5
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Post by jakesrocks on Nov 4, 2010 18:21:08 GMT -5
I was digging through a box of stuff in the basement today, and came across a copy of Gem Cutters Handbook, dated 1963. It has lots of pics of early equipment. It's in loose leaf form, and in a small 3 ring binder. As people post pics of old equipment they've found, I'll see if I can find it in the book. I should be able to copy and post pages to help them out. Don
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turnedstone
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since January 2006
Posts: 766
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Post by turnedstone on Nov 14, 2010 5:51:05 GMT -5
Just an up date on my reading the lapidary journals just finishing the year 1950 At least of the 4 I had out of 6 nothing on tumbling.I have the full year of 51, only 2 in 53, 3 for 56, and 3 for 58. I have a feeling the years I don't have are when the tumbling adds will appear thats going by what comments I have read here 55 or so. They sure have some neat stories wish I could copy them to here THE BATTLE OF THE AGATE written by Ann Biffle in the October 1950 lapidary journal is must read for anyone who's cabbed, it cracked me up and so true on many levels. Well off to locate the others so I can read some more great rock stories. George
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Post by Dicky the Rockhunter on Nov 14, 2010 9:26:00 GMT -5
Joe Dorris of the pinnacle mining co. Gave a history of his claims yesterday at our meeting. The original claims he bought in 1960 something were filed in the 1940s and some of the amazonite Smokey's taken then are in the Smithsonian collection. He was told that the area was completely dug and collected and he started to comb the dikes finding several good amo and pheno, and smoky so he bought them and is still digging. Dicky look at some of his finds on this link -- the second video. gemologyproject.com/wiki/index.php?title=Feldspar
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Post by gr on Nov 14, 2010 13:50:07 GMT -5
In the late 50's, my dad took a gallon paint can and sweat the handle holders off and turned it into a tumbler. Worked pretty good till we took the lid off the first time. Pressure had built up and blew red (what ever it was) rock snot all over me and the side off the house. I wasn't much interested in what he was doing after that. I don't think dad was either because I don't rember any polished stones laying around the house after that.
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Post by jakesrocks on Nov 14, 2010 14:07:54 GMT -5
Into every lapidary's life a little rock snot must fall. lol
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MikeS
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2009
Posts: 1,081
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Post by MikeS on Nov 14, 2010 20:53:29 GMT -5
All of my equipment (except my lot-o ) belonged to my father and my grandfather...who purchased the saw, lap and tumbler back in the late 50's.....
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turnedstone
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since January 2006
Posts: 766
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Post by turnedstone on Nov 16, 2010 6:47:29 GMT -5
Well I found some reference to tumbling in the December 1958 Lapidary Journal.They call them tumbled baroque's I just started reading it so there may be more. I also found an add for a tumbler from Merrel's rock shop in Glendora Calif. I am reading as I write and I am finding many more adds for tumbling baroque's mostly for sale pre tumbled. George
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