Bunch of different colors added w/closeup photos

[jamesp]

Some of those 6 pound containers are one coral. Some are several in one container. They are from about a dozen spots.

The blue one a bit to left and up is the head reduced on the youtube video. About 1/3 finished processing load from 2 weeks ago.

[grayfingers]

That really shows the ranges of colors you have collected! You are very organized. That is a lot of whackin'.

[jamesp]

I wack next to a steep hill. The bottom of the hill gets pommelled by very sharp cores of silicified razor sharp chunks that get rolled down(reject sections,etc). The heated stuff is real easy to break. If
you chip them while they are hot a one once hammer will tear em up.

[pghram]

The range of colors is amazing.

Rich

[jamesp]

Not so many patterns Rich but lots of colors.

[Deleted]

Is any of that slabbable? Just thinking that maybe you should stockpile some slabs too. Just sticking my nose in your work, better known as my $00.02 worth.

I am with Bill on the "lot of whackin". How long have you been working on that ? ? pile/group/herd/flock. Welll, I don't know what to call it.
Jim

[jamesp]

The skin off the coral is the prettiest part. Hard to slab that stuff Jim. It is easy to chip though.

[dtcmor]

Those are some amazing colors! Can you tell before the heat what colors they will be when they are done or is it random; or does the heat bring out the already existing color. Just curious...

[jamesp]

I am getting better at predicting the color Dave. If there is no iron color in the coral like yellow orange red or brown it probably will not change unless it has salt(i think it is salt).
I guess i can look at 2/3 of them and tell close. But a great deal of the best color comes from a very few of 100's of coral heads. I had collected coral for years to sell as sawn specimens
to sell to the interior decorating business. Just in the last year have i collected for heating. But i am getting along well w/the colors and learning what does what.
I run into guys over the years collecting coral for knapping. We compete a little so i sort of avoid them. But i have helped them get coral that would work for their uses. Most of them know
well what they are doing though. Most that they collect is a common color that is dense and fracture free. It cooks best too.
My focus is color and it often comes from the outside 1 inch layer of the coral head requiring 'surgery' to remove it. That's why you see most of the color there. That is probably 200 pounds of pieces that
i chipped off of 600 pounds of coral. Often when collecting i use a 3 pound sledge and knock the skin off of heads that way 100 or more pounds right there in the field. Or i collect the already broken stuff that ancient man piled at the shoals.
There is so much variety it would take several lifetimes to get a decent collection of all the colors. I visited you at stonesandbones. I am a member of a couple of artifact forums but rarely visit them. I collected for 30 years and slowed down due to the lack of ground disturbing construction and plow farming. And strict Florida laws...

[Deleted]

That makes sense. Is what you have in that pile all that you have or do you have a bunch stashed somewhere else?

It is pretty easy to see that the color variety goes on and on so you must be doing something right. lol
Jim

[jamesp]

Jim, that is about 1/2 of the load from a 4 night trip last week. I have about added more and up to almost 250 pounds. So out of 1200 pounds i brought home i will get 400+ pounds of those what i call el primos. It will speed up when i learn more about collecting for heatable stuff.

I have about a ton of rough but it is for specimens and not for color. It is fun to play with Jim. My hobby. Thanks for noticing.

[Deleted]

In answer to Jim's colors. I have been studying colors of various metal salts recently and all of his colors are iron colors.

Jim, can you make a 4000PSI chamber and pump to fill it with? I got a project for you!

[jamesp]

Are you going vacuum or pressure? Mel said metal-salts too. The salt is interesting. Coral in salt water has a lot of black.

[dtcmor]

Thanks for the explanation! That is similar to our Ohio flint ridge material. Yellows, reds and browns usually always turn out in orange pinks and purples after heating. The blues and greens take alot higher temps to achieve and are much more rare. Idont know if salt plays a factor in the flint ridge though I believe it is more an iron infusion that causes the colors. I have a few slabs of coral that I bought at a show over the summer that are mostly an off white color with a bit of yellowish brown stain. The other sample the man had cooked came out blue and purple. Do you heat yours dry like traditional flint or boil it in water. I have heard that both methods will work. I do most of my flint in a turkey roaster with good results.

[jamesp]

I did use a convection counter top oven but recently switched to this old welding rod oven. It is unattached to my wife unlike the kitchen oven:)
If i dry the coral out for a half day at 200 i can cook it hotter to get crazier color. Especially if it is grainy and not glassy material..

Lucky you to have Flint Ridge. Chuck shared some with me and it is fine .


forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/61701/industrial-rock-cooking-oven

[Deleted]

Oct 10, 2013 12:13:02 GMT -5 jamesp said:

Are you going vacuum or pressure? Mel said metal-salts too. The salt is interesting. Coral in salt water has a lot of black.

Yes, metal salts. Iron salts are the soucre of all your colors.

Iron Chloride, Iron sulfate, Iron oxide, iron nitrate...

4000PSI is pressure. Vacuum max is 15psi negative.

We can take pure white coral and using super high pressures (4000psi) force the salts we want in. Then we can use Copper, magnesium, nickel, cobalt,,,,, too! Imagine green coral!

[jamesp]

It is porous. More than you would ever think. Full of microscopic capillaries. Like no silicification i have ever seen. That is why the color is so much deeper if you
vacuum seal it with vaseline.
Building a 4000 is big deal. And to have a door is also big deal. But vacuum and vacuum pump is pretty simple and good bit safer. I thought about doing a vacuum deal.
I was going to look up a vacuum pump from the industrial salvage place in oklahoma....surplus center..

[jamesp]

There is all kinds of vacuum pumps.I need to calculate 160mbars. Ok, that is 2.4 psi negative w/piss ant diaphragm pump. Will look up Gast pump i think it is


www.surpluscenter.com/Air-Pneumatics/Air-Compressors-Vacuum-Pumps/Vacuum-Pumps/115-VAC-KNF-NEUBERGER-VACUUM-PUMP-COMPRESSOR.axd

[jamesp]

Ok, small gast vane pumps on ebay for $100 that pull 11-12 psi. Since flow means nothing you could pull that level with tiny 1/8 HP Gast Vane. May take few minutes but then you turn it off and walk away
whilst the chemicals get sucked into the rock. Dealing w/implosion instead of explosion. Vacuum is obnoxious. It will attack efficiently.

[jamesp]

Ok, why would iron oxide be called a salt. Is that on par w/mag. sulfate being called epson salts???

I see 17,382 different colors of clay in Georgia and at the Withlacoochee-the coral closest to iron rich Georgia clay makes it nice for iron content. Most Florida clays are pastel. Georgia clays are bold
in color.