WilliamC
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2003
Posts: 416
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Post by WilliamC on Aug 22, 2003 20:02:57 GMT -5
Greetings All, I've broken up all of the green and red aventurine and the lepoardskin jasper, but I've been saving the best for last...rainbow obsidian I bought two largish chunks totalling 10 lbs when I got the tumbler, and both have some rust-looking stains on them so I decided to scrub them thoroughly before starting to break them. Well I foolishly wasn't wearing gloves and before I knew it I sliced my thumb, not bad but enough to remind me to WEAR GLOVES while handling/breaking rocks. Chris (my five-year old) was very good and took me inside and washed the blood off and put a bandaid on me. Hopefully he learned a lesson at dads expense I'll get back to the obsidian Sunday after we get back from a weekend trip. WilliamC
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Post by Beachcomber on Aug 22, 2003 20:27:00 GMT -5
Yep... I have an arrow head made out of that stuff (not the fancy rainbow stuff but ordinary odsidian) I put it on a necklace...wore it for some time...wore it to bed...not good let me tell ya..not good...woke up looking like I had a fight with a lawn mower. tricky stuff.
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Post by hurk 03 on Aug 23, 2003 11:53:38 GMT -5
same experience with a large piece of quartz busted it up with a hammer and was washing it in a bucket trying to remove some rust stains and sliced the finger to the bone now i let the tumble remove it ;D
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Post by docone31 on Aug 23, 2003 19:41:13 GMT -5
I have spent many years handling stones, metals, composites. I have glued myself to many things, lacerated, fractured, torn misc. body parts. Lapidary has some very serious components to it. Aluminum oxide, cerium oxide, the powders can destroy alvaeoli in the lungs. Tin oxide is very serious. It is absorbed into the lung tissue and reacts with nerve dendrites. An acquaintance of mine was severly injured tumbling jaspers. They give off a gas that is compressed in the drum. He unscrewed the top and it blew, causing a chain reaction in his shop and he was burned with hot pickle. My son had a splinter of obsidian enter his foot, and leave years later. The beauty we handle comes at a price. I am so glad your son learned a lesson from his father that will last a lifetime, possibly sparing him from similar circumstances, and you were not terminally damaged. A stone cutter I know lost two fingers in an homemade cab station. He still cuts and polishes but he has songs to sing and tales to tell. What we do has a price, and think twice cut onec adds to the depth of our experience. Good lesson that has yet to be explored.
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