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Post by coloradocliff on Jul 2, 2017 13:40:00 GMT -5
Yeah will avoid the kerosene and diesel. My saw still smells like diesel. Grin.. Hate the smell. Will go with mineral oil or maybe 10 weight. Also might see what the ag crowd is using for hydraulic oil in 2 1/2 gallon jugs. No fire builder here. Know how hot and humid it is there. Know how much you have worked in your life. Also know that as much as you work and are on here a little extra time with the little woman is a good thing for your long-term happy house thingy-bob.. grin. Hope the firepit business is good this fall and winter. Might push them in the cooler areas of the country. had a tourist in a local hardware store yesterday looking for a fire pit. Also the Rv campgrounds in cooler regions might buy a few from you in summer. Ambience you know..
Pit biz is moving along well. Just hired an old friend to help out. Big help. I set two 1 - 1.5 pound Rios in the vibe with the divider in it to keep them from bumping into each other. www.flickr.com/photos/67205364@N06/35505712892/in/dateposted-public/Good on the old friend helping. Love all your videos. Not as much as your industrial vibe. Always liked how it moves the rocks. Waiting for you to polish that almost sphere. Purdy, purdy.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,553
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Post by jamesp on Jul 2, 2017 15:10:12 GMT -5
Thanks coloradocliff for the prod. That is both fresh and invisible AO 80 in the vibe. Tomorrow should look like milk. After 48 it should be life heavy cream. It is a wetter than normal vibe run. The coarse AO 80 makes a nice slurry w/out adding water for 48. After 48 it is time to clean and move to AO 14,000 for 18.
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Post by coloradocliff on Jul 2, 2017 15:34:33 GMT -5
Thanks coloradocliff for the prod. That is both fresh and invisible AO 80 in the vibe. Tomorrow should look like milk. After 48 it should be life heavy cream. It is a wetter than normal vibe run. The coarse AO 80 makes a nice slurry w/out adding water for 48. After 48 it is time to clean and move to AO 14,000 for 18. Wow Mr Science, You sure have this figured out. From 80 to polish. Would never have thunk it. Bet the grit sellers hate your ideas. Guess engineering minds just have to know..
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,553
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Post by jamesp on Jul 2, 2017 15:49:38 GMT -5
Thanks coloradocliff for the prod. That is both fresh and invisible AO 80 in the vibe. Tomorrow should look like milk. After 48 it should be life heavy cream. It is a wetter than normal vibe run. The coarse AO 80 makes a nice slurry w/out adding water for 48. After 48 it is time to clean and move to AO 14,000 for 18. Wow Mr Science, You sure have this figured out. From 80 to polish. Would never have thunk it. Bet the grit sellers hate your ideas. Guess engineering minds just have to know..
Never found a tumbling supply that carries AO 80 or coarse AO abrasives. I doubt the ever tried them, the concept seems ludicrous.
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Post by coloradocliff on Jul 2, 2017 17:17:47 GMT -5
Wow Mr Science, You sure have this figured out. From 80 to polish. Would never have thunk it. Bet the grit sellers hate your ideas. Guess engineering minds just have to know..
Never found a tumbling supply that carries AO 80 or coarse AO abrasives. I doubt the ever tried them, the concept seems ludicrous. HAve you found a decent industrial source for coarser AO s yet? Amazed that no one has discovered this but you. TY Again Cliff
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,553
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Post by jamesp on Jul 2, 2017 19:02:12 GMT -5
Never found a tumbling supply that carries AO 80 or coarse AO abrasives. I doubt the ever tried them, the concept seems ludicrous. HAve you found a decent industrial source for coarser AO s yet? Amazed that no one has discovered this but you. TY Again Cliff
Some of the members use the coarse AO. I stumbled across a 5 gallon bucket of AO 80 in a junkyard for $25. It was for sandblasting. I had run out of SiC 220 one time and chunked the sandblasting AO 80 in the vibe instead and it polished the rocks darn well in 2 days. Surprised me. Had to review my sanity. Even tried AO 22 and it does the same as AO 80.
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Post by coloradocliff on Jul 2, 2017 19:37:43 GMT -5
HAve you found a decent industrial source for coarser AO s yet? Amazed that no one has discovered this but you. TY Again Cliff
Some of the members use the coarse AO. I stumbled across a 5 gallon bucket of AO 80 in a junkyard for $25. It was for sandblasting. I had run out of SiC 220 one time and chunked the sandblasting AO 80 in the vibe instead and it polished the rocks darn well in 2 days. Surprised me. Had to review my sanity. Even tried AO 22 and it does the same as AO 80. Saw online 5 gallon buckets for I believe 75 or 90 bucks. That much would last forever but not as good of a deal as you found. Also had boxes for around 45. Seems if you used A0 it would break down and be prepolishing some parts of the rock as you ground away on it.
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Post by coloradocliff on Jul 2, 2017 22:47:06 GMT -5
Thanks coloradocliff for the prod. That is both fresh and invisible AO 80 in the vibe. Tomorrow should look like milk. After 48 it should be life heavy cream. It is a wetter than normal vibe run. The coarse AO 80 makes a nice slurry w/out adding water for 48. After 48 it is time to clean and move to AO 14,000 for 18. Jim, Out of that epic 1 ton of Rios... What do you think the percent of the Rios as far as types. Agates, chert, jaspers etc? Quartz and sand stone probably didn't travel well down that river. See any rhyolite? Most of them are what mineral now that you have been cutting into them some. Jasper looking. How many percent wise are going to make lapidary grade and what percent will be just awesome? Know you are going to have some yard or driveway rocks with that much volume of rock. ..
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,553
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Post by jamesp on Jul 3, 2017 3:11:55 GMT -5
Thanks coloradocliff for the prod. That is both fresh and invisible AO 80 in the vibe. Tomorrow should look like milk. After 48 it should be life heavy cream. It is a wetter than normal vibe run. The coarse AO 80 makes a nice slurry w/out adding water for 48. After 48 it is time to clean and move to AO 14,000 for 18. Jim, Out of that epic 1 ton of Rios... What do you think the percent of the Rios as far as types. Agates, chert, jaspers etc? Quartz and sand stone probably didn't travel well down that river. See any rhyolite? Most of them are what mineral now that you have been cutting into them some. Jasper looking. How many percent wise are going to make lapidary grade and what percent will be just awesome? Know you are going to have some yard or driveway rocks with that much volume of rock. ..
South Texas is just a giant sedimentary deposit. It is complex and widespread. The Rio Grande carried rock down from lava fields and petrifications from rich slopes of Mexico W.Texas probably New Mexico. But there were rivers/drainages in Texas flowing into S.Texas too. Full of native Texas palm and pet wood chert agates too. Just think giant sedimentary deposit that crushed or rounded rocks on the way and they settled in S.Texas. So the whole vast area is loaded with gravels and caliche. There is no exposed bed rock except in the modern river cuts, just deep sedimentary gravel deposits from the west north and south. The width of the Rio sediments seems to be 1-5 miles from the modern river gorge in the area I collect. Full of western stuff like moss plume jasper wood Further than that it is more chert palm and wood and rocks native to Texas. I think. That's the way it seems anyway. One fact that may help open eyes to the scale of sedimentary effect is the taller hills along the Rio. Hills left after more recent erosion on a mass scale. Hills left because they were turns in the ancient river. Hills that are capped with larger cobbles, that defied erosion. Those hills were apparently turns in the ancient river where cobbles collected. Up about 340-390 feet altitude. But those hills can be close to the modern day river or a mile or two away(in the area I collect). So the area has been deposited on in mass, and then washed again. Maybe many times. But the gravels within a few miles of the Rio are mostly imported from upstream. Maybe even rocks from your Colorado.: Lake Falcon collecting area where a lot of stuff washed down to:
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,553
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Post by jamesp on Jul 3, 2017 8:16:02 GMT -5
notjustoneYou could easily run the bulk through about a window screen and separate the chunks from the 20-30-40-50-60 and smaller grit. Pulverize the chunks if so desired. I did the 1.5 cups bulk + .5 cups clay two days ago. Almost a triple dose of grit... Stuck ear up to all three 6 pounders and they are grinding with a perfect sound. (slurry not overly thick yet) When one gets quiet it is time to make a slurry adjustment (and grit addition if slurry is smooth and particle free).
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Post by coloradocliff on Jul 3, 2017 8:43:04 GMT -5
Jim, Out of that epic 1 ton of Rios... What do you think the percent of the Rios as far as types. Agates, chert, jaspers etc? Quartz and sand stone probably didn't travel well down that river. See any rhyolite? Most of them are what mineral now that you have been cutting into them some. Jasper looking. How many percent wise are going to make lapidary grade and what percent will be just awesome? Know you are going to have some yard or driveway rocks with that much volume of rock. ..
South Texas is just a giant sedimentary deposit. It is complex and widespread. The Rio Grande carried rock down from lava fields and petrifications from rich slopes of Mexico W.Texas probably New Mexico. But there were rivers/drainages in Texas flowing into S.Texas too. Full of native Texas palm and pet wood chert agates too. Just think giant sedimentary deposit that crushed or rounded rocks on the way and they settled in S.Texas. So the whole vast area is loaded with gravels and caliche. There is no exposed bed rock except in the modern river cuts, just deep sedimentary gravel deposits from the west north and south. The width of the Rio sediments seems to be 1-5 miles from the modern river gorge in the area I collect. Full of western stuff like moss plume jasper wood Further than that it is more chert palm and wood and rocks native to Texas. I think. That's the way it seems anyway. One fact that may help open eyes to the scale of sedimentary effect is the taller hills along the Rio. Hills left after more recent erosion on a mass scale. Hills left because they were turns in the ancient river. Hills that are capped with larger cobbles, that defied erosion. Those hills were apparently turns in the ancient river where cobbles collected. Up about 340-390 feet altitude. But those hills can be close to the modern day river or a mile or two away(in the area I collect). So the area has been deposited on in mass, and then washed again. Maybe many times. But the gravels within a few miles of the Rio are mostly imported from upstream. Maybe even rocks from your Colorado.: Lake Falcon collecting area where a lot of stuff washed down to: Jasper wood is an attention getter in my corner. Small percentage of the whole? Those gravels have been reworked so many times. Amazing geology there. Yep ole man river does carry a load of goodies. The Big Bend Ranch goodies are often best on some of the higher hills. Must have been a lot more agate and jasper deposition somewhere in the geologic record. Much higher water flows to have carried so much material so far and for so many evolutions and reworkings. Interesting.
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Post by coloradocliff on Jul 3, 2017 8:45:15 GMT -5
notjustone You could easily run the bulk through about a window screen and separate the chunks from the 20-30-40-50-60 and smaller grit. Pulverize the chunks if so desired. I did the 1.5 cups bulk + .5 cups clay two days ago. Almost a triple dose of grit... Stuck ear up to all three 6 pounders and they are grinding with a perfect sound. (slurry not overly thick yet) When one gets quiet it is time to make a slurry adjustment (and grit addition if slurry is smooth and particle free). That quiet sound is thick rock mud slowing the action but what sound if the slurry is wet enough but isn't grinding because of depleted grit? almost no sound? A quieter rolling sound?
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,553
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Post by jamesp on Jul 3, 2017 9:42:02 GMT -5
notjustone You could easily run the bulk through about a window screen and separate the chunks from the 20-30-40-50-60 and smaller grit. Pulverize the chunks if so desired. I did the 1.5 cups bulk + .5 cups clay two days ago. Almost a triple dose of grit... Stuck ear up to all three 6 pounders and they are grinding with a perfect sound. (slurry not overly thick yet) When one gets quiet it is time to make a slurry adjustment (and grit addition if slurry is smooth and particle free). That quiet sound is thick rock mud slowing the action but what sound if the slurry is wet enough but isn't grinding because of depleted grit? almost no sound? A quieter rolling sound? That S.Texas area is a deep pile of gravels. Then cut open by local erosion. All the gravel sources are rich in agates and wood. Can't go wrong collecting there. Just don't assume rhyme nor reason. Nothing is found in the original seam. jasper is about 25% of the mix, usually smaller and rounder cobbles, but again, not necessarily. Closer to the river certainly yields wash from the more north westerly direction. One knob sticking out by the lake shore was covered with cool pet wood. No rhyme nor reason. It looked like western material. But not sure. Falcon Lake is violent and moves rock well. And varies in level 50 feet from wet to dry season. Large amount of shore line being hammered by wave action. Go after a windy spell and a water level change for maximum disturbance and fresh rocks turned that the hunters have not found. Those PVC jugs either rattle loud with water slurry or range to barely tapping rattle with an overly thick slurry. Open the barrels enough at a given sound level and you learn a healthy slurry. It's not rocket science, just listening to a healthy rattling sound. BUT, that tells nothing about the grit being fresh or worn out. Gotta open the barrels for that info. Put a 2 pound rock in there with watery slurry and you can hear it rattling(banging) from 3 blocks away. In that case your are frosting/damaging the rocks. Unhealthy conditions. Basically, if you can stand 20-30 feet away and hear a nice gentle busy rattle you can walk away. Lazy way of knowing if all's well in most of the the barrels. I usually put my ear close to each barrel to make sure each and every one is rattling properly.
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,553
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Post by jamesp on Jul 3, 2017 9:56:00 GMT -5
Benefit of noisy PVC barrels.
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Post by coloradocliff on Jul 3, 2017 12:24:34 GMT -5
That quiet sound is thick rock mud slowing the action but what sound if the slurry is wet enough but isn't grinding because of depleted grit? almost no sound? A quieter rolling sound? That S.Texas area is a deep pile of gravels. Then cut open by local erosion. All the gravel sources are rich in agates and wood. Can't go wrong collecting there. Just don't assume rhyme nor reason. Nothing is found in the original seam. jasper is about 25% of the mix, usually smaller and rounder cobbles, but again, not necessarily. Closer to the river certainly yields wash from the more north westerly direction. One knob sticking out by the lake shore was covered with cool pet wood. No rhyme nor reason. It looked like western material. But not sure. Falcon Lake is violent and moves rock well. And varies in level 50 feet from wet to dry season. Large amount of shore line being hammered by wave action. Go after a windy spell and a water level change for maximum disturbance and fresh rocks turned that the hunters have not found. Those PVC jugs either rattle loud with water slurry or range to barely tapping rattle with an overly thick slurry. Open the barrels enough at a given sound level and you learn a healthy slurry. It's not rocket science, just listening to a healthy rattling sound. BUT, that tells nothing about the grit being fresh or worn out. Gotta open the barrels for that info. Put a 2 pound rock in there with watery slurry and you can hear it rattling(banging) from 3 blocks away. In that case your are frosting/damaging the rocks. Unhealthy conditions. Basically, if you can stand 20-30 feet away and hear a nice gentle busy rattle you can walk away. Lazy way of knowing if all's well in most of the the barrels. I usually put my ear close to each barrel to make sure each and every one is rattling properly. A very low incidence or not apparent the chalcedony, healed, brecciated material. geodes or cherts? Have you ever thought about using a horse farriers rasp to "window" the cobbles you are collecting? Is it hard enough or would you need to temper it for using on the cobbles? Any color to that pet wood on the knob by the lake jamesp ? ANy larger rounds or just tumble float?
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Post by coloradocliff on Jul 3, 2017 12:27:16 GMT -5
Benefit of noisy PVC barrels. Yep and if you have a couple of vibes and a few barrels rolling in same area hard to hear much..grin.. Being over 50 and being around guns, heavy equipment and R&R music for decades don't help for hearing. Might be a hidden benefit to the noise factor.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jul 3, 2017 13:07:59 GMT -5
The tumblers are far from the house so noise is no problem. Just got back from them, in a greenhouse w/no fan on lol. Soaked. If a barrel is knocking bad it can be heard at the house as a peculiar faint sound -or- if i can hear them from the house there is a problem !! Ear damage in some frequencies, do OK with hearing deer and tumblers though.
I just hammer windows Cliff. I have a car battery powered field grinder. To heck with it. Hike longer and further and carry a small windowing hammer. Knock a corner off. Done. I doubt a rasp is going to convince those hard rocks. Yes, I found some of the better pieces at that knob. All tumble float. But some was stellar. It all looked washed in. No idea why there would be a concentration from probably 100 mile away tumble in. Makes no sense. Very few hole log sections lest they are 3-6 inch diameter, even those are rare. However, squarish cobbles are a good sign of wood. Lots of brown and black junk wood tumble float.
Pulled those 2 Rios out of the vibe after 24 in aO 80. Already got a nice sheen. will publish photos when I get back on delivery.
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notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
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Post by notjustone on Jul 3, 2017 14:56:49 GMT -5
notjustone You could easily run the bulk through about a window screen and separate the chunks from the 20-30-40-50-60 and smaller grit. Pulverize the chunks if so desired. I did the 1.5 cups bulk + .5 cups clay two days ago. Almost a triple dose of grit... Stuck ear up to all three 6 pounders and they are grinding with a perfect sound. (slurry not overly thick yet) When one gets quiet it is time to make a slurry adjustment (and grit addition if slurry is smooth and particle free). I think ill keep running it as is . the price is right and I get enough out of woody to fill the uv-10 every week.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jul 3, 2017 20:12:58 GMT -5
notjustone You could easily run the bulk through about a window screen and separate the chunks from the 20-30-40-50-60 and smaller grit. Pulverize the chunks if so desired. I did the 1.5 cups bulk + .5 cups clay two days ago. Almost a triple dose of grit... Stuck ear up to all three 6 pounders and they are grinding with a perfect sound. (slurry not overly thick yet) When one gets quiet it is time to make a slurry adjustment (and grit addition if slurry is smooth and particle free). I think ill keep running it as is . the price is right and I get enough out of woody to fill the uv-10 every week. Yes the price is right and it works darn well. tumbling abrasives can have a lot of variation. It all breaks down in fairly short amount of time.
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Post by coloradocliff on Jul 14, 2017 15:47:58 GMT -5
So this leads to a question. What's the cheapest grit we can get? Can you buy a hundred pounds of block or lump and give it a quick crushing yourself, with hammer or simple home-made crusher? If around a buck and a half is the cheapest we can get graded SiC grit, 55 lbs at a time, what's the very bottom number for us few maniacs who don't blink at laying in a couple hundred pounds of the stuff? There's interest of buying this in multiple bag lots is you are really interested check out jamesp..
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