James
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 876
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Post by James on Aug 22, 2004 14:24:51 GMT -5
These are an assortment of agates from Mexico. They consist of Laguna, Agua Nueva (Spanish for new water) Mexican lace (not crazy lace) and other mixed nodules from various locations. As you can see in the first pic, these stone were rough! I had to run some of these babies for over 3 months in 60/90. For final polish, I decided to try some aluminum oxide (by Lortone) that I've had lying around. Have you ever done somthing and then asked yourself "what the heel was I thinking?" Well that's what happened. After a week of polish they still looked VERY dull. If all else fails, use Titanium oxide. After 3 days in titanium they took a mirror finish! Lesson learned: Don't fix it if it ain't broken. On the flip side, I think that the aluminum oxide may have actually worked as a 2nd pre-polish. The quality of shine I got on these stones is my best yet! There are 9 pics in all, so it might take a few minutes to load. Here is the rough I started off with. Here are the finished results. Over 4 months total in the making! The center pieces of the next two pics are of Laguna agates Here's a closeup of a Mexican lace agate Thaks for looking!
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Post by sandsman1 on Aug 22, 2004 15:18:52 GMT -5
WOW james great looking batch man---that last pic with the lace is may fav that is fantastic ---hellofa job james
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Post by Original Admin on Aug 22, 2004 18:49:19 GMT -5
Oh yes indeedy - once again - a classic batch. hmmmmm - you just wait till I show you my blue lace agate James.
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James
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 876
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Post by James on Aug 22, 2004 19:22:10 GMT -5
Mexican lace is some really cool stuff. Thanks John. There's plenty more where that came from. Next time I'm going to do crazy lace. Hey Andy, where is your blue lace from? I got some from redwoodrocks. I wont be tumbling it anytime soon though. I do however have a few more goodie coming out in the next two weeks. A batch of Queensland agate, carnelian etc... and a load of Botswana agates. I can't wait to see your blue lace. Your last batch was top notch.
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Post by BearCreekLapidary on Aug 22, 2004 21:21:58 GMT -5
Hello James,
WOW ... I LOVE THOSE MEXICAN AGATES ... LAGUNA, COYAMITO, DERRAMADERO AND A HOST OF OTHERS!
Great job on those beauties!
Enjoy,
John
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Post by Cher on Aug 22, 2004 23:57:40 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]WOW!!...Awesome Shine[/glow] That Mexican lace is gorgeous, where do you get that stuff?
Cher
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rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
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Post by rollingstone on Aug 23, 2004 2:44:28 GMT -5
That's quite an amazing transformation, from very rough-looking junk stone, to excellent polished gems --- two thumbs up!! An excellent job....but we've come to expect that from you
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Post by krazydiamond on Aug 23, 2004 15:18:01 GMT -5
i love the mexican lace, i think that is becoming my favorite rock. absolutely great batch, James....note to self:order the Titainium Dioxide polish for the batch of lace agate i have in 220 NOW. cant wait!
super photos, super rocks, you are a real pro, James, KD
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James
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 876
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Post by James on Aug 23, 2004 18:43:33 GMT -5
Thanks again guys! The mexican lace in the pics above was from www.thgemshop.com It is the cheap stuff though. The best stuff I've got so far is from www.kingsleynorth.com It's the same quality as the gem shops best stuff, at a much cheaper price! I have a 10 lb boulder of it. Here's a pic.
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Post by cookie3rocks on Aug 23, 2004 20:24:52 GMT -5
GASP! James, every time I see that you have posted in photos I bite my finger and click, 'cause I know youre gonna knock my socks off. There ya go ;D I love Kingsley North, but I can't find the good rough. Am I doing something wrong cookie
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Post by connrock on Aug 23, 2004 20:29:36 GMT -5
Very Nice James,,,,,,,,,,,,,Very Nice!! The y were surely worth the time,money and effort!! Speaking of time and money,,,,,,,,, I have often wondered how the heck the dealers can sell the polished rocks so darn cheap!! If you take into consideration that they have to buy the grit and polish as we do,tumble the rocks for what seems like forever and then package and ship them to the dealers. I realize they don't pay what we pay for the grit,polish and material but it HAS to cost them "something". If we rough a 10 lb load in #30 grit for 2 weeks total that's about 4 lbs of grit. Now rough it for a couple more weeks in 60/90 that's about another 2 lbs of grit. Kingsleynorth sells #30 for $3.50/lb + shipping #60/90 $3.30/lb + shipping $3.50 x 4 = $ 14.00 $3.30 x 2 = $ 6.60 Total $ 20.60 That's $20.60 just for the rough cycle!! You figure,,,,,,,,,,,, Tom
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Post by rockyraccoon on Aug 23, 2004 23:58:37 GMT -5
james that 10# chunk ought to produce some more knock out rocks. i'm sure glad you clarified that was mexican lace because until you posted that big chunk i was reading crazy lace even though you and everyone else were typing mexican lace. what are you working on now? what are you doing with all your beauties?
kim
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Post by puppie96 on Aug 24, 2004 3:28:25 GMT -5
James, those are just awesome. It's like looking at a huge batch of Ukrainian Easter eggs, especially the Mexican Lace. Thanks so much for posting these, along with the fun of just looking at them, I learn tons of stuff. This time, I could really see the difference with your patient approach and use of a rolling tumbler in contrast with fast-tracking them through the vibe. Best of all, the pictures of your rough are very similar to a lot of stuff I recently picked up in the west. I was trying to find agate, of course, and really proceeding as much by instinct as anything else. I brought back some that I hoped were nodules; dull looking egg shaped rocks but in areas where other broken ones of similar shapes seemed to have patterns in them. It's going to be so cool to find out what they are.
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Post by puppie96 on Aug 24, 2004 3:31:38 GMT -5
James, those are just awesome. It's like looking at a huge batch of Ukrainian Easter eggs, especially the Mexican Lace. Thanks so much for posting these, along with the fun of just looking at them, I learn tons of stuff. This time, I could really see the difference with your patient approach and use of a rolling tumbler in contrast with fast-tracking them through the vibe. Best of all, the pictures of your rough are very similar to a lot of stuff I recently picked up in the west. I was trying to find agate, of course, and really proceeding as much by instinct as anything else. I brought back some that I hoped were nodules; dull looking egg shaped rocks but in areas where other broken ones of similar shapes seemed to have patterns in them. It's going to be so cool to find out what they are.
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MoonStone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2004
Posts: 202
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Post by MoonStone on Aug 24, 2004 3:37:34 GMT -5
Congratulations on your work James!!! Those agates are just fantastic, amazing!
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Post by Original Admin on Aug 24, 2004 15:51:46 GMT -5
James, I get my supplies from a UK company - I aint giving them a mention or link cos they wont give me one back. I find the Blue Lace a bit hard to shape - for some reason I end up getting a lot of flats - additionally it can be quite pitted even after an 80 grit 4 weeker. Tick tock - I'll sort it
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donwrob
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2003
Posts: 509
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Post by donwrob on Aug 24, 2004 21:15:22 GMT -5
James, just when I though you would never be able to top your last batch, you have proven me wrong. A perfect shine, beautiful batch buddy, later, Don
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Post by cookie3rocks on Aug 24, 2004 22:17:49 GMT -5
Andy, I got some blue lace on Ebay that was even better than the pics, was real excited about it. But it was so cracked when tumbled, it was a big disapointment. I still have some left. I'd love to bring it to a great, smooth shine. James, any advise?
cookie
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RiverOtter
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2004
Posts: 339
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Post by RiverOtter on Aug 25, 2004 23:43:24 GMT -5
You guys need to be getting your blue lace from Cal (plug, plug ). The stuff he has is beautiful. I couldn't wait any longer and busted one up for the tumbler. Checked it tonight and it's doing well. Very pretty. So could someone explain to me the difference between Mexican Lace and Mexican Crazy Lace? Otter
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James
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 876
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Post by James on Aug 28, 2004 12:38:42 GMT -5
Cookie, when you go to kingsley north, go to the lapidary suplies section. They have cabbing rough and tumbling rough. Check both of those places. For your cracked stones, use sugar as a means to thicken your tumbling medium. I know, I know... I said I hate sugar in the past but it's good in certain cases. Fragile stones being one of them. Rocky, right now I'm working on some Botswana agates from Gerdus, some imperial jasper, stone canyon jasper, agua nueva agate, mexican moss and a whole bunch of other odds and ends. In a few hours, I'll post some more pics from my most recent batch of stones that came out of polish last night. Otter, there are some major differences between mexican lace and crazy lace. I'll have to post some pics for you to see. The crazy lace is more translucent while the lace is opaque. The crazy lace also has long wavy banding opposed to the lace which is mostly fine tube agate. Like I said, I'll have to post some pics. Thanks again to all who replied!
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