NevadaBill
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2019
Posts: 1,332
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Post by NevadaBill on Aug 26, 2019 12:51:45 GMT -5
Good day,
Well it has been far too long since I took pictures of rock tumbles. I should be putting some of these up here. Lately though, I am distracted by the cabochon making and wire wrapping stuff though.
Here is a local rock which I believe has a lot of flair. They are more purple that the group photo above, but that is a bowl in my entry way of the house.
The rock is difficult to spot in the field. Mostly because it doesn't look like anything good at all from the outside. The matrix is ugly too.
The rock does not want to be round. Instead it prefers sharp angles. I don't know enough about rocks to know why it likes to fracture at angles. But I think the rock wants to be a triangle. I have many angular shaped ones. But I try to make them round.
I like the dendrites, and the rose colors in them a lot. Some that are exposed to light, are fairer purple, and others are dark purple. My photograph lighting pretty much washes out the color here.
There are losers too. The rock has many occational cracks, pits, or fractures which make the end result rather ugly. I should have tumbled these longer, in my opinion. Some are far from perfect.
But overall, I like these. I am starting to cut some of them to make cabochons. And they can come out flawless, and stunning looking. I have a couple of those examples in my wire wrapping posts. I will be processing more though. Slabs can look like this:
Or they can range to colors that look like this:
I still really like making them round though. And once I develop more patience to leave them in the tumbler, Stage 1, longer, perhaps I will have more roundish ones, and have less defects on my hands in the end.
I wanted to share anyway though. I hope to share other tumbles soon. But I need to get to my shop (garage) before it gets too hot to work in there today. It is supposed to be 110F outside again.
Thank you for stopping by!
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Post by fernwood on Aug 26, 2019 12:58:39 GMT -5
Those are really pretty.
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agatemaggot
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2006
Posts: 2,195
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Post by agatemaggot on Aug 26, 2019 13:45:48 GMT -5
That material has some really great patterns in it ! Color is very pleasing also.
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Post by miket on Aug 26, 2019 14:27:20 GMT -5
Pretty sweet. I like the tumbles and I really like the purplish slab. Stay cool today!
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Post by MsAli on Aug 26, 2019 18:31:46 GMT -5
I love the color in those
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Aug 26, 2019 19:48:56 GMT -5
Nice stones! Gotta love purple. The slab is really nice, too.
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,340
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Post by quartz on Aug 26, 2019 23:13:26 GMT -5
I like the nice gentle colors with enough going on in them to make looking interesting, thanks.
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NevadaBill
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2019
Posts: 1,332
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Post by NevadaBill on Aug 27, 2019 11:26:53 GMT -5
Thanks for all of the nice comments. I like working with the material. It is really a much deeper purple that appears in the photos. I just need to work on my photography skills some. Perhaps using a white background, or a light box, or more natural light instead of a flood light and black background.
I have a lot more batches I would like to share. I just need to find the time to post.
Thanks again for stopping by!
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pizzano
Cave Dweller
Member since February 2018
Posts: 1,390
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Post by pizzano on Aug 27, 2019 14:41:07 GMT -5
Love purple.........ya, try a medium to light gray, even a red background........white may wash out unless the you adjust the camera's white balance......to me, your photo's look fine.......contrast is always a difficult aspect to render with polished stones without photo shopping the heck out of them.......!
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MommaGem
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2019
Posts: 312
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Post by MommaGem on Aug 27, 2019 15:34:01 GMT -5
Oh my!! Soooo pretty! I need to put this on my "rough I need to find" list!
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Post by TheRock on Aug 27, 2019 16:16:47 GMT -5
Those are PURDY!
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Post by greig on Aug 27, 2019 17:28:46 GMT -5
I like the inside sliced. When you said you want them round, maybe preshape them before tumbling?
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,681
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Post by Fossilman on Aug 27, 2019 17:47:08 GMT -5
Nice shine!
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NevadaBill
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2019
Posts: 1,332
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Post by NevadaBill on Aug 29, 2019 12:22:41 GMT -5
Love purple.........ya, try a medium to light gray, even a red background........white may wash out unless the you adjust the camera's white balance......to me, your photo's look fine.......contrast is always a difficult aspect to render with polished stones without photo shopping the heck out of them.......! Thank you pizzano. I had not thought of this, but I have probably never used a white or light grey background yet, for anything that I've created. I need to get to hobby lobby and buy a couple large sheets or swatches of this material.
I think I'd probably get yelled at for using the good table cloth or place settings that I just found in the cabinet when looking around just now. Not that we use those old rags very often anyhoo. Still...
Thanks for the great suggestion!
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NevadaBill
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2019
Posts: 1,332
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Post by NevadaBill on Aug 29, 2019 12:35:13 GMT -5
I like the inside sliced. When you said you want them round, maybe preshape them before tumbling? I have been thinking about that, greig .
I have been wanting to purchase an el-cheepo, used, 7" wet tile saw off CL or Ebay for a while now, and fit it with a special Tuck Point Diamond Blade that jamesp did a write up once. I can't find the link, but I know I have the thing somewhere.
But the Tuck Point is wide (will probably require modifications of the saw platform), and can rapidly remove material to shape stones. Especially good with large stones. Must faster than a regular old cab grinder I bet.
I need to get a dedicated rig with one of these blades in my garage, so that I can rapidly shape rocks.
Thank you for the suggestion!
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NevadaBill
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2019
Posts: 1,332
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Post by NevadaBill on Sept 2, 2019 14:09:38 GMT -5
OK, not to beat this dead horse [ ]
But I found an old white composite cutting board, and shot the rocks against this pure white background:
I am not sure that this is what I was expecting... But if you overexpose the subject, you still get a washed out result.
This is one of the trade offs for using a camera (Pixel 3) to take the shot. I got tired of lugging around the nice big camera and lenses and batteries, and everything else that goes with that. I don't get white balance control, or any manual exposure control at all.
Just testing...
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pizzano
Cave Dweller
Member since February 2018
Posts: 1,390
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Post by pizzano on Sept 2, 2019 15:19:42 GMT -5
White background worked well......the Google Pixel 3 has gotten very good android phone/camera reviews. Some rate it higher than the Apple I-phone's, which are amazing too. Really can't go wrong with a point & shoot that has 12mp and F/1.8 capability for general everyday quality photos. What you'll lack in macro, cropping, contrast and enlargement aspects (as you know), is overshadowed by convenience and simplicity of the phone.......nice shots...!
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Sept 7, 2019 6:24:50 GMT -5
I like the inside sliced. When you said you want them round, maybe preshape them before tumbling? I have been thinking about that, greig . I have been wanting to purchase an el-cheepo, used, 7" wet tile saw off CL or Ebay for a while now, and fit it with a special Tuck Point Diamond Blade that jamesp did a write up once. I can't find the link, but I know I have the thing somewhere. But the Tuck Point is wide (will probably require modifications of the saw platform), and can rapidly remove material to shape stones. Especially good with large stones. Must faster than a regular old cab grinder I bet.
I need to get a dedicated rig with one of these blades in my garage, so that I can rapidly shape rocks. Thank you for the suggestion!
My 1/4" tuck blade from Advanta fit in a cheap Home Depot tile saw without modification Bill. Widening the slot in the table would not been an issue. Should be easy to do with a grinder. It spins true and has no vibration at the grinding face. I usually lower the blade so only a 1/4" to 1/2" arc of the blade is showing above the table height on small tumbles to avoid abrading finger tips. When a small portion of the blade is showing the water baffles manages the water sling better. I prefer to drip water into the reservoir to keep it's level maintained. The wider blade does throw more water. There is a possibility of wear causing imbalance. Imbalance can causes hard agates to bounce and crack at fractures or chip excessively. I have yet to have a problem even when the blade was worn below 70% sintered diamond zone. About 3/16" which took a crap load of grinding. Keep in mind it was often used to shape large roundish stones 2 to 4 inches before tumbling. Shaping such large agates and woods is a big job. 1 to 2 inch tumbles are much less demanding as far as diamond wear. A tuck blade has larger more aggressive diamonds than about all tile saw blades.(sharper crushed diamonds instead of rounder octahedron diamond crystals) It will remove finger tip skin quicker, I have yet to draw blood though but have come close(more of a burn). It's job is fast material removal and not smooth cuts. Any coarse grit in the rotary removes the scratches easily. Spinning at tile saw speeds of 4000 RPM speeds material removal a great deal. I bought a 4 pack for $100. Can't seem to wear out the first blade.
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rjbud1
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2015
Posts: 100
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Post by rjbud1 on Sept 7, 2019 20:08:10 GMT -5
Wow! Pic no. 6 😍
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