Snakes and Stones

[jamesp]

I hope you will share you secrets on how you tumbled the 6 pound carnelian. Perhaps another day when the time is right.

[lordsorril]

Jul 29, 2020 11:15:08 GMT -5 jamesp said:

I hope you will share you secrets on how you tumbled the 6 pound carnelian. Perhaps another day when the time is right.

No fancy secrets:

Lortone QT12:
46/60 SiC until rough shaped (used rounded quartz fish tank gravel as filler 1/2 barrel)
120    SiC until shape near perfect (fish tank gravel from stage 1 liquified--so added new quartz fish tank gravel)
60      AOx to smooth out the carnelian odd edges (added more small fish tank gravel)
120    AOx to further smooth out the surface (with carried over gravel-if sharp edges/undercut appear-backed up to 60 Aluminum Oxide)
220    AOx to continue conditioning the surface (gravel from previous 120 run)
500    AOx 1/4 barrel polished plastic pellets, 1/4 barrel *marble sized* polished milky quartz (milky quartz is my expendable mohs 7 material)
1000  AOx Plastic pellets and marble sized quartz from previous run
Polish TRS (The Rock Shed) Plastic pellets from previous run, and additional polished plastic pellets only, no stones other than the primary one.  About an inch of water in the barrel.  Since I find imperfections post-polish on these large ones I usually have to send them back to 120 AOx.

I don't measure exact grit amounts. I take a good guess at what 'looks right'.  The entire process took about 4 months in a rotary.   

Note:  If I don't use marble sized stones at the 500 grit stage the 6lb. rock will crush the smaller filler stones and scratch it up.  I tried this process on large softer rocks--it doesn't work.  I've found that the plastic pellets will actually scratch the soft rock in the finer stages (220+) due to the weight of the stone itself.

[jamesp]

Jul 29, 2020 11:57:35 GMT -5 lordsorril said:

Jul 29, 2020 11:15:08 GMT -5 jamesp said:

I hope you will share you secrets on how you tumbled the 6 pound carnelian. Perhaps another day when the time is right.

No fancy secrets:

Lortone QT12:
46/60 SiC until rough shaped (used rounded quartz fish tank gravel as filler 1/2 barrel)
120    SiC until shape near perfect (fish tank gravel from stage 1 liquified--so added new quartz fish tank gravel)
60      AOx to smooth out the carnelian odd edges (added more small fish tank gravel)
120    AOx to further smooth out the surface (with carried over gravel-if sharp edges/undercut appear-backed up to 60 Aluminum Oxide)
220    AOx to continue conditioning the surface (gravel from previous 120 run)
500    AOx 1/4 barrel polished plastic pellets, 1/4 barrel *marble sized* polished milky quartz (milky quartz is my expendable mohs 7 material)
1000  AOx Plastic pellets and marble sized quartz from previous run
Polish TRS (The Rock Shed) Plastic pellets from previous run, and additional polished plastic pellets only, no stones other than the primary one.  About an inch of water in the barrel.  Since I find imperfections post-polish on these large ones I usually have to send them back to 120 AOx.

I don't measure exact grit amounts. I take a good guess at what 'looks right'.  The entire process took about 4 months in a rotary.   

Note:  If I don't use marble sized stones at the 500 grit stage the 6lb. rock will crush the smaller filler stones and scratch it up.  I tried this process on large softer rocks--it doesn't work.  I've found that the plastic pellets will actually scratch the soft rock in the finer stages (220+) due to the weight of the stone itself.

Many thanks for sharing.
I like your heavy usage of aluminum oxide. The perfect surface conditioner IMO. User friendly, cheap, flexible, etc.
Interesting note on smaller rocks breaking to sharp edges and scratching.
Thanks again, she's a beauty and a hoss at 6 pounds.

[lordsorril]

Photo #5



Fun facts:

At the time these photos were taken comparatively by weight this female is 2X the size of the snake in photo #2, and 20X the size of the snake in photo #1.  The larger the snake...the smaller the stones appear.

This year (2020) I bred her with the male from Photo #3.  She laid 8 eggs.  I placed them in my time lapse incubator.  They finished hatching today (31 Jul 2020).  I have the 68 days of incubation compressed into 4 minutes and uploaded to YouTube.  Time lapse eggs - 68 Days  

[hummingbirdstones]

She's a big one.  Thanks for the link to the video.  That was very cool to watch.

[lordsorril]

Photo# 6



Note: Mohs 4 material in a Mohs 7 quartz matrix.  Brutal.

[lordsorril]

Photo #7
A little material from my backyard.    
Color can vary from light grey to dark greyish/blue-I sort it by color after I polish it.  

[hummingbirdstones]

Another cool picture.  You have blue rocks in your backyard?  Where are you?

[lordsorril]

Aug 4, 2020 9:01:21 GMT -5 hummingbirdstones said:

Another cool picture.  You have blue rocks in your backyard?  Where are you?

Thanks,

They do look blue!  I live in Central Massachusetts.  This type of stone can be found pretty much everywhere here, it is so plentiful that people used it in their stone walls marking the edge of their property, and there are boulders of it sitting in the woods by my house.  I try only to collect and tumble the 'good stuff' (pictured).  It looks semi-translucent prior to tumbling and then it looks opaque afterwards.  My first batch was a real disappointment as I thought it might be crystalline and translucent, but, regardless the appearance has been growing on me over time...

[catmandewe]

Cool photos, Thanks for sharing them!

Tony

[greig]

My wife looked over my shoulder to view the pics. As she walked away she said "We are not buying a snake". That my friend is her way of agreeing that the photos are amazing. LOL

[lordsorril]

Aug 4, 2020 13:30:17 GMT -5 greig said:

My wife looked over my shoulder to view the pics. As she walked away she said "We are not buying a snake". That my friend is her way of agreeing that the photos are amazing. LOL

Hahaha!  Thanks!

My girlfriend took me to a reptile expo while we were dating and she said 'You should buy one of those ball pythons-I hear they make great pets'.  20 years later and she regrets ever saying that 

[hummingbirdstones]

Aug 4, 2020 10:09:17 GMT -5 lordsorril said:

Aug 4, 2020 9:01:21 GMT -5 hummingbirdstones said:

Another cool picture.  You have blue rocks in your backyard?  Where are you?

Thanks,

They do look blue!  I live in Central Massachusetts.  This type of stone can be found pretty much everywhere here, it is so plentiful that people used it in their stone walls marking the edge of their property, and there are boulders of it sitting in the woods by my house.  I try only to collect and tumble the 'good stuff' (pictured).  It looks semi-translucent prior to tumbling and then it looks opaque afterwards.  My first batch was a real disappointment as I thought it might be crystalline and translucent, but, regardless the appearance has been growing on me over time...

It's pretty, whatever it is.  It is a type of quartz?

[lordsorril]

I'm not entirely certain.  I asked one 'rock guy' and he said it was Plagioclase.  I told him I thought it may be Feldspar.  He said 'same thing'.

It has a Mohs hardness of aprox. 6-6.5 and will sheer easily with a chisel (so it is pretty convenient to break large chunks off).

[kyoti]

I really like the patterns on python #7. The blue feldspar is very pretty tumbled up.

[jasoninsd]

Aug 4, 2020 8:43:03 GMT -5 lordsorril said:

Photo #7
A little material from my backyard.    
Color can vary from light grey to dark greyish/blue-I sort it by color after I polish it.  

[Pic removed]

Another great shot! Thanks again as I'm lovin' these shots!

Aug 4, 2020 13:30:17 GMT -5 greig said:

My wife looked over my shoulder to view the pics. As she walked away she said "We are not buying a snake". That my friend is her way of agreeing that the photos are amazing. LOL

LOL - When I showed the pics to my wife, she just looked at me and made a face...I took it as the same response as your wife!

[lordsorril]

Aug 4, 2020 18:59:49 GMT -5 kyoti said:

I really like the patterns on python #7. The blue feldspar is very pretty tumbled up.

Thanks, a vibratory tumbler had to finish all the work that the rotary started.  All those little cracks you see are pre-cursors to fragments chipping off. 

As for Python #7 it is a two gene morph: Black Pastel and Spider. 

I should mention that the 'Spider' gene has become controversial in the last few years because it is linked to a neurological quirk where the head moves slightly back and forth (wobble) or twists upwards occasionally (corkscrew) when the snake is excited or stressed.  While the first wild caught Spider ball python exhibited minimal symptoms, generation after generation of inbreeding by 'less responsible' breeders has resulted in an amplification of these neurological traits so that over the last 20 or so years what was once a quirk has now evolved into a prominent defect in some specimens.   There is a large group of 'Good Intention' reptile enthusiasts and their goal is to see all Spider gene ball python production stopped and the gene erased from the pool.  Some of these people are not beyond spreading misinformation and using snakes suffering from Heat Stroke (separate issue) as extreme examples.  Regardless of whether they are right or wrong they have been gaining traction in this era of social media...

[kyoti]

I'm sorry to hear that lordsorril . Hopefully the condition can be bred back out or minimized with careful selection.

[NRG]

lordsorril

The internet hive mind is loud and proud. Lol

As for my 30 years experience with ball pythons?

I choose to vote with my money. And I don't judge others for their choices. I won't spend my hard earned money on them. Let me explain why.

It is important to not be misled about the genetics of this breed. That way anyone can make their own informed opinions.

The pattern gene is clearly and undeniably tied to a condition that expresses what appears to be a neurological disorder. This is further evidenced by the also undeniable fact there is no homozygous spider form. It's obvious to anyone with knowledge of genetics that this is a fatal gene partially expressed in the heterozygous form.

Plus, Kevin McCurley is the original breeder and is a true scumbag, therefore I'm out. But that's just me.

All of that said, they make some beautiful and impressive combinations.

You be you and I won't judge. I'll simply enjoy your photos as they spill from your creative genious. Thanks for them!



ETA: it's not because if inbreeding. It's inherent in the gene. You can prove this to your self by breeding your male to any number of normal unrelated female. You will get plenty of spider babies (half the eggs) and they will all have the tic.

Kevin had them for almost 20 years before selling a single specimen. He learned the males breed early 500 grams or even less and is dominant so he plugged it into all the genetics he had for combos. His first year of release he had plenty of them including lots of combos. I was present at the Daytona show that year.


kyoti

[NRG]

Aug 4, 2020 13:30:17 GMT -5 greig said:

My wife looked over my shoulder to view the pics. As she walked away she said "We are not buying a snake". That my friend is her way of agreeing that the photos are amazing. LOL

I can help you locate a good Canadian source! 😎👍