lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 926
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Post by lordsorril on Aug 5, 2020 19:57:28 GMT -5
Yes, a lot of people have very strong opinions on the topic based on their personal experience. Most have the best intentions. I am not here to debate any of these viewpoints. I am here because I like to tumble rocks and take photos with my snakes. We will leave it at that.  |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 926
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Post by lordsorril on Aug 5, 2020 20:02:04 GMT -5
Photo #8 Found this piece in a box of random rocks I purchased on Ebay from the Mid-West. Not the prettiest tumble, but, still cool.  |
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Post by greig on Aug 5, 2020 23:14:45 GMT -5
Blue feldspar? AKA amazonite, amazon stone or amazon jade.
I put some in a 6 lb rotary tumbler yesterday.
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Post by parfive on Aug 6, 2020 1:26:08 GMT -5
Number eight picked that rock all by itself, right? : )
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 926
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Post by lordsorril on Aug 6, 2020 13:15:05 GMT -5
Number eight picked that rock all by itself, right? : ) If so: She sure knows how to pick them. This is the first and only dinosaur bone I've found (if you can call it 'found' since someone else collected it). I left some of the shape intact at the cost of a perfect tumble.  (If it would tumble perfectly--which seems unlikely) |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 926
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Post by lordsorril on Aug 6, 2020 13:19:49 GMT -5
Blue feldspar? AKA amazonite, amazon stone or amazon jade. I put some in a 6 lb rotary tumbler yesterday. Blue amazonite would be cool! Nothing so fancy. If I had to call it one of the feldspars I am familiar with--I would say it was very similar to labradorite (pictured in my hand below). Instead of the chatoyancy though I just get a greyish blue color instead--bummer...lol. I haven't tumbled any amazonite or labradorite yet. I look forward to seeing your pictures of the amazonite final product! Edit: I haven't tumbled any amazonite which is not embedded in a smokey quartz matrix. Keep forgetting about those...  |
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Post by parfive on Aug 6, 2020 14:25:21 GMT -5
Aw, drats . . . I thought it was a chunk of snakeskin agate.
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 926
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Post by lordsorril on Aug 6, 2020 15:07:00 GMT -5
Aw, drats . . . I thought it was a chunk of snakeskin agate. Hahaha. Yeah, that would have been cool too! I don't think I have any snakeskin agate...at least I haven't found any yet...*looks at 30+ unopened LFRB of mixed rocks in garage*...maybe this is why the mail man hates me... |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 926
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Post by lordsorril on Aug 8, 2020 5:40:36 GMT -5
Photo# 9 People with rock tumbling perfection OCD look away quick: This material is filled with pits, crevices, and odd shapes!  I have no compulsion to try and grind the pits out here because they will probably create new ones...  Here is a closeup of a separate piece.  |
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Aug 8, 2020 7:56:50 GMT -5
Heh. That last picture looks like a snake head to me.  |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 926
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Post by lordsorril on Aug 8, 2020 9:10:25 GMT -5
Heh. That last picture looks like a snake head to me. You have a great imagination! It took me a few minutes after you said that to see it--I got it now!  |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 926
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Post by lordsorril on Aug 10, 2020 5:14:08 GMT -5
Photo #10  Utah Wonderstone (non-heat treated). It is gritty, porous, and unsightly gaps open between banding which have to be ground out. 'Fun' stuff to tumble! All rotary tumbled. I did manage a nice sheen on top-regardless of the pores. I think I could have gotten much better results from this material in a vibe. Going to try it out one of these days with some smaller pieces... Added a photo below of the other side. I tried to use my cat to provide scale, but, he was busy with important 'business' at the time.  |
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saxplayer
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since March 2018
Posts: 1,327
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Post by saxplayer on Aug 10, 2020 8:45:45 GMT -5
Cool large wonderstone piece!
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 926
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Post by lordsorril on Aug 11, 2020 17:36:05 GMT -5
Photo #11 I partially tumbled the rock in the photo and then noticed that there are some shiny metallic areas. I moved it to polish earlier than normal so I did not grind them away. I could not really capture the reflective areas in my photos using my traditional 'snake photo' method---so I took a short video below to demonstrate. Note: Snake eyes turn blue during part of the shedding process. Young snakes shed frequently.  |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 926
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Post by lordsorril on Aug 13, 2020 10:25:41 GMT -5
Photo #12  I didn't get to take as good of a photo of the rocks as I would have liked, but, got a good one of the snake. This girl was tough to handle for the photo. Ball pythons typically don't attack unless they are defending or trying to capture food. This female is growing much faster than the others and is craving more food...She will attack any heat signature combined with moment (in this case: my hands). I'm holding up my right hand in this photo to distract her while I take photos with my left. I had to carry her out of her enclosure and move her around with a dedicated kitchen spatula.  |
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Aug 13, 2020 10:32:48 GMT -5
She looks very unhappy.
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Post by jasoninsd on Aug 13, 2020 20:49:17 GMT -5
Photo #12 I didn't get to take as good of a photo of the rocks as I would have liked, but, got a good one of the snake. This girl was tough to handle for the photo. Ball pythons typically don't attack unless they are defending or trying to capture food. This female is growing much faster than the others and is craving more food...She will attack any heat signature combined with moment (in this case: my hands). I'm holding up my right hand in this photo to distract her while I take photos with my left. I had to carry her out of her enclosure and move her around with a dedicated kitchen spatula. I think I would've done it with a dedicated 10-foot pole!  Thanks again for risking puncture wounds for our edification! |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 926
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Post by lordsorril on Aug 14, 2020 5:27:51 GMT -5
Hahaha! Thank you, nothing so dramatic though! Ball pythons are pretty defenseless. They are constrictors with their teeth only designed to grip and not to be a source of damage (which is why they often bluff while defending). Even a full feeding strike from an adult female can only draw a few drops of blood. People do make the mistake of hanging them around their necks for convenience while walking around. In this event: if the snake panics it will latch on to whatever is holding it...and if that happens to be your throat...you can guarantee it is going to be uncomfortable.  |
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oldschoolrocker
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2019
Posts: 1,578
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Post by oldschoolrocker on Aug 14, 2020 8:27:02 GMT -5
that Wonderstone is superb! loving these photos! thanks for sharing!
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 926
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Post by lordsorril on Aug 15, 2020 5:27:21 GMT -5
that Wonderstone is superb! loving these photos! thanks for sharing! Thanks! That Wonderstone lost over 50% mass during tumbling because it had a lot of hidden defects. |
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