|
Post by HankRocks on Dec 19, 2020 21:06:49 GMT -5
Just pulled these out of Polish this morning and a 9 hour soap run today. About 50 slabs in the batch with about 7 or 8 pounds of mostly pea gravel size rocks and a few scraps. Brazilian Agate - largest is about 4 inches in length IMG_2329 by Findrocks, on Flickr More Brazilian - largest is about 4 inches length and width. IMG_2330 by Findrocks, on Flickr Blackskin Agate - When I cut the first slab from this agate several months ago it struck me as a nice landscape scene, "storm over the darkened hills". Large piece is 6 inches by 1.5 inches. This is one I did not want to cut up for pendants. There are 6 or 7 more slabs to polish. IMG_2333 by Findrocks, on Flickr Have been watching my wife with one of her crafts using a light box, took about 6 months for the light to go in my head that it could be used to photograph slabs!!
|
|
|
Post by jasoninsd on Dec 19, 2020 22:12:14 GMT -5
Those are gorgeous Hank! What're your plans for these? I just made a light box a few weeks ago. I just have to figure out the lighting I should be using with it. I'm pretty sure I don't have the right lights just yet, but I do love it!
|
|
|
Post by HankRocks on Dec 20, 2020 9:33:13 GMT -5
Those are gorgeous Hank! What're your plans for these? I just made a light box a few weeks ago. I just have to figure out the lighting I should be using with it. I'm pretty sure I don't have the right lights just yet, but I do love it! No definite plans yet. Maybe a few for Night-Lights, maybe a framed display of 3 or 4 of the same rock. It would be nice it the framed display was an LED Lightbox to show off the pattern. That or sell some of the larger ones as is with a nice little stand.
|
|
kyoti
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2020
Posts: 542
|
Post by kyoti on Dec 20, 2020 10:47:40 GMT -5
Those came out beautiful Hank. I really like the colors with the druzy centers. I'm always afraid to tumble slabs. I always think they're going to chip or crack in half. I really like the black skin agate. I managed to get a hold of quite a bit of this material from the local shop back during the summer. I've been slowly using warm days to cut it on the tile saw. I have a few pieces tumbling right now. Can't wait to see them
|
|
|
Post by HankRocks on Dec 20, 2020 11:07:52 GMT -5
Those came out beautiful Hank. I really like the colors with the druzy centers. I'm always afraid to tumble slabs. I always think they're going to chip or crack in half. I really like the black skin agate. I managed to get a hold of quite a bit of this material from the local shop back during the summer. I've been slowly using warm days to cut it on the tile saw. I have a few pieces tumbling right now. Can't wait to see them For the Thumler's Model B, I usually put 40 to 50 slabs in the 2.5" to 4" range. I will lose about 2 maybe 3 that break. They go into the Pendant/shape cutting pile. Sometimes I run 5 or 6 slabs with preforms. I always use smalls such as pre-form trimmings, etc. I think the cushioning helps. An old rockhound sold me some polished thin slabs, less than 1/16" that were in the 4 to 5 inch range. He did lose a few but they came out great. They are almost too thin to use. He didn't tell me how he managed to tumble them. Before tumbling any slabs I usually touch grind the corner edges on both sides and remove any nibs left from cutting. A lot of the BlackSkin agate has a resemblance to Montana in the pattern and color.
|
|
|
Post by miket on Dec 20, 2020 13:23:06 GMT -5
Super nice, I'm always impressed with the results that you get!
|
|
|
Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Dec 20, 2020 19:22:13 GMT -5
Awesome. That is a whole bunch of slabs. I am surprised all the flats polished so good with that many in there. I know in the vibe it is a pain to get it right so they do not just suck up against each other.
Chuck
|
|
|
Post by jasoninsd on Dec 20, 2020 19:32:02 GMT -5
I can definitely see the the nightlights idea! Those would look really sharp! I like the backlit display case idea too!
|
|
|
Post by HankRocks on Dec 20, 2020 19:41:28 GMT -5
Awesome. That is a whole bunch of slabs. I am surprised all the flats polished so good with that many in there. I know in the vibe it is a pain to get it right so they do not just suck up against each other. Chuck I think extra time in pre-polish(10 days in rotary) probably helped. It would seem that they are a bit less likely to stick together in the Rotary(maybe?). Every time I opened the Vib there were slabs stuck together, one group had 4. A good friend of mine said that there is some polishing going on with slabs stuck together, the micro polish particles are still working. Whatever the case I am very pleased with the results. Another factor, by weight the slabs never make up more than 50% of the load, even less in polish as I add about 3 pounds of previously polished smalls to make up the difference between the 15 pound Rotary and the 18 pound Vibe. Henry
|
|