QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Feb 11, 2017 2:20:41 GMT -5
glad it ended well! I once saw a hack on how to start a fire using a 9 volt battery and steel wool. I never had any idea it would burn! Yeah the fine 0000 grade piece of steel wool sparked and popped like fine grained iron shavings do when they are burned. The other piece which was more coarse seemed more to just burn the oil in it. I was surprised at the amount of heat they created at such a fast speed. Larry C. |
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Feb 11, 2017 1:54:02 GMT -5
If you're using SC then the 400 is prudent. But if using diamond the 400 could be eliminated from that sequence. Larry C. I am using diamond and thanks I will have to give that a try would save some time and money too. Tela I'm using an old 8" beacon star 4 wheel unit. I have been cabbing for a long time and never questioned skipping the 400 just shows that ya can learn something new if you listen. Yeah back when I started cabbing the old normal sequence for SC used to be 100 hard wheel followed by 220 hard wheel, then 400 sanding followed by 600 sanding and then pre-polish on a worn out 600 or an 800. Then polish with whichever was the preferred oxide and pad/belt material. I would hate to have to go back to the days of SC  ! Larry C. |
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Feb 10, 2017 16:07:01 GMT -5
Yikes! Love happy endings. I have some very fine steel wool. Would it be safe in a canning jar! I wonder what else would spontaneously ignite. Thanks for the warning. I don't know for sure. But I would think that a glass canning jar would definitely be better than a flammable material container. Other common household items that can spontaneously combust are stacks of newspapers, clean rags in a box, bag or pile where there's no ventilation and heat can build up. And oily rags and oily paper towels are notorious for spontaneous combustion. Also paper or cloth that has been used with chemical furniture stripper, wood stain, etc. And coal piles. These are a few I can think of. Larry C. |
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Feb 10, 2017 14:20:44 GMT -5
Wow! Close call! Thanks so much for the reminder. I didn't know that about steel wool and I have it just laying around. Fine grades of steel wool are used a lot in the furniture finishing industry and have been blamed for many factory and furniture refinishing shop fires. I was a furniture repairman for 24 years and used steel wool daily, and have kept it around in the years since but had never had a fire incident with it until yesterday. I did have another furniture repairman tell me a few years back that he had been working on a piece of furniture in his basement and had gone upstairs. A little while later his young daughter had gone downstairs and saw a piece of steel wool smoldering and came up and told him and he got down there to extinguish it just in time. Larry C. |
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Feb 10, 2017 14:06:46 GMT -5
Yesterday I was in my shop faceting and got up and stepped over to another work bench to look for something. Within 2-3 seconds after I approached the work bench I noticed a little smoke coming up off the work bench just in front of me, then a red ember, which quickly became a flame, then a flash fire that resembled loose black powder burning. I had had a couple of pieces of steel wool laying on a 10" ceramic dish that either spontaneously combusted or were ignited from a static electricity spark.
I was able to pick up the ceramic dish and get it outside quickly and then immediately removed all flammable materials that had been in the close vicinity of the flame just in case any embers had popped outside the dish onto them. So fortunately this incident didn't escalate.
Most steel wool contains oil as a rust inhibitor. And it was the oil that flashed and burned so quickly. The piece that originally caught fire, and which ignited the second piece, was a very fine 0000 grade of steel wool and some of the metal did appear to burn on that piece.
Because I had heard that steel wool can be prone to spontaneous combustion I only keep small amounts of it in my main workshop at any given time. And when not using it I usually keep it on a ceramic dish since ceramic materials aren't flammable. I don't know how far static electricity can arc off of a human body but I was never closer than 6" to the steel wool, if even that close. So I don't know if it was a case of static electricity or a case of spontaneous combustion. If it was the later then this was nothing short of a miracle of timing!
I hate to think of what the results could have so easily been. This occurred in the only one of my shop buildings that I keep heated in the winter. Therefore this is also the building that I store most of my furniture repair supplies, finishes, and solvents, including a couple of hundred aerosol cans of furniture lacquers and toners in - which are all highly flammable and would have resulted in a very hot and violent fire if ignited. Additionally it's the same building that all of my personal faceting and cabbing equipment and supplies, my smaller sized slab and trim saws, most of my lifetime accumulation of slabs and cabbing rough, my wood working hand tools, casting equipment and supplies and a few other pieces of equipment purchased for resale are all stored in. So frankly I would have found the loss of this shop building and the contnets nearly as devastating as I would were it the house.
It's so easy to forget how quickly and unexpectedly a tragedy can strike until we get a reminder! And I thank God that this incident didn't turn into a tragedy!
I really have to rethink the way I've been managing and storing things around here!
Larry C.
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Feb 10, 2017 12:21:52 GMT -5
FWIW I have always used 80 or 100, 220, 400, 600 not sure what skipping the 400 would be like, but might make it a little harder to remove scratches. If you're using SC then the 400 is prudent. But if using diamond the 400 could be eliminated from that sequence. Larry C. |
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Feb 6, 2017 19:49:10 GMT -5
Seems like I remember hearing that some of the brown Birdseye Rhyolite can be turned red by heat treating similarly to the brown and tan "Clam Chowder Stone". I can't remember the temperature and time cycle for sure but it seems like it was either 400 degrees F for 8 hours or 800 degrees F for 4 hours. Dang adult on-set phantom dyslexia striking again! Maybe someone else here knows for sure.
Larry C.
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Feb 6, 2017 19:34:19 GMT -5
... slabbing is the funnest part. It's like opening surprise packages over and over..Mel Yep, Evey day slabbing is like being a kid opening presents Christmas morning. Sometimes you get something really cool and sometimes you just get...well, uh...socks. Larry C. |
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Feb 6, 2017 12:53:00 GMT -5
Between Cabbing and Tumbling I'm a cabber. But the last few years I've done much more slabbing than anything else. Got injured in 2012 and again in late 2013 and haven't done any cabbing and only a little faceting since then. Larry C. I guess I should mark you as a slabber then? For now yes I'm primarily a slabber. Larry C. |
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Feb 6, 2017 12:42:41 GMT -5
Between Cabbing and Tumbling I'm a cabber. But the last few years I've done much more slabbing than anything else. Got injured in 2012 and again in late 2013 and haven't done any cabbing and only a little faceting since then.
Larry C.
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Feb 3, 2017 22:55:17 GMT -5
Just a reminder of how fast it all goes by! Larry C. |
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Feb 1, 2017 20:03:43 GMT -5
[/quote] rockjunquie QuailRiver Speaking of language issue, he claims he inglish so not good, but he sure seems to do a very good job at times. When I started reading his replay I thought at times he almost had to work at making it bad. QuailRiver thanks for finding the ebay listings and pointing this out. Just another reason we need this forum..........................................MrP [/quote] I kind of wondered about that language thing too. As for the eBay links Roberto himself had originally posted links to his eBay page in two or three of his original posts but edited the links out yesterday afternoon after I called him out. Larry C. |
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Feb 1, 2017 19:57:33 GMT -5
Is there a way to report him to eBay? Yes eBay has an automated system to report offenders. But unfortunately it seems that the only times eBay takes action is if there is a dispute over funds, something illegal is being sold (like eagle feathers, etc.) or if the offender is violating copyright laws and eBay doesn't want to risk a legal hassle. Larry C. |
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Feb 1, 2017 18:38:47 GMT -5
QuailRiver There is the possibility that he is truly ignorant, in which case he has come to the right place to learn. You're doing a great job with that so far. You're a very nice person for doing so but I think you're giving Roberto too much benefit of the doubt. IMO in Roberto's resistance to being corrected, and his refusal to acknowledge the reality of 970,000 Google search results for "Chinese Writing Stone" as being real, he has already shown that he is not here to learn. Personally I believe that he only signed up hoping to find some suckers to sell to. In several of his listing Roberto is, wittingly or not, using a very old trick that dubious sellers have used for ages. One I've seen several auctioneers use many times - That is dropping of the name of something with real value in the sales pitch of a lesser valued item in order to plant a seed of value in the minds of less-knowledgeable potential buyers without actually making the claim of it being the more valued. And this way they can claim plausible deniability by feigning ignorance. (i.e. Turquoise?, Malachite?, Variscite?) An example of this type of tactic was as an auctioneer, just prior to the start of a bidding call for a piece of low-end frosted art glass, asking his floor help "Is that Lalique Glass?" knowing full well that it isn't, and knowing full well that the floor help wouldn't know either. But by asking that question he plants that seed of potential value in the mind of the more gullible of the non-expert buyers. And makes them willing to pay more because an illusion of potential value has been created. And in this way the auctioneer hasn't made himself legally liable for his intentional deceit because he never actually claimed that it was Lalique Glass. I've seen auctioneers use variations of this tactic many times and I'm sure any other frequent auction goers here probably have too. And in addition to Roberto dropping terms of value that are unrelated to what he is selling, in some of his listings he also includes photos in the item's picture gallery of extremely valuable antique sculptures that have no significant connection to what he is selling other than that it may have been carved from a similar or same type of stone as the river rock he is selling. Of course the fact that the river rock he is selling is of a similar or same type stone as the pictured antique sculpture was made doesn't really enhance the monetary value of his river rock any more than Georgia road gravel would be considered more valuable because it may be from the same granite formation as the Stone Mountain granite sculptures are sculpted from. But by picturing these valuable antique sculptures along side Roberto's similar material river rocks, it generates a false air of antiquity and value. This reminds me of tactic used by one auction house I went to a couple of times years ago that would buy cheap modern reproduction Depression Glass and reproduction Majolica pottery from a company called AA Imports. They would pull the import sticker off the bottoms and display it among the authentic antique furniture. They wouldn't call it as either authentic or reproduction when they sold it but the association with the genuine antique furniture it was displayed on seemed to always be enough to make it bring near to, or full book value of what genuine Depression Glass and Majolica of the same pattern and pieces where valued at in the Collectors Books series price guides of the time. I remember having a heated exchange with one of the owners of that auction house after calling them out on their deception too. ...They took me off their mailing list. LOL! So while I am willing to accept that Roberto is fairly ignorant of minerals, I suspect that he knows exactly what he is doing tactically in misrepresenting his eBay listings. The long-time members here know that I rarely get involved in controversial topics with other members. This is only the second time I remember doing so. But I just found the eBay listings Roberto was plugging here immediately after he joined to be too blatantly and obnoxiously misleading to give him a pass. Partly because of how annoying I find the occasional shyster who joins this site for the sole purpose of trying to milk the members, but also as because as an eBay seller myself I am sick and tired of dishonest sellers giving all of us a bad name. P.S. I would like to let all of the other newer members know that nothing I posted in this thread was intended to be offense to you or to discourage you from participating on the RTH board. We were all beginners once and life is a learning process. I started collecting rocks soon after I learned to walk and started cutting and polishing stones 45 years ago, have always been a avid reader and researcher and yet after 50 years of collecting I still almost daily learn something that is new to me about rocks, gems and lapidary. Often from the other members of this site. So please don't interpret this thread in any way that would make you feel that you are being demeaned or are unwelcomed. By far, most of the members of this site are more than happy to help those who are sincere in their motives and/or are just getting started in the hobby! |
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Feb 1, 2017 10:23:57 GMT -5
Envious? LOL! Now that's funny! I have no desire to mislead people by trying to pass off river rocks and river debris as gemstones or ancient artifacts. Most of your current eBay listings have at least one false or misleading term or aspect. And not a single one of your listings labeled turquoise, or malachite, or variscite is actually real turquoise, malachite or variscite. And I suspect that you damn well know that they aren't. Envious of a huckster?...Never! It's people like you who give eBay and eBay sellers a bad name. So you want to learn? Great! Start with any one of the following 979,000 Google search returns for "Chinese Writing Stone" which IS the recognized trade name for this variety of Porphory. www.google.com/search?q=chinese+writing+stone&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8Larry C. |
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Jan 31, 2017 22:39:38 GMT -5
ok this is your opinion, and I respect your opinion, I used the word Damele because I'm not sure what he meant, now I know that is an American mine, so thanks I put turquoise and Damele, because they are very similar to rocks found by me in Italian river when you say that the greek porphyry stones or green porphyry, called Chinese stone, sorry but you make me laugh, you do not know the porphyry, better informed thanks. I do not force anyone to buy are serious, my clients always come back to buy the second and third object to me, why and what you want and look, what you say and very serious about me the artifact pieces, you know what it's like artifact? cmq repeat respect your opinion, but I do not allow you to give me the con man, you see the positive feedback please. you play on your strength, the English language, I can not answer any better than this. great detective, but I recommend doing research on the stones and not on me thanks. which we call Chinese Writing Stone and is worth about $6 in the lapidary market the Chinese ?? lol , maybe you ricordono cartoons drawings, but those are crystals. roberto casanova The fact that Damele Turquoise comes from the Damele mine in Nevada is not an opinion. It is a FACT. And yet now that you do know what Damele Turquoise really is, you still haven't removed it from your misleading titles, nor have you changed the items falsely labeled "Malachite" and "Variscite". This speaks volumes of your intent. Follow your own advice and do some research yourself. "Chinese Writing Stone" is a trade name. So just Google it and learn something. It's not a rare material and sells for around $4 to $6 per pound for cutting cabochons from. Most of the regulars on this site have probably forgotten more about minerals than you have ever known. So don't expect to find any suckers here. Larry C. |
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Jan 31, 2017 15:14:32 GMT -5
QuailRiver hello, thank you for your answer, but I don't understand where I went wrong, please why you called trafficker Because of your falsely misleading titles and descriptions. For example: You use "Damele Turquoise" (one of the more rare and expensive of the Turquoises) in your titles, as well as "Malachite" and "Variscite" to plant the seed of high value in the mind of potential but naive buyers. And just because you add a question mark "?" here and there, and claim uncertainly, to cover yourself legally doesn't relieve you your obligations to do the research and make every effort to use as accurate of labels as possible. Any honest seller would! One can type "Damele Turquoise" into a Google search and within less than 60 seconds find out that Damele Turquoise is from the Damele Mine in Nevada. Not from a river in Italy. You pretend to be unlearned about minerals, and fall back on the language bearer as excuses but yet you are savvy enough to find and sign up for this English language rock site and managed to find and use the name of "Damele Turquoise" for your river rock eBay listings? And there's more. You loosely use the words "ancient" and "artifact" in several of your eBay listing titles when those terms do not legitimately apply to the item being sold. As you did when you used the word "Artifact" to describe a palm sized piece of river rolled "Porphry" (which we call Chinese Writing Stone and is worth about $6 in the lapidary market) which you sold to some unfortunate trusting soul for $60 (plus $25 shipping) as "Porphyry imperial Paperweight PietraDura Roma egypt artifact stone Quartz". www.ebay.com/itm/Porphyry-imperial-Paperweight-PietraDura-Roma-egypt-artifact-stone-Quartz-/332040822590?nma=true&si=bOgInIETmO7f4VSCV4ZoUTgFesE%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557I could continue with other examples of mis-labeled/over priced items in your listings www.ebay.com/sch/rivermanfound/m.html?item=332040822590&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562 but fail to see the point in being redundant. Larry C. |
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Jan 31, 2017 13:33:44 GMT -5
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Jan 29, 2017 13:46:22 GMT -5
Very nice bunch of cabs! Love the Condor #2 but that Sagenite cab is off the charts awesome!
Larry C.
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Jan 23, 2017 15:44:24 GMT -5
It looks like #2 is going to leave more questions! It also resembles a large chunk of agate I bought a few years ago out of the collection of a deceased husband & wife rockhound couple that started collecting back in the 1950s. And every summer for decades spent a month out west digging. They had a lot of old and unusual materials. Fortunately they labeled everything. The piece I got was labeled "Snowflake Agate/Oregon". The only other reference to this material I've ever been able to find was on the Agate Lexicon list which states the reference as: "Snowflake Agate, Oregon, no description, McDonald Ranch, Ashwood, Oregon, Lapidary Journal, v. 25, no. 3, p. 484." I'm not declaring that your slab is this same material but does look very similar.
I believe the Lapidary Journal, v. 25, no. 3 would be the July 1971 issue if anyone has that issue and wants to look it up and see if there are any photos to share?
Larry C.
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