QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
|
Post by QuailRiver on Nov 25, 2022 21:39:19 GMT -5
*All three of these tumblers are now sold. Thank you everyone! I recently picked up several pieces of lapidary equipment from a lady who said her husband bought them several years ago and that she didn't think that he ever used them. She said about eight years ago she took the equipment out of the boxes and threw the boxes away so that they would take up less space on the shelves in her garage. Judging from the appearance, I would say that she is correct about them never having been used with the exception of the Hi-Tech 8" All-U-Need unit which does appear to have been slightly used. Being unboxed for eight years on shelves in her garage some do have cosmetic issues that will not affect performance - see item descriptions of each for condition details. I am going to post as three separate posts; 3 - Raytech Tumble-Vibe TV-5 machines, a Raytech Jem Saw 45, and a Hi-Tech 8" All-U-Need machine here on the RTH site first to give the members a chance at them before I post them on any of the Face Book lapidary equipment sites. Shipping within the U.S. continental forty-eight states only. If interested please read the descriptions and view the photos carefully and if you would like to purchase any of these items then PM me your shipping address and your email address and let me know which item/items you would like and I will get you a total including shipping and will email you a Pay Pal invoice. The first to commit to purchase any or all gets priority considerations. I do not carry a mobile device so please do not be discouraged if you do not get an immediate response. Thank you! The first up: 3- Raytech Tumble-Vibe TV-5 Machines These Raytech Tumble-Vibe TV-5 machines do not appear to have ever been used. There are no abrasions inside the bowls or lids. There are a few light scuff marks here and there on the outside surfaces as the result of sitting unboxed on the previous owner's garage shelves for eight years. But over all very clean and nice condition. The price is $75 each plus shipping anywhere in the U.S. continental forty-eight states. Buy one or buy all as are available. The first to commit to purchase any or all gets priority considerations. I do not carry a mobile device so please do not be discouraged if you do not get an immediate response. Thank you!
|
|
QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
|
Post by QuailRiver on Nov 22, 2022 19:01:15 GMT -5
Was that a surface find? If so it's amazing that material like that is still out there!
|
|
QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
|
Post by QuailRiver on Nov 16, 2022 11:58:20 GMT -5
Some in the furniture industry use water clear butyrate lacquer to spray and protect brass hardware from tarnishing, and on other metals to keep them looking bright. Might work on pyrite too but I haven't tried it for that. Butyrate lacquer is available in aerosol cans and in different sheens. I used to buy it from Mohawk Finishing Products. And I think Sherwin Williams used to sell it and maybe still does in aerosol form. Also there was a another company called ML Campbell that made a modified acrylic lacquer that would adhere well to metal surfaces and dried to a hard coating that was very good. But the ML Campbell stuff was slightly amber in color and the smallest quantity their dealers would sell was one gallon. Edited: After posting the above I started thinking about how a lot of the finishes and solvents that I used to use with furniture have had to be reformulated in the last few years due to newer government regulations. So I decided to look on Mohawks's site and found that they now sell an aerosol formula that is said to be for brass and other brass plated metal surfaces. Available in gloss, matte and satin sheens. Although pyrite isn't brass, as long as there isn't a weird chemical reaction to the iron or another element in pyrite then it would probably work. But I would suggest testing it on a much lesser piece than that fine looking pyrite coated sand dollar fossil you're showing in your OP. www.mohawk-finishing.com/products/wood-staining-finishing/industrial-coatings/lacquer-for-brass/
|
|
QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
|
Post by QuailRiver on Nov 13, 2022 18:34:06 GMT -5
|
|
QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
|
Post by QuailRiver on Nov 13, 2022 17:46:40 GMT -5
Looks very similar to some Saddle Mountain Petrified Wood.
|
|
QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
|
Post by QuailRiver on Oct 30, 2022 19:53:27 GMT -5
Thanks. There is also an India Blackskin or Black Skin Agate with similar interiors but I don't have any of that rough to show.
|
|
QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
|
Post by QuailRiver on Oct 30, 2022 19:09:27 GMT -5
Possibly India Agate. Back in the 1970s a good bit of bulk India Agate alluvial nodules were imported. They were similar to Brazilian Agate nodules but tended to have a lighter colored and more opaque exterior rind than did Brazilian agate nodules. Here is a photo of some examples.
|
|
QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
|
Post by QuailRiver on Oct 23, 2022 22:48:15 GMT -5
Every brand of expandable drums I have ever seen have an inner metal hub. You can get a much better price at Kingsley North, Minnesota Lapidary Supply, Arrowhead Lapidary Supply, or Covington Engineering than the price on the one shown on the eBay link you posted.
I used the 3M brand diamond belts for a few years for 600 and 1200 sanding. When I first started using them they were great. But then 3M outsourced production overseas and the quality got so bad that I was lucky to get more than two or three large agate cabs sanded on one belt before it wore out. So for sanding I switched to Diamond Pacific's NOVA wheels about 10 or 12 years ago.
I had a couple of Eastwind Diamond belts many years ago and they were good belts. But that was a long time ago and I do not know if their quality is still good or not. Maybe someone else here has bought Eastwind Belts more recently and can comment on current quality. I have heard good things about Crystalite's Plated Diamond Belts, but they are even more expensive than standard diamond belts.
|
|
QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
|
Post by QuailRiver on Oct 22, 2022 14:07:33 GMT -5
I use hard felt discs as my preferred pads for final polish on cabochons with cerium oxide on high silica materials like agate, jasper, petrified wood, quartz, etc.. I use aluminum oxide (also sold as Raybrite, Linde A, and Sapphire Powder) on a suede leather pad for the final polish on some of the softer materials like turquoise, malachite, Sonora sunrise, howlite, etc.. I've been doing it this way since the early 1970s.
For a while when I first switched from SC to diamond grinding and sanding mediums back in 1977 I tried the finer grades of diamond bort (8k, to 12k, to 50k) on canvas resin pads. But found that on most materials after 3k it was faster to use oxides and usually got better results with oxides on most materials. The only cabbing materials that I will use diamond polishing medium on is corundum, or anything that contains corundum like Ruby in Zoisite.
And I probably should mention that there is a difference between the rawhide leather pads and belts, and the suede leather pads and belts that have been sold for lapidary use. The suede pads and belts have a finer softer texture. And some suede pads that have been sold, like the ones that Ebersol Rocks used to sell were often cut from garment or upholstery suede material and were finished on one side with dyes and lacquers. In these cases you would want to use the unfinished side which will be the rougher side.
|
|
QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
|
Post by QuailRiver on Oct 16, 2022 13:50:27 GMT -5
I cut a good bit of Tiger Iron back in the 80's. As best as I recall I got my best polishes on it using Raybrite (aluminum oxide) on suede leather. Its messy to saw and cab due to the hematite in it but I've always been a big fan the finished cabs.
All of mine I sliced across the bands. Don't recall ever noticing any difference in the cross banding direction appearance. I did used to know a guy who would slice Tiger Iron parallel to the bands and only where the chatoyant material was. He would only get one or two good slabs out of a chuck this way but it made for some interesting cabs.
|
|
QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
|
Post by QuailRiver on Oct 14, 2022 18:09:34 GMT -5
And there's nothing wrong with using a 360 hard wheel prior to sanding with a 600 belt or soft wheel. Back in the 70's when man-made diamonds were still really expensive, the larger the diamond particle (grit size) the more expensive it was. Which made the coarse grit wheels really costly compared to smaller grit wheels at that time. So a lot of cabbers used 180 grit diamond hard wheels for their first grind, followed by a 360 diamond hard wheel for final shaping before going to 600 diamond paste on a canvas resin or leather belt. I know that sounds like drudgery today, but after having had to use 100 and 220 grit SC wheels back in the day, a 180 diamond wheel was a vast improvement and time saver. I still keep a 360 grit diamond hard wheel in my line-up for cabs that have stubborn scratches on the dome. No point in spending a lot of excess time and wear on a 280 soft wheel trying to remove stubborn scratches when a 360 hard diamond wheel will make quick work of them. I wore out a lot of 280 soft wheels because I was misusing them and that is a mistake a lot of people still make. A 280 soft is a crutch because it cuts and feels safer than a hard wheel. Mistakes are fixed on a lower grit wheel not overusing a 280. Everybody cabber occasionally has scratches from grinding that aren't apparent until the sanding stage. It would seem counterproductive to me to go all the way back to a coarser grit to remove the scratches, and then have to re-sand the cab all over again from a coarser grit when if you have a 360 hard wheel the scratches can be removed quickly on the 360 and then the cab can be just touched back up on the sanding wheel. Plus a 360 hard wheel is very nice to have around for turquoise and opal.
|
|
QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
|
Post by QuailRiver on Oct 14, 2022 17:27:28 GMT -5
And there's nothing wrong with using a 360 hard wheel prior to sanding with a 600 belt or soft wheel.
Back in the 70's when man-made diamonds were still really expensive, the larger the diamond particle (grit size) the more expensive it was. Which made the coarse grit wheels really costly compared to smaller grit wheels at that time. So a lot of cabbers used 180 grit diamond hard wheels for their first grind, followed by a 360 diamond hard wheel for final shaping before going to 600 diamond paste on a canvas resin or leather belt. I know that sounds like drudgery today, but after having had to use 100 and 220 grit SC wheels back in the day, a 180 diamond wheel was a vast improvement and time saver.
I still keep a 360 grit diamond hard wheel in my line-up for cabs that have stubborn scratches on the dome. No point in spending a lot of excess time and wear on a 280 soft wheel trying to remove stubborn scratches when a 360 hard diamond wheel will make quick work of them.
|
|
QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
|
Post by QuailRiver on Oct 12, 2022 13:25:37 GMT -5
Chunky Gal Mt. is about 80 miles north. yesdirt.com/chunky-gal-mountain-rockhounding/Lots of Corundum and garnet locations in Franklin NC which is about 90 miles north. There are a few Beryl deposits not too far west and southwest of Lake Lanier. One really good one near Commerce, Georgia that my brother and I dug back in the 1970's. It was at a KO Campground but that area has been so developed since that it may not be accessible anymore. Garnet, Ruby, Tourmaline and Zircon just north of Lake Lanier near Dalonega. Lots more sites. Some Amethyst deposits (one really good one at Jackson's Crossroads which is about 2 hours southeast from Lake Lanier). Just click on the link below and scroll down to the Northeastern Gerogia Rockhounding Locations map. rockhoundresource.com/georgia-rockhounding-location-guide-map/Always try to check ahead to make sure sites are still accessible. And good luck!
|
|
QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
|
Post by QuailRiver on Oct 9, 2022 1:04:19 GMT -5
Has anyone tried the Johnson Brothers 301 compatible - Sintered Blades?
I know that Johnson Brothers does carry some brand name products that were contracted to be supplied with their name and logo - such as their Johnson Brothers Sintered Diamond Laps which are made for them by Inland Lapidary supply.
So I am wondering if their "301 compatible" blades might be manufactured by the same S. Korean factory that is sourced to manufacture the MK/BD blades? If not do these blades at least perform as well as the MK/BD 301 blades? Any feedback from anyone who may have tried these Johnson Brothers "301 compatible" blades would be appreciated.
|
|
QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
|
Post by QuailRiver on Sept 30, 2022 1:32:36 GMT -5
As I suggested in Tella's "I'm Done With Etsy" thread a couple of years ago... forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/90755/etsy"Have you folks ever considered doing a co-op site for selling cut stones? Once the initial costs of such a site like that being setup is completed, keeping it online shouldn't be too expensive. Keep it limited and quality controlled and I could imagine the potential to grow exposure without costly advertising could be done with properly labeled photos of cut stones that would appear in the searches for images on Google, Pinterest, Instagram, etc.. Just typing off the cuff here but it may be something to think about." Look at what Sam Silverhawk was able to achieve with his independently owned site. www.samsilverhawk.com/gems1.htmlSam isn't as active these days as he used to be. But back in the day he drew a lot of traffic to his site and built a large following of buyers by offering quality photographs of quality material cabochons. Photos of cabs so gorgeous that hundreds of Pinterest and Instagram users saved his cabochon photos to their social media pages which were linked to Sam Silverhawk's selling platform. So much so that when doing an online search of any specific material cabcohon, and then clicking on the "images" link for the search results, nearly always Sam Silverhawk's cabs were well represented. It was free advertising. And once found, buyers of cabochons will return to any source of quality material as long as the cabs are photographically well represented and are priced fairly. As they have continued to do with Silverhawk's site. Most of his cabs are priced in the $45 - $60 range and each batch usually sells out within a few hours of listing. Again...something to think about.
|
|
QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
|
Post by QuailRiver on Sept 27, 2022 21:07:27 GMT -5
About a year and a half ago eBay starting sending me messages that they were requiring sellers to give our bank account info to a third party. I ignored it until the deadline,then through the extension they gave up until they canceled all of my listings for not complying. There was no way that I was going to give a third party my banking info. IMO that is just asking for problems from hackers or eBay scammers. I considered opening a small account at a different bank than where I do my normal banking just to use for eBay and may at some point need to do that. But at this point I still have not been able to bring myself to stomach doing so. I use to check eBay listings in specific categories a couple of times a day, and made frequent purchases off of eBay. But since then I seldom go on eBay at all. As my chow chow mix would say..."fluff em".
|
|
|
QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
|
Post by QuailRiver on Sept 3, 2022 15:32:31 GMT -5
On my cabbing machines, after draining out all of the water from the trays that will drain from gravity I use a natural sponge to absorb the rest. Probably should work for a saw too.
|
|
QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
|
Post by QuailRiver on Sept 1, 2022 13:38:16 GMT -5
Lortone uses a felt washer(part number 205-010) on the 3/4" diameter shafts of their 8", 10", 12" 14" and 18" saws. So if your shaft is 3/4" diameter it too may too use the same felt washer. My Lortone saws are not easy to get to right now to check the outer diameter and thickness but I may have a spare felt washer for them that I can check tomorrow. I just went through my box of spare NOS Lortone parts and couldn't find the felt washer. I must have already used it but couldn't remember for sure if I had.
|
|
QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
|
Post by QuailRiver on Aug 31, 2022 21:19:49 GMT -5
Lortone uses a felt washer(part number 205-010) on the 3/4" diameter shafts of their 8", 10", 12" 14" and 18" saws. So if your shaft is 3/4" diameter it too may too use the same felt washer. My Lortone saws are not easy to get to right now to check the outer diameter and thickness but I may have a spare felt washer for them that I can check tomorrow.
|
|