busybeaver
Offline
sockeye
Profile Status:
Reged: 03/31/01
Posts: 91
Loc: Western Washington
|
|
How do they make them perfectly into different shapes? Are they using a special rock lathe? I have seen some beautiful round stones and some neat egg rocks. Just wondering....trying to expand my pea brain.
--------------------
Marty
Welcome to my home ...
|
busybeaver
Offline
sockeye
Profile Status:
Reged: 03/31/01
Posts: 91
Loc: Western Washington
|
|
And the answer is..... they are cut into cubes first, then the corners cut at 45's then cut again at 45's. The rock is ground down to a round form and place into cupped polishing discs with grit to shape and then shine... Sequim has a rock club that meets at the senior center and has all the equipment to do fancy stone stuff. Got my info from the wooly mammoth rock shop & museum. If you haven't stopped by the shop it is a very interesting shop...with tons of rocks ![[Big Grin]](images/icons/grin.gif) and wood carvings.
--------------------
Marty
Welcome to my home ...
|
Maltby
Offline
Native Slab
Profile Status:
Reged: 12/17/00
Posts: 1183
Loc: Woodinville, WA, USA
|
|
Very interesting...I had no idea. I have a number of agates that are way too big for my tumbler and now that makes me think about renting a diamond blade saw.
|
busybeaver
Offline
sockeye
Profile Status:
Reged: 03/31/01
Posts: 91
Loc: Western Washington
|
|
Sounds like you have some perfect for the process. I suspect it still takes a long time to polish but they sure would be fun to make your own. I found a piece of something yesterday while beach walking. Had a nice vein of dark clearish green rock running through it.
I need to go to the shop and see what it is.
--------------------
Marty
Welcome to my home ...
|
Maltby
Offline
Native Slab
Profile Status:
Reged: 12/17/00
Posts: 1183
Loc: Woodinville, WA, USA
|
|
In a couple of days I will have finished the burnishing process. One of the agates knocks my socks off...I can't quit looking at it. It is a reddish orange.
Despite myself, I'll probably get into this more than I should. While it takes a long time the result is sure satisfying. Now, as my wife asked me, what am I going to do with them?
[ 02-18-2002, 08:22 PM: Message edited by: Maltby ]
|
busybeaver
Offline
sockeye
Profile Status:
Reged: 03/31/01
Posts: 91
Loc: Western Washington
|
|
Are you cutting the agates or just polishing them?
Sounds like you have a good stash of them.
--------------------
Marty
Welcome to my home ...
|
Maltby
Offline
Native Slab
Profile Status:
Reged: 12/17/00
Posts: 1183
Loc: Woodinville, WA, USA
|
|
I'm just polishing the smaller ones right now because my tumbler is only 3 barrels at 1.5 pounds each. The largest size I can reasonably get in there is 1.5 inches. I have about two more gallons of agates that size and a number of larger ones. I also have some cool rocks that are partially agatized but I have no idea what their makeup is. I have a jeweler friend that has all the commercial stuff and I may take my rocks to him and ask his advice. I also have a lot of petrified wood that I want to do something with I just don't know what.
|
busybeaver
Offline
sockeye
Profile Status:
Reged: 03/31/01
Posts: 91
Loc: Western Washington
|
|
With the "right cut" those mixed agates will really be pretty. I always liked the idea of book end rocks.
Those pretty blue geode rocks with crystals always catches my eye. Unfortuanately they are dyed rocks and the color only goes in a very small amount. But for display they are nice.
Is your petrified wood all one color or does it show banding?
--------------------
Marty
Welcome to my home ...
|
Maltby
Offline
Native Slab
Profile Status:
Reged: 12/17/00
Posts: 1183
Loc: Woodinville, WA, USA
|
|
Most has banding but one looks like it is all one color. I also have some other kind of mineral that I thought was petrified wood because it has a light colored covering of a semi punky material that I can nibble off with snips and the inside is a dark smooth material sort of like glass. It is light weight stuff, maybe an obsidian of some kind?
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit
Reply
Quote
[Re: 