New hobby

dirtdude

Almost there, still a little wobble in it due to a high spot in the silver backing but we are getting close.

dirtdude

Digging through a box of rocks today and came up with a few specimens of chrysocolla chalcedony, a fairly rare gemstone but not terribly valuable, will get them cleaned up next week and see whats there.

dirtdude

Finished

0patience

dirtdude said:

Found this on the way out this morning, why would it be so heavy?

Almost looks like pyrite, but pyrite tends to be more crystalline. But probably muscovite. Hard telling.

jlmarta

dirtdude said:

Found this on the way out this morning, why would it be so heavy?

Didja feel really weak??  Probably kryptonite......   

dirtdude

0patience said:

dirtdude said:

Found this on the way out this morning, why would it be so heavy?

Almost looks like pyrite, but pyrite tends to be more crystalline. But probably muscovite. Hard telling.

Definitely pyrite, been studying up. Vety angular crystals, scrathes copper.

dirtdude

Cleaned up a couple pieces of gem Silica today along with a couple stogies stands and a piece of unidentified leverite.

Diver43

dirtdude said:

Cleaned up a couple pieces of gem Silica today along with a couple stogies stands and a piece of unidentified leverite.

Leverite? Had to use my googlefu to figure out what that is

dirtdude

That's rocks you probably should leave er right there.

peter4jc

Hey, Randy... on the Vherf last night we were talking about your beautiful handiwork, and Nathan @TheBeardedOne864 was asking how you do it.  Nobody really knew any specifics.  Maybe you could post some pics of the process and/or your equipment.  

dirtdude

I can do that, should we start at the process of selecting rock, where I am walking around looking at rocks when I am supposed to be working. Folks think I am sizing up a project when all I'm doing is looking for rocks.

Yakster

You've got management potential!

dirtdude

Oh, that one will show up next year after it's approved.

GaryThompson

dirtdude said:

Finished

That is one bad-a$$ skull cracker! 
Niiiiiiice.

dirtdude

The old biker bro I put that together for wears it everyday.

dirtdude

peter4jc said:

Hey, Randy... on the Vherf last night we were talking about your beautiful handiwork, and Nathan @TheBeardedOne864 was asking how you do it.  Nobody really knew any specifics.  Maybe you could post some pics of the process and/or your equipment.  

Ah, the mechanics of how it's done
Usually but doesn't always start with the saw, got a new rock blade that's 3 x thicker than the thin blade I am holding. Thin blade for soft rocks, thicker for hard rocks which is mostly what I find around here.

Then its on to the grinding/sanding wheels, 80 grit stone wheel like you might have in your garage and a 400 grit belt on the right, you can get up to several thousand grit belts, easily changed out.
Buffing/polishing wheel, leather disc fits next to sanding belt but only put it on when polishing, use a rouge paste or zam to put the shine on things.

Saw, grinders and polisher are all one unit.

dirtdude

Todays project, posted this previously but it needs to be approved in a couple years. It all starts with the rock, picked this piece up thinking it had a glass like quality to it. You never know until you make the 1st cut.
Not glassy at all but I like the color contrast, black, white, light and dark green and the pyrite that didn't show on the surface. After the first cut I decide this may be a keeper, not what I expected but lets see where this goes. It's a fairly good sized rock with a cavity in it.
So I figure it may make a single use ashtray.
Sure as hell, stand/ashtray combined.

dirtdude

90+_Irishman

That is awesome stuff Randy and you’re doing a great job, very impressive congrats! Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing!

A word of warning. Malachite is great because for carving and shaping because it’s soft but it’s also toxic. The dust and chips if breathes are toxic to you and prolonged skin exposure is bad. Many Native American rock carvers use malachite and have health issue over time due to it. I’d recommend using gloves when working with it and a mask. Just don’t want to see you sick or hurt brother so giving you a heads up and looking out for you. 

Brett

dirtdude

I take the precautions Brett, good info, mal = bad.

90+_Irishman

dirtdude said:

I take the precautions Brett, good info, mal = bad.

I figured you already did but I hadn’t seen anyone mention it and it happened to be a weird fact I had rolling around in my head so I figured I would mention it. Would feel terrible if you got sick or something and I could have told you about it but didn’t. Glad all is good and I hope you are enjoying your hobby, those stands are amazing and any cigar smoker let alone Ccom brother or sister would be thrilled to have one. You do good work and they are bitch1n’ man 😎

may ya want to consider selling them, over they would sell well. 

dirtdude

Got a couple headed your way in the lottery box, take what you like and give the other to pops.

90+_Irishman

dirtdude said:

Got a couple headed your way in the lottery box, take what you like and give the other to pops.

Thanks randy that is extremely cool as well as generous of you! Can’t wait to see them and was totally unnecessary but I truly appreciate it and am excited! Can I pay you for them or send you something in payment? I know Pops will love em too, thanks a ton 😃

peter4jc

"I got a cigar stand from a famous Southwest artist.  He's dead now, so it's worth a lot more."

dirtdude

90+_Irishman said:

dirtdude said:

Got a couple headed your way in the lottery box, take what you like and give the other to pops.

Thanks randy that is extremely cool as well as generous of you! Can’t wait to see them and was totally unnecessary but I truly appreciate it and am excited! Can I pay you for them or send you something in payment? I know Pops will love em too, thanks a ton 😃

You don't pay for a lottery win bro.

90+_Irishman

dirtdude said:

90+_Irishman said:

dirtdude said:

Got a couple headed your way in the lottery box, take what you like and give the other to pops.

Thanks randy that is extremely cool as well as generous of you! Can’t wait to see them and was totally unnecessary but I truly appreciate it and am excited! Can I pay you for them or send you something in payment? I know Pops will love em too, thanks a ton 😃

You don't pay for a lottery win bro.

Lol haha ok fair enough. But I was more referring to the extras you said you added. 

dirtdude

Started a few more projects today. The bottom one has 10,000 sparkles which I am guessing the largest are the white circles, cannot see a thing that would cause those sparkles.

Yakster

Found this cigar rest at a jewelry/lapidary store/museum in Red Bluff today along with a nice agate piece. The Wife picked up pyrite for her class.

Almost picked up a piece of two parallel Orthoceras that would have made a good rest.

jd50ae

To all of you rock hounds. The photo is a sampling of some cuts that made it through the tornado. Lost all of my polishing and cutting tools and a ton of stock. Some of the cuts not shown have sparkles embedded. Some have flashing colors much like moonstone.

What I need to know is what method and materials can I use to hi-polish them in order to make "things". We need to make up for the loss of business because of the Chinese sites, mostly Ali-baba(?).

dirtdude

jd50ae said:

To all of you rock hounds. The photo is a sampling of some cuts that made it through the tornado. Lost all of my polishing and cutting tools and a ton of stock. Some of the cuts not shown have sparkles embedded. Some have flashing colors much like moonstone.

What I need to know is what method and materials can I use to hi-polish them in order to make "things". We need to make up for the loss of business because of the Chinese sites, mostly Ali-baba(?).

The polisher I use @jd50ae is belt sander wheel, change belts w/ differ grits, use a dremel for small pieces