Sweet little rock

[Bedrock Bob]

Check out this sweet little piece of pet wood I found tonight.

It is red like a carnelian. I thought that was what it was when I saw it. Thin as a cracker.

I'm calling it a cryptocrystalline translucent silicon dioxide replacement mineraloid  that was agatized from a ligneous material formed in the precambrian.

But I might be wrong. 

It passes the agate test anyway.

It sure is red. Looks like a hunk of buffalo steak.

[Bedrock Bob]

Here is another thin flake of pet wood. It does not pass the agate test but I'm calling it agatized wood anyway.

I suspect this one is a cryptocrystalline silicon dioxide replacement mineraloid that was agatized (or jasperificated) from ligneous material formed in the late cretacious.

I might be wrong though. 

[Bedrock Bob]

Here are some other mineraloids located this evening.

A few pieces of pet wood. None spectacular but most will tumble nicely.

A nice  pile of maerkenites. 

These obsidian nodules go from opaque to nearly water clear. Many have banding and some have great sheen patterns. A few look just like black moonstones when they are tumbled. The sheen really pops when the stone is turned to the light just right.

Most are nice wrinkle free orbs that polish up perfectly. Some have fissures and wrinkles and don't make perfect stones. But even the imperfect ones look pretty neat all polished up in a big pile. 

My dog and I have hunted this spot about five nights. I have about 12 lbs of obsidian tumbling now. By the time they get finished I'll have another 12 lbs. I have at least that much more in wood, jaspers and agate.

The spot I'm hunting is really paying off in translucent silicon dioxide mineraloids as well as opaque silicon dioxide minerals 

 

[Guest]

10 hours ago, Bedrock Bob said:

Here is another thin flake of pet wood. It does not pass the agate test but I'm calling it agatized wood anyway.

I suspect this one is a  baubliceous

cryptocrystalline silicon dioxide replacement mineraloid that was agatized (or jasperificated) from ligneous material formed in the late cretacious.

I might be wrong though. 

You are.

I fixed it, though.

CretacEous(no "I")  should be capitalized,as well.

 ...baubliceous Cretaceoid works for me.

[Bedrock Bob]

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Stillweaver hillbelli said:

You are.

I fixed it, though.

CretacEous(no "I")  should be capitalized,as well.

 ...baubliceous Cretaceoid works for me.

There are plenty of Pet Rocks on Fleabay, but   no baubliceous Cretaceoids!  You can get the jump on the rest of the market.

     For that matter there are no Pet Wood rocks...

[Guest]

Oops,  "pet woods rocks " has been cornered, already.

Baubliceous Cretaceoid has not, nor does Gugghle know ^ BC at all.

This could be the start for the addition of two new words to Merriam-Webster.

 

Any idea of the running power draw for your big tumbler?

[Bedrock Bob]

 

2 hours ago, Stillweaver hillbelli said:

 

Any idea of the running power draw for your big tumbler?

It is an .88A motor. 

I just painted it and put new bearings on it. It is a Lortone 15# circa 1967 I think. I got it about 3 years ago from a buddy. Ran it solid 24/7 for a couple years. 

 

 

I had 3 other smaller tumblers running at the same time. I guesstimated they cost about $10 per month to run. So this one alone might run $3-5 a month if I run it constantly.

 

 

[Guest]

28 minutes ago, Bedrock Bob said:

 

It is an .88A motor. 

 

 

 

 

 

.88a x 120vac=/~ .106 Kwatts x 24hr/day x 30 day/month x $0.12/Kwhr

=$9.15 month.

That pretty cost effective considering the poundage in there.

 

[Bedrock Bob]

13 minutes ago, Stillweaver hillbelli said:

.88a x 120vac=/~ .106 Kwatts x 24hr/day x 30 day/month x $0.12/Kwhr

=$9.15 month.

That pretty cost effective considering the poundage in there.

 

It will run a good ten lbs. Per load. So about a buck per pound for electricity. 

I haven't figured out the cost of the grit, beads and dish soap yet. I keep the totals but haven't broken it out by the pound. 

My little polished rock venture has paid for the smaller tumblers, extra barrels, all the grit and supplies and turned a modest profit. That is over a 3 year period.

I have 50lbs. Of grit in stock and about 60 lbs of polished glass and stone ready to work with. That will make several thousand dollars worth of crafts. So I have made my money back and will be able to turn a nice profit as soon as I can get back to sales. Hopefully that will not be too much longer.

[Guest]

Have you  a vibratory "tumbler"?

I think power consumption is also nominal like the rotary,  but you may keep your  BC's more angular (if so desired),  so I have read.

[Bedrock Bob]

I do have a vibratory tumbler. 

For objects that you dont want to "round up" it's great. And super fast.

I use it to polish brass cases and not so much for stones and glass. For my purposes the rotary works better. You can grind out imperfections and streamline sharp corners. And I can keep re-using the slurry for several batches. 

Glass needs to be really rounded up and the tumbler does a great job. It can turn a bucket full of broken telephone insulators into beautiful shapes in a week. 

I have thought about setting up the vibrator to do the finish polishing. It would probably be faster. But for now it is polishing brass.