Wanting all the worked Dallasite I can get, I commissioned Kidd Rocks Lapidary in Michigan to make me some of their fantastic silver groove-wrapped cabochons out of material I collected.
Dallasite groove-wrapped cabochons for Christmas
Tag: tumbled stones
Getting the tumblers going again
I took a break tumbling as I figured out how I wanted to proceed. I spent a long time going through my tumbles of various stages, assessing and sorting them. I’ve refreshed my approach and got my big 12 pound Lortone Rotary Tumbler going this week.
Tumble Batch 1: General failure, lessons learned
After finishing my first batch of tumbles, I took a long break from operating my rock tumblers.
Late summer beach hounding
Between sending some rocks away and tumbling, I’ve actually managed to reduce my stockpile a little bit, unfortunately forcing me to rockhound more. I went to a local Vancouver Island beach for Dallasite and Flowerstone again, though I found much of the former and little of the latter.
Dallasite and Flowerstone cabochons!
We’re breaking new ground at BC Rockhound. I sent some Dallasite and Flowerstone to Tommy Lay, the best cabochon maker I’ve seen on the internet.
Blown away by Dallasite
I took my 24 pounds of Dallasite out of coarse grind in the tumblers today. No matter how many times I tumble this jasper, I am always blown away by some of the pieces that come out.
Opening the rock tumblers is like Christmas!
Opening the rock tumblers is always like Christmas. I waited almost a full two weeks to pop these three barrels and let my old rocks see the light of day. The two Dallasite loads in my Lortone QT66 went amazingly! I was super impressed with how smooth and fracture-free these rocks came out. More time,…
Beach rockhound with a deer
I went on a quick trip to my favourite Vancouver Island beach as the sun came up one recent morning. This is the beach I found my first piece of Dallasite on. It still yields more than enough beautiful rocks for me and anyone else who would be interested.
Setting the tumblers, need more!
I’m badly in need of more rock tumblers. I set both of my rotary tumblers last night and had my vibe going the whole weekend. But it’s not enough. My rockhounding hobby is dwarfing my production capacity. I am looking for a warehouse of some sort and operations headquarters.
Sorting the rocks that are ready for round 2
Here’s a collection of all the rocks that have survived coarse grit in my rotary rock tumblers and are now ready to go in the vibe. They’re split up into groups of Dallasite, quartz, speckled opal, greenstone (some of it jasper), a few porphyries and Flowerstone, and a pile of river rock/gneiss/quartz/petrified wood.