New Shop Tool

[RJB]

  Been a long time since ive spent this kind of moneys on any tools.  Its a cab machine, but I wont be doing any cabs.  ive got a bunch of really cool agatized clams and Aturia and cant wait to go on the polishing attack!  Plus, I will be getting a bunch more agatized clams and aturia next year too.  I know that there are some that think polishing is a kind of crime, but I figure, if there mine, I can do what I want with them.  My plan is to take the best clams, (ones that are complete), and polish one side to show how freakin beautiful they are and leave the other side plus the hing end all natural.  That way one can get a side how mother nature made it and one side how mirror smooth and shiny man can make it.  To me, that is just cooler than you know what.   (fist raised)  POWER TO THE POLISHER!!!

 

RB

[Ludwigia]

Cool! Don't forget to show us the results.

[Tidgy's Dad]

I think that with some species it's really nice to have some specimens in their natural state and others polished. 

I'll be very interested to see your results.

Good luck! 

[RJB]

48 minutes ago, Ludwigia said:

Cool! Don't forget to show us the results.

 

15 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

I think that with some species it's really nice to have some specimens in their natural state and others polished. 

I'll be very interested to see your results

It will be awhile, but yeah, results to follow. 

 

RB

[Sagebrush Steve]

That’s a very nice machine.  And if you do decide to venture into making cabs, let me know, I may be able to dig up some rough material for you to practice on.

[Ptychodus04]

Just think @RJB, if you got into making cabs, you could open your own taxi company! 

 

There are species of echinoid that can’t be identified unless their test has been polished since species identification is based on minor details in them. I’m on board with do with your stuff what you want, especially since we are not talking about anything rare here.

[RJB]

12 hours ago, Sagebrush Steve said:

That’s a very nice machine.  And if you do decide to venture into making cabs, let me know, I may be able to dig up some rough material for you to practice on

Thanks Steve

 

1 hour ago, Ptychodus04 said:

 

There are species of echinoid that can’t be identified unless their test has been polished since species identification is based on minor details in them. I’m on board with do with your stuff what you want, especially since we are not talking about anything rare here.

I hear that the 'rarer' something is,,, the better is polishes.  and a hardy har har. 

 

RB

[ynot]

Sounds like a fun project.

Some things are created with the need of a little finishing polish to bring out the compleat beauty!

Polish on good Sir! (fist raised in solidarity!)

[KimTexan]

Nice machine. Sounds exciting to play with things and come up with creative ways to present them. Ploshing can do wonders and bring out very cool things in fossils.

 

Funny how it’s named Pixie. Sounds harmless and innocent, but can take the hide off ya. Maybe it’s the dust it creates, like pixie dust. Sorry it’s late and I think I might be getting a bit punchy.

 

@Ptychodus04 so can we see some of the polished echinoids? Have you posted them before?

 

[Walt]

8 hours ago, KimTexan said:

Sorry it’s late and I think I might be getting a bit punchy.

I think we could all tell that when you said "ploshing"

[RJB]

Thanks everyone.  and here ya go @KimTexan, im not sure if Kris has any polished echy's, but I did a bunch of them years ago. 

 

RB

[holdinghistory]

Nice tool! I had been looking into those too.

[ynot]

16 hours ago, KimTexan said:

Funny how it’s named Pixie. Sounds harmless and innocent, but can take the hide off ya. Maybe it’s the dust it creates, like pixie dust. Sorry it’s late and I think I might be getting a bit punchy.

Pixie because of size (small wheel diameter.). 

You would have to try hard to "take Your skin off" with this type of grinding setup. They are very safe.

These machines are used with a water bath, no dust created, just mud.

[ynot]

8 hours ago, RJB said:

polished echy's, but I did a bunch of them years ago. 

Very nice!

Bet the polishing brought out the detail a whole lot.

[Ptychodus04]

18 hours ago, KimTexan said:

 

 

@Ptychodus04 so can we see some of the polished echinoids? Have you posted them before?

 

 

I haven’t personally polished anything other than a few belemnites and straight ammonites. No echinoids though.

[KimTexan]

11 hours ago, Walt said:

I think we could all tell that when you said "ploshing"

Oops! And to think they trust me with patient’s lives when I haven’t slept for 24 hours. The max I was up working was 36 hours. 

11 hours ago, RJB said:

Thanks everyone.  and here ya go @KimTexan, im not sure if Kris has any polished echy's, but I did a bunch of them years ago. 

 

RB

Wow! Those are stunning! What kind are they and where are they from? None of my Texas echies would polish up with that beautiful brown. At least not the ones from around DFW area.

 

2 hours ago, ynot said:

Pixie because of size (small wheel diameter.). 

You would have to try hard to "take Your skin off" with this type of grinding setup. They are very safe.

These machines are used with a water bath, no dust created, just mud.

Thank you for the education.

 

41 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

 

I haven’t personally polished anything other than a few belemnites and straight ammonites. No echinoids though.

So would the straight ammonites be from Texas, the great Northwest or elsewhere? 

A few of my baculites from the NSR might hold up to polishing. I tried polishing one a tiny bit, but most won’t take to polishing and  most are too small. I keep hunting for the elusive large and mostly whole NSR baculite. I’ve found some nearly complet ones, but they’re very tiny. Close to pencil lead size.

[Ptychodus04]

1 hour ago, KimTexan said:

Oops! And to think they trust me with patient’s lives when I haven’t slept for 24 hours. The max I was up working was 36 hours. 

Wow! Those are stunning! What kind are they and where are they from? None of my Texas echies would polish up with that beautiful brown. At least not the ones from around DFW area.

 

Thank you for the education.

 

So would the straight ammonites be from Texas, the great Northwest or elsewhere? 

A few of my baculites from the NSR might hold up to polishing. I tried polishing one a tiny bit, but most won’t take to polishing and  most are too small. I keep hunting for the elusive large and mostly whole NSR baculite. I’ve found some nearly complet ones, but they’re very tiny. Close to pencil lead size.

I’ve polished a few Sciponoceras specimens from here that are calcified. The belemnites were from England and I polished one calcified baculites from South Dakota. I don’t do a lot of polishing because I don’t have the right equipment.

[RJB]

Hey @KimTexan.  Those echy's are known as Scuttilaster major, found in the Rio Dell Formation in northern California and are Plistocene in age.   I use to find hundreds of these years ago, but only about 5% were hard enough to take a polish.

 

RB