Anachronist58 Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 Went on a four day rockhounding trip with my brother. One of the last minute things I needed was a fresh blade for my 12" bowhack, the used blade on the top is used as a template guide: So I made two 1/8" Ø carbide tools: a shallow angle center punch, and a spade drill ground off-hand (twice). 1/8" has ALWAYS been too small for me to grind off-hand, and requires a perfect square edged diamond wheel. Did not have one of those either - this was the morning of a 10:00 a.m. pick up, so I did what I could... So, we get thoroughly out to the middle of nowhere, and I find that I have too much blade behind the hole for the saw camlock to close.. I have my two pound engineer hammer, an my 1" x 4" x 4" camp anvil, and supper is over, and the evening camp blaze is rolling HOT. I demo the "classic" wind driven forge, Brother John brings out his sheet metal snips, and in minutes, we easily sheared the offending excess... We quenched in a coffee cup of water, and drew a temper over the fire. More fiddley details upon request... Robert Taylor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 WIP pics or it's just another good story. We LOVE pics you know. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott NC Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 Much more accurate than blowing holes with a plasma like I used to do... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 what does this have to do with a BBQ ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 "Cooking" over a campfire? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anachronist58 Posted April 8, 2022 Author Share Posted April 8, 2022 Uh, Steve, sorry, we barbecued our Hamburgers over the campfire. The Hamburgers certainly tasted like barbeque. After dinner, I reconfigured the "barbecue pit" into a wind powered forge... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 Lol, Robert “the bbq smith” title kinda had me worried this was gonna be an Al Packer themed thread when I first read it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 You should have expected to get grilled about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 John, have you been baking that one up for the right moment? lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 Just letting it stew.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 That’s okay as long as it don’t boil over! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott NC Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 18 hours ago, Anachronist58 said: four day rockhounding trip Did you find any keepers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anachronist58 Posted April 8, 2022 Author Share Posted April 8, 2022 Scott, we did quite well. We did some very tedious work for the first two days, with modest results. Day three was a whopper... Will get some pics once I get a chance. Geodes: The jasper I left behind: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 9, 2022 Share Posted April 9, 2022 6 hours ago, TWISTEDWILLOW said: “the bbq smith” title kinda had me worried this was gonna be an Al Packer themed thread when I first read it! Mod 30 changed the title to "Rockhound BBQ Blacksmith." Does the new title sound less suggestive in some way? If it is less humor spawning I'll humbly say eskewers me and not take up the theme. It's been a long time since I was on a rock trip and a productive one too. Too cool. Dad liked thunder eggs a lot better than geodes but we didn't always agree. Did you collect some jasper too? It makes nice pretties when tumbled but slabs and polishes nice too. Looks like a good time. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted April 9, 2022 Share Posted April 9, 2022 Title changes are made to better indicate the nature or subject of the post and discussion. Think of trying to find the material 6 months or a year from now. It makes the material more search engine friendly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anachronist58 Posted April 9, 2022 Author Share Posted April 9, 2022 Yes Frosty, my younger brother has no idea yet concerning the value of the jasper that I left exposed in that hole, but he will get the picture when he begins to saw and polish the some of the 20# of material sitting in his garage. It is highly sought after. His revelation may indeed inspire a June trip, just to retrieve the wonderful mass that I left exposed for whomever might next stumble upon what I left exposed. He has a fine lapidary setup, but has yet to run any of this material through the slice and polish... Frosty, WIP pics of the smithing process would have been grand, but as it was, we were all thumbs and it was dark. Forging in the barbecue was an alien concept for Brother John - he has 18 patents, last count, and I struggle to outshine him. Thunder eggs, geodes, I prefer the latter. TW, old Alfred Packer was always stewing over something... JHCC, I am always up for a grilling in this neighborhood... Robert Taylor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 9, 2022 Share Posted April 9, 2022 Do you have a tumbler? Small pieces make nice jewelry baubles once polished. Have you broken any to see what it looks like? The pics make it look red but it could be orange to brown and just oxidized on the surface. It may have a nice mix of colors or even figure. Ever find Moss or rutilated jasper? Those are a lot more common in agate but some jaspers are clear enough for it to show. There's a way to cut thunder eggs so they reveal the 6 lobe major pattern that forms as they fill. Some of the expected agate patterns tend to form following the lobes and you have to cut it right or they can be lost. Geodes are always pretty. What's the largest you've seen? Other than collecting some fossils and beach agates I haven't done any rock hunting since moving to Alaska. The couple few times I checked I was unimpressed with the local Gem and Mineral society. Every rock shop you check out is selling stuff almost exclusively from outside. Set up right a campfire forge looks just like a campfire with an odd fire ring. I was joking about pics, maybe next time. Jer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott NC Posted April 10, 2022 Share Posted April 10, 2022 Dad was an avid rockhound and had a tumbler and small benchtop saw. He was always after the elusive Fairburn agate. Good memories. Geodes are fun to open up but I like thunder eggs better. I didn't know it when I was living there, but they are Oregons state rock. I was too busy with other things I guess. From wikipedia: "Native American legend reportedly considers the rocks to be the eggs of the thunderbirds which occupied Mount Hood and Mount Jefferson. Thunder Spirits on the mountains hurled the "eggs" at each other.[11]" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anachronist58 Posted April 10, 2022 Author Share Posted April 10, 2022 Jerry, I have a small tumbler here at my place. The low resolution on the pictures has washed out the color, but that mass is freshly broken. I do not recall finding moss or rutilated, but it is strongly reported in this area. When we were kids, Dad had the full setup. He had hand built a rock saw that used an aircraft landing gear cylinder and a hand poured 50# lead sphere for the feed mechanism. He is 89 now, and we just got it back out and running after 30 years in mothballs... I have begun the quest for the six lobe cut... Rarely, about grapefruit size from this area... Yep, just pull out a channel on the windward side, physics does the rest. Scott, this one is from the same area, years ago. Cut with a skillsaw and hand lapped, the best of solid and hollow, I think... Eggs over hard? Robert Taylor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 10, 2022 Share Posted April 10, 2022 Dad was one of the founding members of the Boeing Rock club around WWII and we livedin the area till, 55 IIRC my little Sister was born in Oregon in 55 and by then he'd given or traded off his saw, lap tables and tumblers. Different members would make room for a number of a given machine, Dad had a 4,3,2,1. pyramid stack of large tumblers in the basement. They were all driven off one motor and gear reducer, remove the wrong drum and half the stack stopped turning. I remember faintly having something like 4 lap tables humming away in a different basement once, one of the members had rigged them so you didn't have to turn the slabs constantly to get a good polish. Until he stopped collecting we always had one of everything. Dad used to be a walking atlas of mineral deposits, I would've been surprised if he couldn't have given directions to the best Fairburn agate deposit depending on just what you wanted in it. Sometimes he'd tell you within feet or which side of a lens to collect. Used to drive us kids nuts sometimes. Now I'm wondering if I'm remembering how many lobes can exposed in a thunder egg, Dad said IIRC it was just like a quartz crystal but lobes rather than facets. Not all have them all. I like that one Robert, I think a thunderbird was about ready to hatch. I'm going from loooong term memory but I believe I see 5 lobes in that thunder egg, it's easiest to count from the outside. The lobe that'd be the bird's tail didn't form. Dad said I was wrong but I never got over believing a thunder egg was a geode that filled completely. Dad's real passion was petrified wood by time I was old enough to pay much attention or understand some. He went through phases but was always up for something spectacular. I kept one of his Autunite (yeah I looked up the spelling) crystals glowing away in my bedroom for years. Sure it's radioactive but not terribly. I took one of the little ones, between golf ball and shot glass size, to a jr high science class for the geology show and tell. The teacher just about wet himself, cleared the classroom and was going to call the GVT. to dispose of it safely, probably wanted to put it in a lead box and bury it. I just took it with me when he chased us out of the room, I think he went to all his measures on a sulfur crystal. It made a Geiger counter buzz like a zipper but so did a radium watch dial and everybody wore one of those. I wish he'd been actively rock hunting when I got old enough to take an active part. oh well. <sigh> Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted April 11, 2022 Share Posted April 11, 2022 Geode Thunder eggs Fairburn agate Jasper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted April 11, 2022 Share Posted April 11, 2022 We have geode's laying all over our place, some are as big as foot/soccer balls. Just about every time I do any tractor work a couple turn up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anachronist58 Posted April 11, 2022 Author Share Posted April 11, 2022 Nice spread, Glenn! Not sure how much jasper will make it to the tumbler, I have a friend who could use some cabochons... 11 hours ago, Frosty said: I kept one of his Autunite (yeah I looked up the spelling) crystals glowing away in my bedroom for years. Sure it's radioactive but not terribly. Oh, you are one of THOSE guys! I have curated a collection of Atomic Age items, like the pre-Atomic Age Franciscan Ware, Fiesta Ware, "Magic Polunium" record cleaning brushes, lantern mantles, "special" vacuum tubes... then there are the ultra hot and very crumbly uranium samples¹, I feel like some kind of maniac, just owning it, and all perfectly legal, all are presumed to be lawful purchasers as per our liberties, but let this discussion be engaged in a private setting: TOS. Back to the radio nucleotides, sic, never assume my nonchalance for reckless behavior. I fear and respect my specimens, and seldom employ them to frighten people. If anyone wants safe handling information, I will leave it to Admin to vett my qualifications. Let me assert, though, that ANY inhalation or injestion is ill advised. 1 hour ago, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said: We have geode's laying all over our place, some are as big as foot/soccer balls. Iron Dragon, my Father still says, "First liar does not have a chance". pictures, Pictures, PICTURES! ¹gift from a Brother, purchased from United Uranium dot lookitup. Robert Taylor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted April 11, 2022 Share Posted April 11, 2022 I had a friend who was a geology grad student who was doing a thesis on Wyoming uranium deposits who had a box of high grade ore specimens under his desk for easy access. When he realized how much they increased the ambient radiation near his nether regions he decided to move them to a closet down the hall. "Just in case." One of the things to be concerned with in some parts of Wyoming where there is a lot of naturally occurring U in the soil and bedrock is radon gas. Since radon is heavier than air some folk have to have specific ventilation systems in their basements to keep the radon from ponding there. I have used soil radon to prospect for uranium deposits. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott NC Posted April 11, 2022 Share Posted April 11, 2022 After living in the old house for 26 years with no problem, we had ours checked for radon and it was borderline so we had a mitigation unit installed just to be safe. 700 $ for a fan and some pvc piping. Oh, and a hole drilled in the basement floor. Then we moved 6 months later! Nice photos Glenn and Robert. Love that Fairburn.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.