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Does anyone know or do any stone cutting? I have this beautiful 8.4 g piece of old turquoise slab. I love to have it cut. Years ago I had 3 friends who were Jewlers and stone cutters . Unfortunately 2 have passed the other is no longer working in thd business. 

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2 hours ago, Paddy54 said:

Does anyone know or do any stone cutting? I have this beautiful 8.4 g piece of old turquoise slab. I love to have it cut. Years ago I had 3 friends who were Jewlers and stone cutters . Unfortunately 2 have passed the other is no longer working in thd business. 

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Hi Paddy. @Spirityoda has a guy who cuts and polishes for him. Send him a PM

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13 hours ago, Spirityoda said:

I bought 3 more Lake Superior agates off Ebay I will have grinded  and polished...

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That's a beautiful water washed agate with a very nice pattern.  I'd leave it as is.  Lake Superior agate collectors place a premium for specimens in this condition.  Polishing it will lower the value, based on my experience. 

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Its value to me is seeing it polished to see the total beauty of the stone.  I will not sell it.  I can appreciate your point of view on it.  My lapidary guy Jason from penn_lapidary on tik tok is done with the 1 I sent him.  It turned out amazing.  I will post pics of it when it arrives here in the mail.

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13 hours ago, Paddy54 said:

Does anyone know or do any stone cutting? I have this beautiful 8.4 g piece of old turquoise slab. I love to have it cut. Years ago I had 3 friends who were Jewlers and stone cutters . Unfortunately 2 have passed the other is no longer working in thd business. 

20220804_101124.jpg

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I have a guy named Jason on Tik Tok from penn_lapidary that does an amazing job on my stones.  I recommend him to do your stone.  Here is his link:  https://www.tiktok.com/@penn_lapidary?_d=secCgYIASAHKAESPgo8FKdW8%2BfrG1bO5KbBLKtMxMd3fAIsAFnSX1whPZX55kkz30Sl5utxgPGxdI76Zrf4N0qsCWokffhFTtesGgA%3D&_r=1&language=en&sec_uid=MS4wLjABAAAATk4lgD1I0lAjuFsOjNu-vQNEyesI_z8dhF5_St3m7u-nYwskbqahaNMGX7PdEGSl&sec_user_id=MS4wLjABAAAATk4lgD1I0lAjuFsOjNu-vQNEyesI_z8dhF5_St3m7u-nYwskbqahaNMGX7PdEGSl&share_app_id=1233&share_author_id=6892895818858054662&share_link_id=d06bf189-06a6-468e-8f9d-4b13ff7cd041&source=h5_m&timestamp=1656154223&u_code=dfc6bl419m303k&ugbiz_name=Account&user_id=6892895818858054662&utm_campaign=client_share&utm_medium=android&utm_source=copy

 

He accepts PayPal too.  of which I used to pay him. Cost are all in the size, shape, and time put into it + shipping.  Seems like a lot, but once he is done with a stone...you tell yourself it was well worth it.  There are many steps into grinding and polishing.  1 of the parts of him grinding it and polishing it ...I was able to watch him do it in a live feed.  Better than TV.  lol

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When my wife and I visited her cousin and husband in the little hamlet of Epenouse, France, located in the foothills of the Jura Mountains, we went out to a site where the husband, Cor, was picking up fire wood.  When I am in such as setting I am always looking at the rocks.  I think I've spent a good portion of my life looking at the ground, mostly out of habit, but also in certain situations finding something interesting.

On the hillside rocks of different sizes were strewn about.  I picked this one up and immediately recognized the fossilized leaves, although I don't know the species.  That this specimen was found in the Jura Mountains I assume it dates back to the Jurassic Period.  The detail of the main leaf is quite remarkable.  So, I have an interesting fossil find from a happier time of life.

Fossil leaves, Jurassic Period, Jura Mountains, Epenouse, France 1993.

9.5cm x 8cm x 6cm; 346.0 grams

2030442933_D-CameraFossilleavesJurassicJuraMountainsEpenouseFrance19939.5cmx8cmx6cm346.0g8-4-22.jpg.6c15b4cc14f7ab8ab29a71bd66ffbad0.jpg

Edited by robinjojo
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4 hours ago, expat said:

Hi Paddy. @Spirityoda has a guy who cuts and polishes for him. Send him a PM

Here's one more possible person who does really nice stone finishing.  His name is Jeffrey Anderson, and he as been collecting agates and finishing them for decades.  Here's is his website:

http://www.sailorenergy.net/MineralMain.html

And here's a Malawi, Africa agate that I sent to him for finishing:

Malawi agate, Africa.

5.5cm x 4.5 cm x4 cm; 133.3 grams

1802325686_D-CameraMalawiagate5.5cmx4.5cmx4cm133.3gJeffreyAndersonpolish8-4-22.jpg.b313506d0429d213f631d459b85c5c95.jpg

Edited by robinjojo
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15 hours ago, Spirityoda said:

#3

 

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It's fun to see some Lake Superior Agates here. People are quite agate crazy in my home state of Minnesota, where it's our state gemstone. I find them on gravel roads, in fields, rivers, even in bags of river rock at Menards. Mostly I just buy them these days, though. They're one of my favorite materials to cut and make jewelry with (my other hobby besides ancient coins). Here are a few LSA pieces I've made:

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18 minutes ago, Jeremy said:

It's fun to see some Lake Superior Agates here. People are quite agate crazy in my home state of Minnesota, where it's our state gemstone. I find them on gravel roads, in fields, rivers, even in bags of river rock at Menards. Mostly I just buy them these days, though. They're one of my favorite materials to cut and make jewelry with (my other hobby besides ancient coins). Here are a few LSA pieces I've made:

hNNNg83.jpeg

w3oM3Jo.jpeg

YxjEEF9.jpeg

9sTCHu3.jpeg

TfY87GG.jpeg

Great looking jewellery, thanks for sharing

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59 minutes ago, Jeremy said:

It's fun to see some Lake Superior Agates here. People are quite agate crazy in my home state of Minnesota, where it's our state gemstone. I find them on gravel roads, in fields, rivers, even in bags of river rock at Menards. Mostly I just buy them these days, though. They're one of my favorite materials to cut and make jewelry with (my other hobby besides ancient coins). Here are a few LSA pieces I've made:

hNNNg83.jpeg

w3oM3Jo.jpeg

YxjEEF9.jpeg

9sTCHu3.jpeg

TfY87GG.jpeg

Those are amazing stones.  The jewelry is great too.  My favorite was/is the pendant.

Edited by Spirityoda
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@robinjojo There is another cool feature my lapidary guy Jason pointed out to me on my stone he just finished.  It's call shadow casting on some of the layers bands.  If you tilt the stone 1 way you can see a shadow then tilt another way and that shadow disappears.  I forget the technical word for it ?  You might not be able to see that effect if the stone is raw.  I will take pics of it when it gets here to me.

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2 hours ago, robinjojo said:

Here's one more possible person who does really nice stone finishing.  His name is Jeffrey Anderson, and he as been collecting agates and finishing them for decades.  Here's is his website:

http://www.sailorenergy.net/MineralMain.html

And here's a Malawi, Africa agate that I sent to him for finishing:

Malawi agate, Africa.

5.5cm x 4.5 cm x4 cm; 133.3 grams

1802325686_D-CameraMalawiagate5.5cmx4.5cmx4cm133.3gJeffreyAndersonpolish8-4-22.jpg.b313506d0429d213f631d459b85c5c95.jpg

That is so beautiful.  That red just pops out at ya.  Thanks for sharing it.

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5 hours ago, Spirityoda said:

@robinjojo There is another cool feature my lapidary guy Jason pointed out to me on my stone he just finished.  It's call shadow casting on some of the layers bands.  It you tilt the stone 1 way you can see a shadow then tilt another way and that shadow disappears.  I forget the technical word for it ?  You might not be able to see that effect if the stone is raw.  I will take pics of it when it gets here to me.

Yes, the shadow effect does appear in certain LS agates.  The banding needs to be really fine to create this effect that is caused by light shifting between the bands, creating a shadow movement as the stone is rotated.  I've seen rough Lakers with this feature, but they've been treated with mineral oil.  I don't do that with my specimens.  I used to, but I don't like slopping gunk on them - even dry they have an oily feel.

There's book dedicated to polished Lakers.  It might be out of print now.  It is The Other Lake Superior Agates by John D. Marshall.  Llao Rock Publications.  I have the second edition, 2006, signed by the author.  I checked online and couldn't find any copies available.  I highly recommend it for the enthusiast who is interested in delving into all of varieties of these agates.  It has some amazing photos. 

129225128_D-CameraTheOtherLakeSuperiorAgateJohnDMarshall2006signed8-4-22.jpg.155f5b63ea25185bf303eb8c5d509ad9.jpg

 

Here's another big Laker that I photographed today. This example has banding suspended in quartz.  It also has peeled banding, a feature that has sections of banding weathered away, creating a three dimensional effect to the pattern.  I must say the pattern of this stone has an almost organic nature to it.

Lake Superior agate

10cm x 9.5cm x 8cm; 912.7 grams

1115219786_D-CameraLakeSuperioragateShmoo10cmx9.5cmx8cm912.7g8-4-22.jpg.05908cf272e852b4673bb766e4b78eb4.jpg

Edited by robinjojo
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Here's a Petoskey Stone that I found in Lake Michigan near Petoskey, Michigan in very shallow water back in the late 1960s.  The water was around ankle deep and the geometric pattern really stood out.  When dry, in their rough state, Petoskey stones are hard to distinguish from surrounding rocks due to their chalky white skin. 

These fossilized colony corals are remnants of a reef that stretched across the northern part of the Lower Peninsula, from Lake Michigan to Lake Huron.  The Michigan fossil corals were replaced by calcite and they often emit a crude oily odor when cut.  This type of coral occurs also in Iowa and Morocco, to name two locations.  Those fossil colony corals have been replaced by silica.

The Petoskey Stone is Michigan's official state stone.

I used to look for these stones, when I was growing up, in the 1960s, when my family visited my sister or brother when they attended Interlochen, a well know music and arts school, near Traverse City, Michigan.  I found other specimens in various exposures in the area and on beaches around Northport.  This specimen is by far the best and it has some unusual yellow coloration in areas.

Petoskey Stone, Lake Michigan, Hexagonaria percarinata,  Devonian period.

10.5cm x 8.5cm x 3cm;  612.3 grams

1006159830_D-CameraPetoskeystoneLakeMichiganHexagonariapercarinataDevonianperiod10.5cmx8.5cmx3cm612.3g8-5-22.jpg.148e241f5cd231cb3c90bc9c53ad3d02.jpg

Edited by robinjojo
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2 hours ago, robinjojo said:

Here's a Petoskey Stone that I found in Lake Michigan near Petoskey, Michigan in very shallow water back in the late 1960s.  The water was around ankle deep and the geometric pattern really stood out.  When dry, in their rough state, Petoskey stones are hard to distinguish from surrounding rocks due to their chalky white skin. 

These fossilized colony corals are remnants of a reef that stretched across the northern part of the Lower Peninsula, from Lake Michigan to Lake Huron.  The Michigan fossil corals were replaced by calcite and they often emit a crude oily odor when cut.  This type of coral occurs also in Iowa and Morocco, to name two locations.  Those fossil colony corals have been replaced by silica.

The Petoskey Stone is Michigan's official state stone.

I used to look for these stones, when I was growing up, in the 1960s, when my family visited my sister or brother when they attended Interlochen, a well know music and arts school, near Traverse City, Michigan.  I found other specimens in various exposures in the area and on beaches around Northport.  This specimen is by far the best and it has some unusual yellow coloration in areas.

Petoskey Stone, Lake Michigan, Hexagonaria percarinata,  Devonian period.

10.5cm x 8.5cm x 3cm;  612.3 grams

1006159830_D-CameraPetoskeystoneLakeMichiganHexagonariapercarinataDevonianperiod10.5cmx8.5cmx3cm612.3g8-5-22.jpg.148e241f5cd231cb3c90bc9c53ad3d02.jpg

That is a very attractive piece. I was fortunate to find a fossilised piece of coral near our mountain home, which was under the ancient sea 8 million years ago. 7 million years ago the Africa and Eurasian plates shifted to create the new land, the last piece (so far) on the planet to emerge, and shifting the coastline of the Iberian Peninsular 60km further South.

 

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20 hours ago, robinjojo said:

Yes, the shadow effect does appear in certain LS agates.  The banding needs to be really fine to create this effect that is caused by light shifting between the bands, creating a shadow movement as the stone is rotated.  I've seen rough Lakers with this feature, but they've been treated with mineral oil.  I don't do that with my specimens.  I used to, but I don't like slopping gunk on them - even dry they have an oily feel.

There's book dedicated to polished Lakers.  It might be out of print now.  It is The Other Lake Superior Agates by John D. Marshall.  Llao Rock Publications.  I have the second edition, 2006, signed by the author.  I checked online and couldn't find any copies available.  I highly recommend it for the enthusiast who is interested in delving into all of varieties of these agates.  It has some amazing photos. 

129225128_D-CameraTheOtherLakeSuperiorAgateJohnDMarshall2006signed8-4-22.jpg.155f5b63ea25185bf303eb8c5d509ad9.jpg

 

Here's another big Laker that I photographed today. This example has banding suspended in quartz.  It also has peeled banding, a feature that has sections of banding weathered away, creating a three dimensional effect to the pattern.  I must say the pattern of this stone has an almost organic nature to it.

Lake Superior agate

10cm x 9.5cm x 8cm; 912.7 grams

1115219786_D-CameraLakeSuperioragateShmoo10cmx9.5cmx8cm912.7g8-4-22.jpg.05908cf272e852b4673bb766e4b78eb4.jpg

There are many books on Lake Superior agates on Ebay right now.  To poor right now to buy 1.  Maybe next paycheck.

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Here are a couple of "big uns" agates. The LS agate on the left was found during the installation of a septic tank in Minnesota in the 1990s.

It is not terribly unusual to find larger examples, say up to one pound or so.  Generally speaking as sizes increase, so does rarity.  However, the vast majority of large size LS agates tend to be predominantly massive quartz.  Locally these are called quartz balls or snowballs.  Such example have a very low value among collectors.  Also, what is often seen on the surface does not necessarily extend into the interior or the stone.  The specimen on the left has a nice skin of orange/red, along with some contrasting patterns at both ends.  Do they carry on through?  Who knows?  Such an exceptionally large and rare agate is best left in its natural state.  The specimen to the left has a strong pattern, but again due to its rare size, plus the story behind it dictate that it is left in "as found" condition.  This agate, by the way, came from Scott F. Wolter, author of a very good and highly recommended reference on these agates 

Lake Superior agates

Left, the "septic tank agate",  11cm x 9cm x 15cm, 5.634 lbs.

Right, 11.5cm x 10cm x 15cm, 6.582 lbs.

2102783545_D-CameraLakeSuperioragatesleftseptictank11cmx9cmx15cm5.634lbsright11.5cmx10cmx15cm6.582lbs8-6-22.jpg.da9454cdc9f18fb2d9da3ad7b71147a5.jpg

 

Here's a specimen with a large quartz center, along with a "floater" towards the bottom.  This agate is from Michigan, Upper Peninsula, Keweenaw County, Brockway Mountain.  The Michigan LS agates tend to be various shades of pastel orange with some red and quite opaque, often with colors appearing as if they were applied with a brush, similar to some of the Apache agates, but quite different.  The agates coming from Brockway Mountain and other exposures are very weathered, and show the effects of countless severe winters and hot summers.  Agates can be removed from the basalt outcrops, but the process is very laborious and often the agates with shatter if care is not observed.

Lake Superior agate, Michigan, Brockway Mountain.

10cm x 8.5cm x 10cm; 2.617 Lbs.

1329829747_D-CameraLakeSuperioragateMichiganBrockwayMtnpaint10cmx8.5cmx10cm2.617lbs8-6-22.jpg.2fec09aaec4f69357943af7ee995fab2.jpg

 

Here's the same specimen viewed from the top.  The surface has weathered to the point of the outer husk splitting off, creating a peeled effect.  Again this highly weathered feature is seen primarily with agates from outcroppings.  Had these stones ended up in Lake Superior, over tens of thousands of years they would slowly become smooth and what collectors call water-washed.

132342946_D-CameraLakeSuperioragatetopviewMichiganBrockwayMtnpaint10cmx8.5cmx10cm2.617lbs8-6-22.jpg.f879476d757099127a5065c5736627ed.jpg

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