What about materials with a metallic appearance ?

[Taogem]

Tammy brought this over today..

It is magnetic so maybe a chromium and then lots of what appears to be either Pyrite or Copper. Not sure yet, but can tell is going to make some great cabs !

Thanks Tam !

[ScarlettOSara]

A friend of mine lives up in Minnesota and he hunts for Lake Superior Agates.
He sent me one that is mostly red and black and I didnt know at the time it was full of iron. Kinda cool how a magnetic will stick to it.  I dont have a picture to post but I wanted to put my two cents in:)

[Taogem]

Picked up a huge slab of Serpentine with Chromium today..

This first pic is with the sunlight shining through it.

[Mark]

George, I have several slabs of that stuff.  Is it opaque, the first pic looks like light shining through it.  I have another material that is very similar to this one, I will have to see if i have the pics for it with me. 

Mark

[Taogem]

No, it is translucent, and yes the first pic is with the sun light coming through.

The only downside to the slab is that it is only about 4 mm thick. He did not know what it was. I knew right away it was very similar to what you sent me. A bit different of an appearance, but was pretty sure it was the same Serpentine with Chromium.

I like the look of the cab from what you sent so much that am more than happy to back this with something to bring the thickness up some.

 

[Mark]

Oops, I meant translucent not opaque.  I have two kinds of Serpentine.  The really messy one with the heavy black that comes off into the water, but is really nicelly metallic, and then the other that looks like this one you posted.  The rough side of my slabs that are like this one, seem to be chatoyant and almost fibrous.  They don't seem to be as metallic as the heavy chromite slabs.  Now I have another material that looks like this Serpentine, but its almost glassy and its translucent.  I think it came from Washington state or somewhere up in that area and it was some form of peridot or like the form of peridot they find in meteorites.  Can't remember what it was called and its on the memory stick at home.  It was some really strange stuff, sorta reminded me of a stained glass window.  I'll have to look for it later.

I agree with you that the heavier chromite serpentine sure comes out nice.  I started another cab of that recently.  Boy it is so dirty to work with.  It trashed my slab saw oil, that stuff is still black from slabbing that one chunk.  I will have to change out that oil soon.

Mark

[Taogem]

I bought about a 4 pound chunk of Serpentine with Chromium. After making a total mess of my oil, the material turned out to be total crap.

Can't explain it, but would no way take any thing even close to a polish.

It is long since gone to the trash.. I may have a slab left.. Maybe will work up a cab and try to show the weird, dull, totally crap finish.

Oh, and yes.... The more chromium the better !! Looks great !

[Mark]

Sometimes you just can't tell if something will turn out good or not.  With the Serpentine and Chromium its probably harder to tell if its good or not, till you try it.  I would be really ticked off for ruining my oil and getting crap in return.  Probably can't even blame the dealer, they probably have no way of telling, unless they cab it themselves.  That is one thing i will definitely push when I sell.  If I cabbed something I am selling, i will display the cab so they can see how it can turn out.  That's a great advertisement, if it turned out good.  If not, you know not to sell it or sell it cheap with conditions noted.  Oh boy, time to go home.  Later.

Mark

[Taogem]

I agree with everything you said Gary.. Including that I can't really blame the seller.. Odds are they had no idea.

Agree as well to the adding of a cab to material being sold.

Matter a fact.. I am heading over to eBay right now and add a couple cabs to something I am selling !

[Mark]

OK, I found pics of my slabs.  I have no idea where the slabs are, but i got the pics.  The stuff is called Ferro-Actinolite.  Must be an Iron mineral and its magnetic.  The slabs  are translucent green, similar to the look of the Serpentine with Chromite.  So here's the pics of another metallic slab.

Mark

[ScarlettOSara]

That ferro-actinolite came from your planet didnt it Mark?   

[Bennett]

Newbie question on topic.

With the metal in the rocks wouldn't it wear down your wheels faster and leave uneven wear marks?

Bennett

[Taogem]

That ferro-actinolite came from your planet didnt it Mark?   

Don't know how it effects Mark, but the Nibiruan Council of Planet X has it categorized it as highly toxic. Ferro-actinolite to the Nibiruans is as  Kryptonite is to Superman ! 

Hey, Mark.. I am not so sure this is the same as what I have.. I should take a closer up pic for us to compare.

[Mark]

Its not a Serpentine.  It is one really strange material and if i remember correctly, its heavy too.  I have some of the same Serpentine as you and they are different.  The thing that is similar is the color, translucency, and patterning.  If i can dig it out, I will take some pics of it with the Serpentine for comparison.


Hi bscott, I bMark.  Good question.  Most of the metallic stuff we have posted is not really hard metal.  Ron (theimage1) was saying that most of this stuff is like sulfides with metallic lustre.  Some of it like the Serpentine with Chromite has enough metal to be magnetic.  Now I have some copper ore slabs that are mixes of copper with matrix stone.  The copper in those is very hard and metallic.  I once tried to cut a preform out of a slab and my trim saw blade would not cut it.  You could see the blade go through the matrix, but when it hit a chunk of metal, you would just see a really shiny scratched up groove in the chunk of metal and it really didn't want to go any further.  I think that i would need more of a trim/slab saw like an 8" to 10" to really get through the copper.  I would expect the wheels of my genie to not be really happy with it either.   You could probably polish it up nicely enough, but shaping it with the grinding wheels would probably be a real chore.  I'll look for some pics of that stuff. 

There's probably someone on this board who has worked with metal ore in a slab.  I think Bob (mirkaba) has worked with gold in a slab.  Gold being soft should work up nicely.   How about anyone else.  I would also be interested in whether I can work my really hard copper ore slabs.  bscott, thanks for posting.

Mark

[Taogem]

How about anyone else.  I would also be interested in whether I can work my really hard copper ore slabs.  bscott, thanks for posting.

Mark

I have never cabbed nor cut a really solid metal ore.

I think the closest fairly solid copper ore like material I cut was (if I remember correctly) a Peacock Copper Ore. It was a peacock coloring on the exterior, but fairly solid on the inside.

It was not something a guy would really cab. I trimmed the exterior crust off and just sorta made some preforms.. Any attempt at cabbing would have just lost the peacock coloring.

I do remember it sure feeling like was cutting through ore type rough.