Wish I had taken a hammer and chisel with me...Is this atleast medium grade fire?

[Steve1236]

So I went back out to my spot to gather more agates and I decided to check out the bed rock that sticks out of the ground here and there along the hillside, idk why I never looked before, I just didnt lol , long story short I found a lot of bubbly veins with pockets all different colors in the bedrock but I didn't have a hammer or chisel with me so I found a few spots I was able to break off some chunks with a small boulder but the better veins I wasn't able to. The veins seem to show fire, multiple colours but I'm not sure of the qaulity of the fire cause I'm scared to get closer with the dremel and I don't even want to touch the big agate incase it's a good one? Anyone know if this rough is atleast medium grade fire? Thanks...

 

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[Ponchosportal]

The quality in your pictures is not apparent; I do see what I believe to be some fire.

What I can tell you is that you are in the right place and should put forth the effort to further evaluate your find.

I have buckets of the material you have posted which are bubbly chalcedony/fire agate with the same appearance as yours (little fire).

Good Find my man!

 

[Steve1236]

Thanks, I got as close as I could safely with 120grit on the last two but I didn't touch the larger one, yeah I'm gonna go back next week sometime, there was several really interesting veins I couldn't get a sample of. So I'm looking for brighter fire? Cause there's several colors if you blow the pictures up, I'm thinking I should target the darkest color chalcedony , reds, browns, purples etc..?

 

[Kray Gelder]

Thanks, I got as close as I could safely with 120grit on the last two but I didn't touch the larger one, yeah I'm gonna go back next week sometime, there was several really interesting veins I couldn't get a sample of. So I'm looking for brighter fire? Cause there's several colors if you blow the pictures up, I'm thinking I should target the darkest color chalcedony , reds, browns, purples etc..?

Looks like you're in the neighborhood. Nice finds! I strongly encourage you to use this material to hone your grinding/lapidary skills. No fear Dude! Grow confidence in your ability.

 

[Ponchosportal]

As the globules get larger underneath the agate they will exhibit more fire and the desire for the material for jewelry and specimens will increase with size. The darker seams will have more potential for fire agate. I do see the fire in the material of your last two pieces. Polishing fire agate is a talent best gained with experience; start with pieces you realize you might mess up. Best of luck with your explorations.

 

[Steve1236]

bad thing about fire agates is the cracks, this came off that big one while trying to remove the excess stone, anyone know how to keep the stone together, maybe jewelry epoxy in the cracks?

 

[Ponchosportal]

There are a few methods for stabilizing incompetent materials. Just google agate/turquoise stabilizers and you should find what you are looking for.

 

[Steve1236]

Thanks Panchosportal, yeah I cut a line into the junk stone then tried to break part of it off, it took a corner out with it smh, which made me pay more attention to two cracks I don't like, with the vibration of the dremel I know it wont hold up ya know but thanks once again.

 

[Ponchosportal]

Sometimes when cabbing I will find a hairline fracture which is visible and an indicator of future failure even though still together. I sometimes even use cyanoacrylate which will hold a polish and penetrate the available porosity at the fracture. Cyanoacrylate glues are available everywhere and relatively inexpensive. Also when polishing you might think of creating a window to view the fire agate rather than polishing the stone if that makes any sense when polishing your material......

Best of Luck,
Poncho

 

[Steve1236]

That's just mineral oil, I didn't polish it, it's a piece I'm gonna practice on before I do the rest of the larger stone , I have only 300grit bits, well that's the smallest grit I have right now, is that ok to keep going for windowing? I stopped when I seen some green fire.

 

[Ponchosportal]

No 300 grit will not work for windowing. You can buy a set of diamond polishing bits for your dremal which will progress from say 300 to 10,000 grit leaving a clear finish just as if it was tumbled or cabbed on a machine. You can also use diamond bits say from 400 to 1500 and then use a polishing compound but the finish is better with the polishing bits. There is much information and videos available with YouTube and the various dremal forums on the internet.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Cracks are common in many self-collected lapidary materials. Break 'em open.
It's better the cracks open up now then during cutting, much less on someones necklace. I have a small 100 gram hammer specifically for this kinda stuff.
If memory serves, it's called cobbing.

BUT should you really, really want to: beware as some Epoxy often yellows with age, not very desirable. Not sure on cyanoacrylate and yellowing.
So, as Ponchos says; get something dedicated to stabilizing.

Again: If you plan to sell, you need to declare it's been stabilized.

 

[Steve1236]

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the advice! So I cant use a 300 to go deeper to reveal more fire without ruining the stone? I enjoy the prospecting part more than the cutting but it's still fun, I really just want to find some good fire proven veins and pockets and sell it rough at a cheap,affordable and reasonable price. I'll post some pics next week after I get a chance to get back out to my spot and grab some sample veins and pockets. Once again thanks everyone, have a great day!

 

[Eu_citzen]

I think you can go a little deeper with 300, no biggie. Golden rule: Look twice, cut once.
However, windowing often refers to polishing it to check quality. As such, you need a little "wiggle room" for finer grits, to. This is best gotten by experimentation.
For finer grits: Such as 600 and 1200/3000 before moving to polish.

 

[Steve1236]

I decided to check out the bottom darkest layer, its really bright and multiple colours showing so far.

 

[DDancer]

Cobbling or chipping your ruff will save you a lot of time in removing material that wont stand up to polishing. Dont ignore the little bits with good color, collect them in to vials of oil or water for decorations. Cyanoacrylate will yellow over time you might look into making doublets for thin stuff or capping larger pieces as a way to stabilize them.
Got some great colors coming out there

 

[Steve1236]

Thanks DDancer this is hard stuff to carve, tedious work for sure but worth it, she's a beauty, hard to capture in a picture but I have seen green, orange, red, pink, yellow and a little purple, I'm hoping some blue pops up.

 

[bill_wabo]

Your eye was right, it's beautiful. Wish we has them here.