First time I’ve seen the slabs. I like them all. Great job. Thank god I could see the whole video after being nearly blinded by the first shirt u had on. 🥴. Go Bucks.
Man rob I’m only 3:10 in and learning a bunch! I don’t have a slab saw but when I do get one (one day hopefully 🤞🤞🤞) I actually will know what to do. Seriously such rad info! Okay gonna keep watching... Edit: 8:11 and 10:18 are my favs! They’re allllll beautiful though man! Honestly rad slabbing video. I’m not gonna lie, I really want a slab saw now 😖
My favorites too, Jesse. Keep your eyes open for a used saw. The old ones were built well and they're a lot cheaper than buying new. I have four used saws, although only one is a slab saw. The other three can be used inside though without getting me soaked. I don't know if it ever gets cold where you live, but cutting inside is pretty important here. We're getting our first big snow today. Supposed to get ten inches by tomorrow.
The banded iron slabs reminded me of galactic nebulae. The epidote slabs looked like lilly pads. The pudding stone slabs will make stunning cabochons. 😍🥰😇💜💙💚👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
My favorite was the epidote, just love the green and all the patterns in it is amazing! Wish i could find anything remotely as nice here in Sweden. Lots of quarts, mostly milky, my first batch in the tumbler revealed that i had a whole QT12 barrel full of junk 🤭🤷 Not a single stone i wanted to tumble anymore 😂 Ive heard the term crap in crap out but havnt learned what it fully meant till then.
That’s one of the reasons I am so selective when picking rocks on the beach. I agree that epidote is really cool. Unakite is epidote and feldspar and is also one of my favorites.
@@MichiganRocks Yeah ive learned that the hard way. Im currently working on some riverrocks i found that were all black and had a seminshine to them. The first stage tumble revealed that most of the rocks were not black at all 🤔 Thanks for your videos and leading me to the Rocktumbling hobby forums, its really been very helpful!
They came out really beautiful. I like the conglomerate stones. I hope that I spelled that right. Lol. My dad used to cut and slab large agate stones, then polish them when he was younger. He’s 89 now. He would drill holes in them and make wind chimes. They sounded nice.
I just called him to ask. He said around a quarter inch to 5/16 of an inch. He said no thicker than that as you won’t get the nice sounds. Can you tell he was an engineer? Lol. He didn’t drill them to string them. He said that he got the larger jewelry clips and glued them with epoxy to the stones to string them. I bet that you could do the wind chimes with more durable stones than the agates and they would last longer. I’m not sure what kind of sounds that you would get out of the other stones. With the agates it was almost like a glass sound. Sometimes if it got super windy the agates would eventually break. The stones that he used were about the size of the larger ones that you slabbed in this video. He hung them with fishing line to a large circle. I think probably from a craft store.
@@sparband Thanks Christie, I didn't expect you to call him up! That's how thick my rocks are slabbed. I liked to cut them 1/4 inch, but the little crank on my saw has to be turned 5.5 turns to get 1/4 inch slab. That leaves the crank handle straight up and it usually falls down by the time the slab is cut. So I've started just going 6 turns for a little thicker slab. I'm not sure if I'll make wind chimes or not, but at least I know how to now. Thanks again.
@@MichiganRocks I just talked to my mom. She said that my dad was out slabbing rocks in the back. He hasn’t done that for years. I think I put it in his mind again when I asked him about the thickness of the rocks for you. I thought that you might enjoy hearing that. He’s 89.
Love all the slabs. They are beautiful! I looked up buying a pudding stone and for a pound of stone it's close to 50 bucks. I'm going to wait and hopefully find one next summer. I could tell my mom her pudding stone is worth over two hundred dollars. It's a beautiful stone and I wouldn't let her sell it.😄
Those are all beautiful,I think my favorites are the pudding stone one. That’s a great idea to do by gluing them to wood, I may try that. Thanks for sharing that. What type of saw to cut do you use?
The banded iron and hematite mine has what appears to be mica in it. Nice becciated jaspers??? I have a unakite that is mostly baby pink. It is gorgeous stuff and no 2 are alike. Your Puddingstone is so full of the "Pudd stuff", WOW!
Amazing work ! Absolutely enjoy everything you do with rocks it has inspired me to start my own journey of rock collecting. I'm curious what kind of saw you use ? Also I have a 12lb and 6lb barrels and I feel like I'm wasting grit . The instructions that came with the grit recommends 8oz for the 6lb barrel and 16oz for the 12lb barrel for stage 1 . My question is for each grit how do you determine how much grit to use per the barrel size ? Thanks for any tips ! Keep rockin the rock game! You're definitely the most informative and have perfected the craft !
I just responded to your other message. My saw is a Lortone ST-10, an older version of the LS-10. Neither are sold anymore, but if you keep your eyes open, you might find one used. I drove two hours one way for mine. I have been very happy with it.
Hi, I'm really looking forward to the cabbing video with that pudding stone. That will make so beautiful and unique pendants! Great material! Stay safe! Greetings from Germany.
BOSS!! Thanks! Do you ever find 'critters' in stones - before or after cuts? 'Stones' in Fla yard seam to be more 'Matrix'. My 'imagination' holds me hostage many times. - I do believe i am finding Crinoids & Bracinoids in Uncut 'stones'. : }
Awesome! That pudding, wow! I saw a beautiful blue chunk in that. Nice tips!! I just got a rock cutter. You probably know the very best blade to use, eh? Thank you for your great videos!!
No, I’m not a saw or a blade expert. I used the blade that came with that saw until just about a month ago. The new blade is actually a pretty cheap one that I thought I’d try out.
Wonderful slabs, they are all so beautiful. The unakite is the same color as the linoleum on my kitchen floor. I love it.😄 The pudding stone is remarkable. Those will make stunning pendants. Thanks for sharing your process. I look forward to the pendant video.
Puddingstone was named by English settlers who thought it looked like suet pudding with berries. Today I made suet pudding with berries for the first time and there's a slight resemblance.
Now that's just farout..some of those rocks look just like cut slabs of Ben n Jerry's ice cream good enough to eat..🤪 it still amazes me that regular wood glue holds up so well inside the rock saw with everything going on in there..love the looks of all of them..most cool..thanks for sharing..looking forward to your next video..your videos are such a great help and distraction during these troubling and anxious times..have a blessed day
Thanks Ron. The only time I've had a problem with wood glue is when I leave a rock glued to a board out there over the winter. Freezing and thawing doesn't agree with the glue.
I really like unakite too. I picked the puddingstone as my favorite because it was an above average puddingstone. I used to tumble more unakite than anything else. I think I overdid it and it became sort of ordinary to me.
Do you have a problem with grit sticking in the bottom of the lot-o- tumbler. If so, I put a rubber stopper in the bottom of my cylinder. I cut it down so that it fit flush with the bottom. I glued it in with a rubberized glue. I found it prevents cross contamination.
The newer barrels don't have that deep hole in the bottom like the old ones did. For my older barrels, I twirled some epoxy on a stick and carefully lowered it to the bottom of the barrel and let it drip off, filling the hole. That was ten years ago, and it's still holding today.
Hi again, what would you suggest for cutting? I have a table tile saw , but I can’t do any rocks the size of your fist . Any ideas on a saw for something like that? cheers
A lot of people use tile saws. You can roll the rock after you cut as far in as the blade reaches. I am using a Lortone ST-10. It's a saw that isn't made anymore. There are lots of different lapidary saws out there.
Hello! I often find crystal-like colorful rocks at my nearby beach and was wondering if they are crystals of sorts but didn’t have anyone to ask. Are these rock you find are actually the same as crystals?
Most rocks are comprised of crystals, but they may be microscopic. The rocks in this video have very small crystals. I think you're referring to much larger crystals, but I don't have any idea what you're finding on your local beach.
The unakites are wild! I agree about that green of the epidote . its super pleasing to look at! Pudding stone is hit and miss for me but thats super nice! Definatly a hit.very cool
awesome slabs - how do you get them to shine if you want to leave them in that shape for maybe a coffee table rock or book ends - the water brings out the color - just curious because you can’t really tumble a slab, right?
I tumble much smaller slabs, but these are too big for my tumbler. One way to polish big slabs is to use a vibrating flat lap. I have never used one and I hear they're a little tricky to get the hang of using.
1/4 inch. I think that's pretty standard. Sometimes expensive material is cut thinner so you can get an extra slab out of a rock but I don't cut expensive material.
I don't think I've ever tumbled big slabs. Actually, I take that back. I tumbled a large unakite slab that was the one glued to the 2x4 so it was too thin for anything else. I tumbled that in a large Lortone barrel, but then it wouldn't fit in my Lot-O. I think it might still be in my cupboard unfinished. The slabs I make mostly get made into crosses and other shapes. Some are made into pendants.
Love the pudding stone slabs! Have you ever been up to the beaches of Drummond Island or Canada (like St. Joseph Island) to see how prevalent these stones are relative to where you have been finding them (NE Lower Peninsula)? I'm also curious where your friend Chuck has had good luck finding pudding stone on Drummond Island beaches. It would be very interesting to compare quantity and quality of these various beach locations.
I have only been to Drummond Island once, to visit Chuck. We went for a kayak ride and found a rock or two, but the beach we were on was not as good as what I find in the north eastern lower peninsula. I think Drummond gets over picked since it’s known for its puddingstones. Chuck has been out hunting with me too and I don’t think he was disappointed. I have not been to Canada to hunt them.
@@MichiganRocks That was my experience too, that Drummond Island has been very well picked over. It is hard to find pudding stones on the beach over there.
@@RockhoundingLife That's good, so you know it tumbles really well. I usually see you picking up pet. wood and agates. I'm glad you're not passing up the less glamorous rocks.
That's hard to answer. I have a Lortone LS-10 and an ST-10. They're just older and newer versions of the same thing. I like them a lot. I haven't used other slab saw to compare, though. They're great for slabbing but not good for anything else. I have several trim saws, but I really, really like my 10" GemLap. I guess I'd choose that saw because I could use it to slab by hand, but it wouldn't be nearly as good as an actual slab saw. Watch this video to see why I like it so much. The explanation is near the beginning. ua-cam.com/video/VDoZL4MiPgQ/v-deo.html By the way, none of the saws I own are being made anymore.
Nice mix, Rob. The second and third rocks are brecciated and quite interesting. The first one looks like a brecciated granite, the second may be a brecciated jasper of some sort. I would love to see a thin section of them under a petrographic microscope.
I think all of the pudding stones slabs will be great top to your turtle cuts (THE SHELL) and turtles of epidote ( BODYOF THE TURTLE)... would be awesome
Epidote is my favorite rock for turtle bottoms. I like Petoskey stone for the tops because it looks like a turtle shell, but I have done other tops too. I will have to do a puddingstone top some day.
Yes, that was fun! Thanks. Pudding stone is my favorite as well. I hope you and yours are doing well during this holiday season. Do you decorate your home with epidote and red jasper for the holidays? I might do that this year. 🤓
I decorate with way too many lights. We got quite a bit of heavy snow today and I think a lot of my lights fell off the trees as their branches drooped under the weight of the snow. One of my next videos will be me making Christmas ornaments if all goes well. This will be a new project for me, but I've made enough cut out rock shapes that I don't foresee any problems.
You probably mentioned this already in one of your videos. Did you build your own saw or did you buy a used one? The new ones are kind of pricey. I just checked.
I think building my own saw would be way out of my ability. I have four saws and I bought them all used. As you said, new ones are expensive. This saw is a Lortone ST-10, which is an older version of the LS-10. I drove over two hours to pick it up and paid $400. That was a good investment. Depending on where in the country you live, you might be able to get better deals. I hear that out west there is more lapidary equipment for sale.
@@MichiganRocks Thanks for the info. If used ones that can handle rocks the size that you are slabbing can be found for under $800, then that sounds like the way to go. I guess I just need to spend time watching for sales of used equipment.
@@darkwood777 I think you can get one for less that $500. If you want to check with someone about whether something is a good deal or if it's a quality brand saw, you could post on the Rock Tumbling Hobby forums. There's not always time to do that because saws go fast, at least around here. But RTH is a great place to get information from a lot of really experienced people. forum.rocktumblinghobby.com
Good to see the rocks slabbed and I agree with you on the order you showed them. Like the third one, it looked like small rocks in the snow. Pudding stones are good to. Interesting video Rob, thank you
I don't think I've ever cut a brecciated rock like the two in this video before, I don't really know how they'll do for making things, but I'll find out. I worry about tumbling those.
@@tonywild1963 I would most likely use those for making crosses. I don't think they're quite good enough to make pendants out of. I would do a test cross before spending a lot of time cutting them just to find out they either undercut or break apart.
I can identify some common ones, but not all of them. A good place to get identifications is the Great Lakes Rocks & Minerals Facebook group. You'll get both good and bad identifications, but you eventually get to know who gives good information and learn to weed out the bad.
I have a 9 lb. pudding stone, with some gold in it. You want to slab that up i will split it with you. I live in Michigan too. PS it is a real nice one too. Tinted red with a lot of jasper.
I would take you up on that, but my saw is probably too small. It's a ten inch saw, so I can cut a rock that is about four inches across. If there is a way I can lay it flat and it it's only four inches high, I can probably cut it. Where in Michigan are you? I'm in Alpena.
@@MichiganRocks I live in crystal about 2 hours away. Not the one up north , the one in the center of the state. The stone is about 6 inch by 8 inch just a guess. It looks to be red quartz with a lot of jasper. there are little places of gold all over the out side of it. One of the best i have ever found. Go to my channel and there is a video of it. It would be a nice one to get slab up fore sure. Never seen one quit like it.
would love to see a footpath using those stones! or an accent to a flagstone pathway. Is there some type of lacquer one can use to keep them glossy or to help display their colors more permanently or would you need to polish it?
I suppose you could paint something on them, but that's not my style. I don't tumble a lot of slabs, except really small ones. These would be a bit small and thin for a walkway. Have you seen my stone path? ua-cam.com/video/_uQDSeeJVkQ/v-deo.html
@@MichiganRocks If you are ever in Cross Village, drive a mile north of the Leg's Inn. Near the intersection of Arbutus Rd, there is a driveway with twin gate posts decorated with slabbed Michigan rocks. It is absolutely gorgeous. I know you would love it. I have photos. Wish I could post them here.
@@MichiganRocks oh well a nice lawn ornament. it took me three years to get it ( three mushroom hunting trips ) i thought it was as big as my fist, so i tried to pry it up. nope. the second time i went back i brought a little garden trowel and found it was big. third time i brought an L tire iron and got it out , it must weigh 40 pounds , one face is sheared flat . nice light field of bluegray with darker bands
@@carmineredd1198 Look around your area for someone with a big saw. If there's a lapidary club around, that would be a good place to start. I know of someone near me who has a 24 inch saw.
You know you're a rock nerd when you can feel your pulse quicken when a favorite comes up. You were right in leaving the puddingstone for last. Very cool! I googled pudding stones a couple of weeks ago and an ad for pudding stone switch plate covers kept popping up in my feeds. Actually thought about ordering a couple and maybe will if I paint my kitchen gray next spring.
That sounds really cool. The slab must be pretty thin or you'll need longer switches. I wonder how the switch hole was cut. Maybe a ring saw with a separating blade. I'll have to go look for that.
@@lindaeads7536 Not quite the same, is it? I wondered how someone could make a rock that big and yet thin enough to be a switch cover. It would be pretty fragile if it was thin enough.
@@karenpacker8862 Oh, ok. You had a typo there that confused me. I found that the rocks there and in Harrisville tend to be pretty small, although I did find a baseball sized puddingstone at Harrisville State Park.
@@MichiganRocks I ordered a puddingstone from Etsy but it wasn't anywhere near as pretty as the ones you get. The person I purchased it from included a small Petoskey Stone and another small Puddingstone. They're in my tumbler right now. Seller had oiled them or clear polished them - I'm hoping the tumbler will take that finish off and shine them well for me. ❤️
The epidote (@8:05 to 8:50) really caught my eye...loved that green with the veining....but then, that puddingstone -- WOW, WOW!!
Yeah, that's pretty much the way I feel about those two rocks.
I have a TON of epidote collected from lake Michigan... slabbed many,if have to agree with you.. lovely!
Pudding stones are my favorite of the ones you cut. I will have to Journey out your way some day and get myself one♥️
This puddingstone sure was nice, my favorite too.
I don't know why slabbing is so interesting to me. TFS 💖🦅🦅
Because its fun to see the surprise inside. Sort of like a box of Cracker Jacks.
Those came out real nice. That pudding stone was awesome. Was fun to watch. Great video
Pure Gorgeousness!
A lot of raisins and cherries in that pudding! Some coconut flakes too. 😁 Sorry, just hungry over here!😂
I really have to try making a suet pudding one of these days.
I don't like to say, "never", either... I knock wood.
First time I’ve seen the slabs. I like them all. Great job. Thank god I could see the whole video after being nearly blinded by the first shirt u had on. 🥴. Go Bucks.
If I'm able to put up with your username and sign off, you'll have to get used to my shirts. I have a LOT of them. Go Blue!
Man rob I’m only 3:10 in and learning a bunch! I don’t have a slab saw but when I do get one (one day hopefully 🤞🤞🤞) I actually will know what to do. Seriously such rad info! Okay gonna keep watching...
Edit: 8:11 and 10:18 are my favs! They’re allllll beautiful though man!
Honestly rad slabbing video. I’m not gonna lie, I really want a slab saw now 😖
My favorites too, Jesse. Keep your eyes open for a used saw. The old ones were built well and they're a lot cheaper than buying new. I have four used saws, although only one is a slab saw. The other three can be used inside though without getting me soaked. I don't know if it ever gets cold where you live, but cutting inside is pretty important here. We're getting our first big snow today. Supposed to get ten inches by tomorrow.
The banded iron slabs reminded me of galactic nebulae. The epidote slabs looked like lilly pads. The pudding stone slabs will make stunning cabochons. 😍🥰😇💜💙💚👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Maybe I should put my turtles on top of a lily pad.
@@MichiganRocks OMG❤ , that would look absolutely adorable. 😍🥰😇💜💙💚👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Lindas amigo. Gostei muito mesmo...
Obrigada!
My favorite was the epidote, just love the green and all the patterns in it is amazing!
Wish i could find anything remotely as nice here in Sweden. Lots of quarts, mostly milky, my first batch in the tumbler revealed that i had a whole QT12 barrel full of junk 🤭🤷 Not a single stone i wanted to tumble anymore 😂 Ive heard the term crap in crap out but havnt learned what it fully meant till then.
That’s one of the reasons I am so selective when picking rocks on the beach. I agree that epidote is really cool. Unakite is epidote and feldspar and is also one of my favorites.
@@MichiganRocks Yeah ive learned that the hard way. Im currently working on some riverrocks i found that were all black and had a seminshine to them. The first stage tumble revealed that most of the rocks were not black at all 🤔
Thanks for your videos and leading me to the Rocktumbling hobby forums, its really been very helpful!
They came out really beautiful. I like the conglomerate stones. I hope that I spelled that right. Lol. My dad used to cut and slab large agate stones, then polish them when he was younger. He’s 89 now. He would drill holes in them and make wind chimes. They sounded nice.
That's something that I haven't made yet. Do you remember how thin he sliced them for wind chimes?
I just called him to ask. He said around a quarter inch to 5/16 of an inch. He said no thicker than that as you won’t get the nice sounds. Can you tell he was an engineer? Lol. He didn’t drill them to string them. He said that he got the larger jewelry clips and glued them with epoxy to the stones to string them. I bet that you could do the wind chimes with more durable stones than the agates and they would last longer. I’m not sure what kind of sounds that you would get out of the other stones. With the agates it was almost like a glass sound. Sometimes if it got super windy the agates would eventually break. The stones that he used were about the size of the larger ones that you slabbed in this video. He hung them with fishing line to a large circle. I think probably from a craft store.
@@sparband Thanks Christie, I didn't expect you to call him up! That's how thick my rocks are slabbed. I liked to cut them 1/4 inch, but the little crank on my saw has to be turned 5.5 turns to get 1/4 inch slab. That leaves the crank handle straight up and it usually falls down by the time the slab is cut. So I've started just going 6 turns for a little thicker slab.
I'm not sure if I'll make wind chimes or not, but at least I know how to now. Thanks again.
You’re welcome. I didn’t mind calling him for you. You spend a lot of time making videos for all of us.
@@MichiganRocks I just talked to my mom. She said that my dad was out slabbing rocks in the back. He hasn’t done that for years. I think I put it in his mind again when I asked him about the thickness of the rocks for you. I thought that you might enjoy hearing that. He’s 89.
The Puddingatone is my fave the colors really pop ! Thanks for sharing another cool video !
That's why puddingstones are so popular, I guess.
They all look good... but the Pudding Stone is my Favorite Too!
That was a good one too. Lots of red in some of those slabs.
Ofcourse the puddin stone is my fave by far!! So cool!! 💜
What wouldn't it be?
I love the pudding stones as well. Very nice, thank you
That one was better than average.
Nice rocks. Nice job. Enjoyed this video.
Thanks Rosalind!
They’re all very beautiful ! I love the pudding stone slabs though , they’re so pretty 🤩🥰
They sure are. That's why I keep picking them up.
I agree , the pudding stone is awesome!! Thank you for sharing
Sure, no problem!
Useful video, thank you!
You’re welcome!
That was waaaaaay "fun".... thank you again for the great show!
You're welcome, I had fun too!
Love all the slabs. They are beautiful! I looked up buying a pudding stone and for a pound of stone it's close to 50 bucks. I'm going to wait and hopefully find one next summer. I could tell my mom her pudding stone is worth over two hundred dollars. It's a beautiful stone and I wouldn't let her sell it.😄
Puddingstones aren't worth anywhere near $50 a pound. I don't know what they go for exactly, but it's not that much.
Very cool! Would make some very nice aquarium ornaments!
Wouldn't whole rocks be better? Or polished rocks? Slabs don't seem like they'd make a very natural environment.
@@MichiganRocks True, but glued onto a surface they would make a lovely background
Those are all beautiful,I think my favorites are the pudding stone one. That’s a great idea to do by gluing them to wood, I may try that. Thanks for sharing that. What type of saw to cut do you use?
I have a Lortone ST-10. It's like an LS-10, but older. I'm not sure what the difference is. It's a good saw.
The first slabed rock would make great drink,coasters ! ALL,OF THEM WOULD MAKE GREAT SETS OF DRINK,COASTERS !
I haven't made coasters yet. They would look cool, but wouldn't be very absorbent.
I liked all of them. It’s to bad that stone doesn’t come in large sheets. It would make cool counter tops and floor tile. Thanks for sharing !!!
I thought the same thing!
@David Hile @Linda Eads You two might like this, then: www.pinterest.com/pin/195625177538482248/
@@MichiganRocks That’s really cool ! I’ve heard of people making concrete counter tops. I wonder if those are slabs of stone set in concrete.
@@davidhile5363 I'm not sure if it's concrete or something else, but i's pretty cool.
@@MichiganRocks Yeah, it could be a clear resin or something with individual stones and the slabs set into. I like it what ever it is.
Hello Rob. Thanks for sharing!
The banded iron and hematite mine has what appears to be mica in it. Nice becciated jaspers??? I have a unakite that is mostly baby pink. It is gorgeous stuff and no 2 are alike. Your Puddingstone is so full of the "Pudd stuff", WOW!
It's always fun to see what's inside a puddingstone.
Amazing work ! Absolutely enjoy everything you do with rocks it has inspired me to start my own journey of rock collecting. I'm curious what kind of saw you use ? Also I have a 12lb and 6lb barrels and I feel like I'm wasting grit . The instructions that came with the grit recommends 8oz for the 6lb barrel and 16oz for the 12lb barrel for stage 1 . My question is for each grit how do you determine how much grit to use per the barrel size ? Thanks for any tips !
Keep rockin the rock game! You're definitely the most informative and have perfected the craft !
I just responded to your other message. My saw is a Lortone ST-10, an older version of the LS-10. Neither are sold anymore, but if you keep your eyes open, you might find one used. I drove two hours one way for mine. I have been very happy with it.
Hi, I'm really looking forward to the cabbing video with that pudding stone. That will make so beautiful and unique pendants! Great material!
Stay safe! Greetings from Germany.
I'll do that sometime this winter, but I have several other videos that I have to make first.
BOSS!! Thanks! Do you ever find 'critters' in stones - before or after cuts? 'Stones' in Fla yard seam to be more 'Matrix'.
My 'imagination' holds me hostage many times. - I do believe i am finding Crinoids & Bracinoids in Uncut 'stones'. : }
I find a lot of fossils in rocks around here. These particular rocks are not fossils though.
Awesome! That pudding, wow! I saw a beautiful blue chunk in that. Nice tips!! I just got a rock cutter. You probably know the very best blade to use, eh? Thank you for your great videos!!
No, I’m not a saw or a blade expert. I used the blade that came with that saw until just about a month ago. The new blade is actually a pretty cheap one that I thought I’d try out.
Wonderful slabs, they are all so beautiful. The unakite is the same color as the linoleum on my kitchen floor. I love it.😄 The pudding stone is remarkable. Those will make stunning pendants. Thanks for sharing your process. I look forward to the pendant video.
The pendant video won't be for a while. I have so many other videos in the works and in my head. Sometime this winter I should get to it though.
Unikite-green eggs and ham. Pudding Stone-Fruit cake. So that’s how my mind works. Thank you, that was fun.
Puddingstone was named by English settlers who thought it looked like suet pudding with berries. Today I made suet pudding with berries for the first time and there's a slight resemblance.
Now that's just farout..some of those rocks look just like cut slabs of Ben n Jerry's ice cream good enough to eat..🤪 it still amazes me that regular wood glue holds up so well inside the rock saw with everything going on in there..love the looks of all of them..most cool..thanks for sharing..looking forward to your next video..your videos are such a great help and distraction during these troubling and anxious times..have a blessed day
Thanks Ron. The only time I've had a problem with wood glue is when I leave a rock glued to a board out there over the winter. Freezing and thawing doesn't agree with the glue.
Very Interesting!! I liked the same rock you picked for being my favorite ! But, I did like them all!!! 😊
I'd say "great minds think alike" but my mind is just so-so.
To me the Unakite was the prettiest. It looked like a colorized satellite photo. All were nice, but those were my picks. Thanks for sharing. Davin
I really like unakite too. I picked the puddingstone as my favorite because it was an above average puddingstone. I used to tumble more unakite than anything else. I think I overdid it and it became sort of ordinary to me.
The one from Lake Superior was so impressive!!! Thanks for guiding me here. My husband said I can't use his table saw to do this lol! 😂
Your husband is a smart man.
Do you have a problem with grit sticking in the bottom of the lot-o- tumbler. If so, I put a rubber stopper in the bottom of my cylinder. I cut it down so that it fit flush with the bottom. I glued it in with a rubberized glue. I found it prevents cross contamination.
The newer barrels don't have that deep hole in the bottom like the old ones did. For my older barrels, I twirled some epoxy on a stick and carefully lowered it to the bottom of the barrel and let it drip off, filling the hole. That was ten years ago, and it's still holding today.
They all turned out to be really beautiful. Good job picking the rocks for slicing! Always fun to see the inside of them.
I enjoy slicing rocks. There aren't a ton of surprises anymore since I've slabbed quite a few local rocks, but it's still fun.
Hi again, what would you suggest for cutting? I have a table tile saw , but I can’t do any rocks the size of your fist . Any ideas on a saw for something like that? cheers
A lot of people use tile saws. You can roll the rock after you cut as far in as the blade reaches. I am using a Lortone ST-10. It's a saw that isn't made anymore. There are lots of different lapidary saws out there.
Hello! I often find crystal-like colorful rocks at my nearby beach and was wondering if they are crystals of sorts but didn’t have anyone to ask. Are these rock you find are actually the same as crystals?
Most rocks are comprised of crystals, but they may be microscopic. The rocks in this video have very small crystals. I think you're referring to much larger crystals, but I don't have any idea what you're finding on your local beach.
I agree the pudding stone is the best looking, I really liked the two brechiated stones also. Thanks for video very informative
You're welcome, I'm glad you learned something.
Northern Wyoming has some marvelous epidote and unaligned, too! Great looking slabs!
I assume “unaligned” was supposed to be “unakite”. Those are great rocks, some of my favorites.
The pudding stone was outstanding! Is there a way to keep the colors vibrant without tumbling or wetting. Some kind of clear top coat?
Some people coat them in epoxy. I have never coated my rocks with anything though.
The unakites are wild! I agree about that green of the
epidote . its super pleasing to look at! Pudding stone is hit and miss for me but thats super nice! Definatly a hit.very cool
Yes, this puddingstone was above average compared to others that I have slabbed. I was glad I chose it for this video.
awesome slabs - how do you get them to shine if you want to leave them in that shape for maybe a coffee table rock or book ends - the water brings out the color - just curious because you can’t really tumble a slab, right?
I tumble much smaller slabs, but these are too big for my tumbler. One way to polish big slabs is to use a vibrating flat lap. I have never used one and I hear they're a little tricky to get the hang of using.
There a place you got rocks by the pound. They weight your auto before and after. Where is that mine plz
lindberginc.com
Thank you for sharing the slabbing. I like the brecciated ones.
This was the first time I've cut brecciated rocks, so it was fun for me too.
What is your preferred thickness on your slabs to make cabochons?
1/4 inch. I think that's pretty standard. Sometimes expensive material is cut thinner so you can get an extra slab out of a rock but I don't cut expensive material.
Great slabs Rob! Do you use one of the larger Lortone barrels when you tumble slabs like this?
I don't think I've ever tumbled big slabs. Actually, I take that back. I tumbled a large unakite slab that was the one glued to the 2x4 so it was too thin for anything else. I tumbled that in a large Lortone barrel, but then it wouldn't fit in my Lot-O. I think it might still be in my cupboard unfinished. The slabs I make mostly get made into crosses and other shapes. Some are made into pendants.
I do enjoy these slab videos because I'm always so curious about what the insides of rocks look like.
I like that too. You never know exactly what you'll find.
The pudding stone was the star ⭐️ of that show!
Can’t wait to see you turn them into cabachons
It will probably be a while before they’re cabs. I have a few other videos I’m working on that will come out first.
I LIKE ROCK GUTS
I like that term. Or maybe "rock innards".
THE GREEN ROCK REALLY LOOKS LIKE JADE FROM MONTANA OR CANADA. MAYBE. PRETTY.
It's unakite from Lake Superior in the eastern U.P.
Excelente video que hermosos buenas noches????? gracias
Gracias!
I like the unikite and the pudding stone. Very cool proceedure to slicing the stones.
I was most excited about that Lake Huron breccia, but I ended up liking the puddingstone and epidote the best.
It was fun thanks
Thanks!
Your'e welcome!
Love the pudding stone slabs! Have you ever been up to the beaches of Drummond Island or Canada (like St. Joseph Island) to see how prevalent these stones are relative to where you have been finding them (NE Lower Peninsula)? I'm also curious where your friend Chuck has had good luck finding pudding stone on Drummond Island beaches. It would be very interesting to compare quantity and quality of these various beach locations.
I have only been to Drummond Island once, to visit Chuck. We went for a kayak ride and found a rock or two, but the beach we were on was not as good as what I find in the north eastern lower peninsula. I think Drummond gets over picked since it’s known for its puddingstones. Chuck has been out hunting with me too and I don’t think he was disappointed. I have not been to Canada to hunt them.
@@MichiganRocks That was my experience too, that Drummond Island has been very well picked over. It is hard to find pudding stones on the beach over there.
I love it when you slab your bigger rocks. That puddingstone is awesome! I need to get my hands on one. Loved the unakite as well!
The crowd seems to agree with my picks this time. Both rocks are fun. Any epidote or unakite in your area?
@@MichiganRocks lots of Epidote and Unakite here in NS. I pick up the really nice ones for the tumbler.
@@RockhoundingLife That's good, so you know it tumbles really well. I usually see you picking up pet. wood and agates. I'm glad you're not passing up the less glamorous rocks.
The wood is a good idea ,like a gem cutter uses a stick glued to the gemstone !
That's called a dop stick. I use those when I make cabochons.
Pudding stone looks good enough to eat! Fun, indeed. Thank you.
I found a couple nice puddingstones on Monday. Video Friday.
Dear Rob, If you could have only one saw what would you prefer and why? Thanks for taking time to respond to my questions.
That's hard to answer. I have a Lortone LS-10 and an ST-10. They're just older and newer versions of the same thing. I like them a lot. I haven't used other slab saw to compare, though. They're great for slabbing but not good for anything else.
I have several trim saws, but I really, really like my 10" GemLap. I guess I'd choose that saw because I could use it to slab by hand, but it wouldn't be nearly as good as an actual slab saw. Watch this video to see why I like it so much. The explanation is near the beginning. ua-cam.com/video/VDoZL4MiPgQ/v-deo.html
By the way, none of the saws I own are being made anymore.
@@MichiganRocks Thanks for the detailed response!!
It might be the name pudding stone but they almost look good enough to eat! 😆
One of these days I need to make a suet pudding to see if it really looks like this.
It was fun watching. Slabbing, yes. It’s like waiting to open a present to see what’s inside. Thank you for sharing.
I was happy with what was inside these presents.
@@MichiganRocks They were very beautiful.
Nice mix, Rob. The second and third rocks are brecciated and quite interesting. The first one looks like a brecciated granite, the second may be a brecciated jasper of some sort. I would love to see a thin section of them under a petrographic microscope.
I would like to see a petrographic microscope!
@@MichiganRocks They are great! 👍
love the green one,it looks like a satellite image of the Amazon
Epidote and unakite are favorites of mine too. They're fun to cut and see the pattern inside.
Unikite is my fav.
Excelente vídeo !!!!
Thanks!
Love unikite ,just made a necklace with it
It's a nice rock. I can't resist picking them up and at least taking a look whenever I see one.
Thought the thumbnail was of cookies lol
No cookies, but a little pudding.
Live the pudding stone slabs and the epidote
Those are my favorites too. We have good taste, huh?
Wow! I love it!
All of them. 👌
Spoke too soon, very nice pudding stone.
It's ok, you can like both of them. I do.
The lake superior braichiated jasper is beautiful...my favorite of all I'd love a small slab and a epidote alone.. humm day dreaming.
I think all of the pudding stones slabs will be great top to your turtle cuts (THE SHELL) and turtles of epidote ( BODYOF THE TURTLE)... would be awesome
Epidote is my favorite rock for turtle bottoms. I like Petoskey stone for the tops because it looks like a turtle shell, but I have done other tops too. I will have to do a puddingstone top some day.
@@MichiganRocks , I'm a odd ball so it reminds me of the beach trash of all sorts so I think it would look great as the shell..
Yes, that was fun! Thanks. Pudding stone is my favorite as well. I hope you and yours are doing well during this holiday season. Do you decorate your home with epidote and red jasper for the holidays? I might do that this year. 🤓
I decorate with way too many lights. We got quite a bit of heavy snow today and I think a lot of my lights fell off the trees as their branches drooped under the weight of the snow.
One of my next videos will be me making Christmas ornaments if all goes well. This will be a new project for me, but I've made enough cut out rock shapes that I don't foresee any problems.
I cannot wait to see you make the cabochons!
Yes you can. You have no other choice, because I haven't made anything yet.
Great idea gluing the rock to a 2x4, smart man!
Not my idea, but I like it too.
@@MichiganRocks I like it too, better to think and work smart not fast.
Now that's an assortment of Christmas cookies I could chow down on!..
I'm planning to make Christmas ornaments out of some of these.
@@MichiganRocks awesome!!!..I'm going to attempt some too!...
You probably mentioned this already in one of your videos. Did you build your own saw or did you buy a used one? The new ones are kind of pricey. I just checked.
I think building my own saw would be way out of my ability. I have four saws and I bought them all used. As you said, new ones are expensive. This saw is a Lortone ST-10, which is an older version of the LS-10. I drove over two hours to pick it up and paid $400. That was a good investment. Depending on where in the country you live, you might be able to get better deals. I hear that out west there is more lapidary equipment for sale.
@@MichiganRocks Thanks for the info. If used ones that can handle rocks the size that you are slabbing can be found for under $800, then that sounds like the way to go. I guess I just need to spend time watching for sales of used equipment.
@@darkwood777 I think you can get one for less that $500. If you want to check with someone about whether something is a good deal or if it's a quality brand saw, you could post on the Rock Tumbling Hobby forums. There's not always time to do that because saws go fast, at least around here. But RTH is a great place to get information from a lot of really experienced people. forum.rocktumblinghobby.com
So awesome
Good to see the rocks slabbed and I agree with you on the order you showed them. Like the third one, it looked like small rocks in the snow. Pudding stones are good to. Interesting video Rob, thank you
I don't think I've ever cut a brecciated rock like the two in this video before, I don't really know how they'll do for making things, but I'll find out. I worry about tumbling those.
@@MichiganRocks Maybe not tumble all of them incase but should think they will look polished up
@@tonywild1963 I would most likely use those for making crosses. I don't think they're quite good enough to make pendants out of. I would do a test cross before spending a lot of time cutting them just to find out they either undercut or break apart.
Can you identify rocks from the area? I live by the Great Lakes and have some I would love to identify
I can identify some common ones, but not all of them. A good place to get identifications is the Great Lakes Rocks & Minerals Facebook group. You'll get both good and bad identifications, but you eventually get to know who gives good information and learn to weed out the bad.
@@MichiganRocks Sage advice. It takes a bit of experience to separate the wheat from the chaff.
@@MichiganRocks thank you I will join. Them
I like the pudding stone the most. The unakite reminds me of a bracelet I bought in Ireland, it was from connemara
Sounds like a pretty bracelet.
Loved the pudding stone slabs. Epidote green was lovely. Thanks.
I think those two were my favorites too.
Very cool slabs!
Are we in for some pudding stone turtles?
Sure, I should probably do that. I don't really want to start making more than two videos a week, but I have too many ideas to fit them all in.
@@MichiganRocks sounds familiar.... Then you need to spend hours editing...:)
@@Smallathe Yep, it's a lot of work, but it's really fun to hear from all of you who enjoy them.
I have a 9 lb. pudding stone, with some gold in it. You want to slab that up i will split it with you. I live in Michigan too. PS it is a real nice one too. Tinted red with a lot of jasper.
I would take you up on that, but my saw is probably too small. It's a ten inch saw, so I can cut a rock that is about four inches across. If there is a way I can lay it flat and it it's only four inches high, I can probably cut it. Where in Michigan are you? I'm in Alpena.
@@MichiganRocks I live in crystal about 2 hours away. Not the one up north , the one in the center of the state. The stone is about 6 inch by 8 inch just a guess. It looks to be red quartz with a lot of jasper. there are little places of gold all over the out side of it. One of the best i have ever found. Go to my channel and there is a video of it. It would be a nice one to get slab up fore sure. Never seen one quit like it.
@@REDBEAM58 That would be too big for my saw. I'll go take a look at your video though.
Wow love the pudding stone.
Me too!
would love to see a footpath using those stones! or an accent to a flagstone pathway. Is there some type of lacquer one can use to keep them glossy or to help display their colors more permanently or would you need to polish it?
I suppose you could paint something on them, but that's not my style. I don't tumble a lot of slabs, except really small ones. These would be a bit small and thin for a walkway.
Have you seen my stone path? ua-cam.com/video/_uQDSeeJVkQ/v-deo.html
@@MichiganRocks I was going to ask you if you had a stone path! As you should have! Stunning grounds you have, what a magical place.
@@twasbrillig33 Thanks. It didn't seem magical when I was moving all those rocks. I'm happy with how it turned out though.
Beauties all! Pretty much agree with your ranking too. TYFS
Whew! I ranked them right, that's a relief!
@@MichiganRocks If you are ever in Cross Village, drive a mile north of the Leg's Inn. Near the intersection of Arbutus Rd, there is a driveway with twin gate posts decorated with slabbed Michigan rocks. It is absolutely gorgeous. I know you would love it. I have photos. Wish I could post them here.
@@markhosbach9420 I have been past there a couple times, but I don't remember seeing that.
can you slab a piece of banded glacial slate as big as a 8x8x16'' concrete block or larger ?
I can’t, but it can be done. There are saws with blades at least as big as 36 inches. My blade is only ten inches.
@@MichiganRocks oh well a nice lawn ornament. it took me three years to get it ( three mushroom hunting trips ) i thought it was as big as my fist, so i tried to pry it up. nope. the second time i went back i brought a little garden trowel and found it was big. third time i brought an L tire iron and got it out , it must weigh 40 pounds , one face is sheared flat . nice light field of bluegray with darker bands
@@carmineredd1198 Look around your area for someone with a big saw. If there's a lapidary club around, that would be a good place to start. I know of someone near me who has a 24 inch saw.
You know you're a rock nerd when you can feel your pulse quicken when a favorite comes up. You were right in leaving the puddingstone for last. Very cool! I googled pudding stones a couple of weeks ago and an ad for pudding stone switch plate covers kept popping up in my feeds. Actually thought about ordering a couple and maybe will if I paint my kitchen gray next spring.
That sounds really cool. The slab must be pretty thin or you'll need longer switches. I wonder how the switch hole was cut. Maybe a ring saw with a separating blade. I'll have to go look for that.
I just found a metal switch cover with a picture of puddingstone. Is that what you're talking about?
@@MichiganRocks: I did think it was 100% stone but it was a picture on metal. What the heck?
@@lindaeads7536 Not quite the same, is it? I wondered how someone could make a rock that big and yet thin enough to be a switch cover. It would be pretty fragile if it was thin enough.
That's very enjoyable! Thanks for sharing!
You're welcome! Glad you liked it.
I like the green ones. it sure will look beautiful with 3x3 inches coasters.
I haven't made coasters. They wouldn't be very absorbent. They would look cool though.
Another informative video!
Glad you liked it!
Beautiful slabs!!! We found some good puddingstones but not very big at Sturgeon Or.
Sturgeon, Oregon or Sturgeon Point near Harrisville?
@@MichiganRocks near Harrisville
@@karenpacker8862 Oh, ok. You had a typo there that confused me. I found that the rocks there and in Harrisville tend to be pretty small, although I did find a baseball sized puddingstone at Harrisville State Park.
@@MichiganRocks ok I see what I did.
Love the puddingstone & epidote stones - so beautiful!!
Two of my favorites.
@@MichiganRocks I ordered a puddingstone from Etsy but it wasn't anywhere near as pretty as the ones you get. The person I purchased it from included a small Petoskey Stone and another small Puddingstone. They're in my tumbler right now. Seller had oiled them or clear polished them - I'm hoping the tumbler will take that finish off and shine them well for me. ❤️
@@Brenda-sk6ev I hope you're only tumbling the puddingstones. Petoskeys can be tumbled, but it's difficult to do well.