Lake Superior Rocks & Gems - Shines like it's Polished!

bitfiend (59)in #rocks • 7 years ago

Good morning Steemians! It's been two days since I made a post. I've been a little preoccupied with life! When I woke up on Saturday morning, I had mentioned my plans on making this post on Sunday morning. I was on very little sleep and had to take a leave of absense, but all for a good cause! I think today I'll make up for it as I have a lot to share!

No Shine

Let's start with the agate of the day. I did this one a little differently so there's no lights off, but that's because I'm showcasing how shiny it is! Let's start with a regular shot. There's really not much to this one, and it's super dark, so I didn't quite expect it to glow.

^{You can click on the image to view full screen!!}

Shine

Well I really like how this turned out! What do you think? You'd swear it was polished, but the very top left corner of the rock suggests it is not. I simply dabbed a q-tip in some oil and wiped it on the rock. It stayed wet and shiny long enough for me to take some pictures and not worry about drying.

^{You can click on the image to view full screen!!}

"Lights Off"

So this was not particularly easy to get to shine. I had to get an LED light, wrap it and poke a small hole in the tape. This only allowed light through the hole, and then I placed the rock over the hole. It had nowhere else to go! Trapped.

I spent about $20 that day on new lights but it got the job done.

Camera	Samsung S8 Active 12 MP
Location	Superior, WI

I've heard others using mineral oil to make the rocks shine. It's not always desirable to polish a rock because this requires different stages of grit sanding down the rock and polishing it. This means you lose bits of the agate just to get it polished. There are some who would pay more money for a raw unpolished agate then they would for a polished one. Especially naturally polished agates.

My next thought is to find a way to permanently make a raw agate shine, without having to polish it. I assume there's some kind of acrylic spray that will allow me to do this.

I've also tried polishing by hand with sand paper. When it comes to my possible carpel tunnel syndrome, this was not a good idea so I had to quickly stop. Slowly but surely I'll have everything that I need.

I share my rock and agate photo's exclusive with the Steemit community! Feel free to share your thoughts!

Thanks for stopping by! God Bless!

@bitfiend