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Endless Circles...or how to waste hours of time!9966

Collector Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user
When my grandfather was alive he spent much of his life learning how to and perfecting the art of taking stones and turning them into polished gemstone wonders.
It is rather a common field today within the lapidary community but when he was active he was one of the more pioneering men to do so ….it was considered quite challenging and requires a great deal of knowledge to take a stone and shape it to your wil, especially a perfect circle, and then polish it so highly someone could eat off of it.

When I was a kid I would run through their house, down to the basement and climb up and sit on his lap while he worked at his machine ….he chewed and I will always remember that wintergreen smell . I grew up around it, admiring his work, and always wishing I had a few more spheres of my own.
It was an odd thing to see grandpa doing...I remember the day NASA called him . They were building gyroscopes for their craft and needed a perfect sphere within the gyro and were seeking information how sphere cutting was done. THe main issue is you cannot make anything perfectly sphericle in a gravity environment, so …..anyways he was an amazing grandfather.


When he died in 2004 I decided to keep his knowledge alive and learn how...I actually probably knew how within myself, having grown up around it. Since he made gemstone spheres, and I love dinosaurs, I married our two interests and made myself well over a hundred spheres, many with dinosaur bone...enjoy, even if you don't quite get it..they make perfect paperweights, conversation pieces, and dust magnets. On the plus side women love them ...








Note, this sphere has a pathology within the bone visible in this image, notice the infilled holes of darker material.






Bone texture up close, cell walls and webbing!




This piece I made along with a fellow club member, who learned to make spheres from my grandfather in the sixties. His name was curly and he died sadly a few years ago as well.








This little red fellow was made from coprolite...dinosaur coprolite...or fossil dinosaur dung ...pretty isn't it? I can see the jokes coming already









This rather plain looking piece is one of my favorites...notice the slender clear tubes running through it...those are known as foramen and appear within backbones, known as vertebrae and are feeder tubes that provide water, oxygen and remove wastes from the bone.




I named this one...Swoosh...because of that big blue swoosh running through it.


You are looking at one of the largest privately held collections of dinosaur bone spheres in the country. Cost can be problematic...a bone sphere generally sells for around 2-3 HUNDRED dollars an inch...however over 3 inches it becomes anyones guess as prices are very …..expensive. This pieces measures in at just under five inches and would command perhaps a thousand dollar payday if sold.Brilliant colors and patterns always pay out better , however this one is ...while pleasing , somewhat simple. The reverse side, a literal rainbow in there of colors.








Thisone is buckskins and grey colors and derived from a small section of stegosaurus bone....fun piece.


Dark blues, light blues and pinks...a whole galaxy in there


project in the works
One of several sisters I have....a term I use for when I am able to get multiple spheres from a single block


These also make great anti burglarly tools....just listen and when you hear someone breaking in toss one in their general direction.
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Collector Terry88 private msg quote post Address this user
Amazing stuff, thanks for this!
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Collector Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user
I don't expect most to get it....I posted it mostly for myself ...was remembering my grandfather today and wanted to express that in some manner.
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Collector crystalphoto private msg quote post Address this user
Some really beautiful work.
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Collector no1lufcfan private msg quote post Address this user
Very nice and a really great way to keep your grandfathers memories alive 👍
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Collector X51 private msg quote post Address this user
I didn't really know either of my grandfathers. They both passed away when I was a young child. I have nothing to remember one of them by other than stories from his children. I have Spanish American War memorabilia to remember the other one including a Bugle. That's the war in which he fought.

My father on the other hand left me everything I need to build a Tesla Coil among many other things.

To tie it back to your post, that sphere for the Tesla coil was tough to locate. It's evidently very difficult to make something spherical.
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Johnny, where are your buccaneers?
Johnny: Under my buccan hat.
Gotlift private msg quote post Address this user
The stories we have about our grandfathers.. My grandfather had a saying "give me some time and I'll
make you a silk purse from a sow's ear" Back in the middle 50's they were tearing down homes in Milwaukee for the Freeway. He was a policeman and got to know the workers.. He'd take a few beers (Kingsbury) to the site after work and pickup all the oak doors they took out of the homes that day..
What for you might ask.. Well he my Dad and uncles built him a retirement home on a lake just north of sturgeon bay Wisconsin. He needed a garage but money was a little tight then so he took the doors and built a wall with double studs spaced the right distance apart to fit the doors.. they were anywhere from 30 to 36 inches wide.. He then nailed them to the studs to form the walls.. By the way they cut the trees and sawed the studs on a community saw mill driven by the rear axle of a 1938 Pontiac sedan. when done he put asphalt siding over it and it stands to this day.. The garage was a four car (one car actually and the rest shop) so it took awhile but when it was done the only way you could tell how it was built was on the inside. You could see all the different colored doors.. By the way I was around 8 years old when he did this and my job was to straighten the bent nails he collected from the Demolition site.. I had a old anvil and a hammer.. Bruised a few fingers but learned to use a hammer.. Lol..
The depression was a rough time but with him growing up through it he learned to repurpose things..
Well that's just one of my Grandfather story's.. hopefully I didn't put you to sleep..
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If I could, I would. I swear. DrWatson private msg quote post Address this user
Do you sell those?
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I'll probably wake up constipated. Pre_Coder private msg quote post Address this user
The only thing my Grandfather taught me was how to drive a tractor.

Grandma taught me how to pick peas.
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CBCS Boomhauer HeinzDad private msg quote post Address this user
My grandpa owned a charter fishing boat on Lake Erie, thanks for sharing these, I learned something today....
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Collector Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by DrWatson
Do you sell those?
I haven't sold yet....never really needed money so I just make them and sit them around the house or in a case.

One aspect of this is each one , each sphere can take anywhere from 18-75 hours depending on difficulty, issues …..cracks, vugs, soft spots, ones that refuse to stay round as you turn them, etc
if you spend 20 hours of your time even at 9.00 an hour you might get 200 dollars for it...it isn't an income you would want to rely on, give that it can take days to finish one. Most people lack the spare change to spend a few hundred bucks for a beautiful décor piece....the bone ones are a bit different and I have declind many offers for the entire pile at top dollar...ive done some as trade for rough material, some I have given away etc.
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Collector Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by X51
I didn't really know either of my grandfathers. They both passed away when I was a young child. I have nothing to remember one of them by other than stories from his children. I have Spanish American War memorabilia to remember the other one including a Bugle. That's the war in which he fought.

My father on the other hand left me everything I need to build a Tesla Coil among many other things.

To tie it back to your post, that sphere for the Tesla coil was tough to locate. It's evidently very difficult to make something spherical.
you are correct about the sphere thing..most people assume their car tires are round, but they aren't if you have an accurate enough caliper to detect the minute difference
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It was a one trick pony show but always hilarious. GAC private msg quote post Address this user
@Darkseid_of_town Wow!! That is very cool!! Thank you for sharing!
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Collector FURIOUSWARRIOR private msg quote post Address this user
Thanks for sharing!
Very interesting and I spent quite awhile viewing the pictures!
I like every single one.
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Collector Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pre_Coder
The only thing my Grandfather taught me was how to drive a tractor.

Grandma taught me how to pick peas.
My grandfather taught me to recognize most minerals and stones on sight...and if in doubt call it jasper. He never had any schooling on the topic formally so I have often learned his identifications were based on asking what it was when he bought it, or comparing and guessing...hence jasper was a common theme in his collection...he was a colorful man..if a pretty lady asked him what stone a specific sphere was, he would often tell them sexstone…..if he disliked someone he would tell them spherestone. He was also every bit as cranky as I can be...at a show one time someone kept touching one of his spheres and he asked nicely first, then told the guy the second time..when he continued he then got a tongue lashing lecture the likes I have never seen since.
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Collector Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user
@ gotlift….my grandfather was creative like that. When he bought his house here in town he walked four blocks to the local river, and carried back all the sand he needed for cement as well as limestone blocks, to make himself a basement.

He built himself a case for some of his speheres from a locomotive headlight .

Perhaps his most memorable creation was a rock tumbler he made from an old cement mixer...he could tumble fifty or sixty pounds at a time with it...but....he had never learned that as you tumble rocks they release gas. His mixer tumbler had no venting to release the buildup....so one day it simply exploded, rising almost ten feet in the air and sounding like a bomb blast...it was fortunate no one was hurt, nothing like building a homemade claymore in your back yard. Back in the seventies it brought a police visit, but no charges or huge problem....I shudder to think today
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Collector Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user
ps, sorry to the forum if anyone finds the posting out of place for a comics forum. Sorry in advance to anyone it annoys...I can remove it if needed.
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I'll probably wake up constipated. Pre_Coder private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pre_Coder
The only thing my Grandfather taught me was how to drive a tractor.

Grandma taught me how to pick peas.


Also, when I was 15 years old (about 1 year before my Grandfather passed away), he took me and my dad into a room in his house that was full of vintage stuff (junk) I thought. Until he reached under a counter and pulled out 2 cigar boxes full of silver dollars. Then he pulled out 4 cardboard boxes full of comic books. Action Comics and Detective Comics (Superman and Bat Man) is all I recall seeing. About a year later when he passed, my father and I traveled from Arkansas to Mississippi to bury him. The room he took my father and I into a year earlier was totally cleaned out. Come to find out my uncle took it all. Those were my coins, those were my comics, and my father wouldn't allow me to confront Uncle Thief concerning this.

This probably should have been another thread. LOL
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Moderator Jesse_O private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by Darkseid_of_town
ps, sorry to the forum if anyone finds the posting out of place for a comics forum. Sorry in advance to anyone it annoys...I can remove it if needed.


We allow off topic threads. Not a problem there. I'm actually quite impressed by your collection!!! I have a couple of spheres myself, but nothing as impressive as what you have! And, of course, no dinosaur spheres. That part just kind of blows my mind!! Thanks for sharing!!
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Collector Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jesse_O
Quote:
Originally Posted by Darkseid_of_town
ps, sorry to the forum if anyone finds the posting out of place for a comics forum. Sorry in advance to anyone it annoys...I can remove it if needed.


We allow off topic threads. Not a problem there. I'm actually quite impressed by your collection!!! I have a couple of spheres myself, but nothing as impressive as what you have! And, of course, no dinosaur spheres. That part just kind of blows my mind!! Thanks for sharing!!
Wow okay, thanks jesse. Im as legit as it gets then!Some very kind words there....

can tell you the reason my spheres went into a dinosaur theme mostly...When I was eight years old my grandfather showed me a sphere he made of dinosaur bone. I was already head over heels on dinosaurs and I wanted that sphere so badly...he told me ...we will make you one someday! Now I understand it was far too impressive and expensive of a sphere to just hand a small kid...Each time I would ask ...it was someday...someday...I buried him in 2004 and someday had never come. I kept asking my father to make one and ...same theme...someday, someday ...someday...so I learned myself did it myself and perhaps I am still overcompensating for someday..but I have 35 or so of them that are mine now so maybe grandfather in a sense was right...someday.

Most people have a visual that all dinosaur bones look like chicken legs or big ribs but the majority of dinosaur bone you find is often chunks and pieces, or what we call "float" ...pieces that break off or fall apart and make there way to the surface. They lack any real morphology or identifactional information..other than being dinosaur bone from a given place, and hence a given time period. This is the type of bone I use...it is most often found in the Morrison formation of western United states, in the four corners area and is Jurassic in origin...the volcanic activity in that area during the past has created sedimentary clay areas so filled with minerals and highly enriched silica that as the bone fossilizes and infills it develops a hardness like glass, and brilliant colors and patterns. Must cretaceous bone from the upper midwestern states is dull and not so highly silicate or mineralized.


Those who are familiar with my collection know I have numerous large bones and specimens I have reserved as they are quite identifiable to species or specific bone …..to be clear its mostly float and skiff that I use for my sphereing
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I'll probably wake up constipated. Pre_Coder private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jesse_O
Quote:
Originally Posted by Darkseid_of_town
ps, sorry to the forum if anyone finds the posting out of place for a comics forum. Sorry in advance to anyone it annoys...I can remove it if needed.


We allow off topic threads. Not a problem there. I'm actually quite impressed by your collection!!! I have a couple of spheres myself, but nothing as impressive as what you have! And, of course, no dinosaur spheres. That part just kind of blows my mind!! Thanks for sharing!!


Exactly! I love the OT threads. We all have a common interest in collecting comics, but we also have a life on the outside.
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Collector Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user
My very first post in the forum was a sort of off topic thing I do and a forum reg hammered me pretty hard for it as the first response I was given so I worry now if I share or post anything
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I'll probably wake up constipated. Pre_Coder private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by Darkseid_of_town
My very first post in the forum was a sort of off topic thing I do and a forum reg hammered me pretty hard for it as the first response I was given so I worry now if I share or post anything


I don't think you're all that worried.
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You do know that the new guy brings the donuts, right? DWeeB1967 private msg quote post Address this user
Wow, these are awesome, @Darkseid_of_town. Beautiful! I'm betting that your grandfather would be incredibly proud to know that he had such an impact on you.

Thanks for sharing.
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Collector Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pre_Coder
Quote:
Originally Posted by Darkseid_of_town
My very first post in the forum was a sort of off topic thing I do and a forum reg hammered me pretty hard for it as the first response I was given so I worry now if I share or post anything


I don't think you're all that worried.
I am working my way through it....
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Collector Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user
Something most people might have missed....the flat shape you see seving as a holder for that sphere, is a vertebrae from a Russian Mosaurus , as massive marine reptile...…..
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Thank you sir. May I have another? Siggy private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by Darkseid_of_town
ps, sorry to the forum if anyone finds the posting out of place for a comics forum. Sorry in advance to anyone it annoys...I can remove it if needed.


The only thing that should be removed is a person annoyed by this lol

These are cool! My dad used to polish rocks with a tumbler, but he never tried this.
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If I could, I would. I swear. DrWatson private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by Darkseid_of_town
ps, sorry to the forum if anyone finds the posting out of place for a comics forum. Sorry in advance to anyone it annoys...I can remove it if needed.

If they don't like it, then they can suck it up, buttercup. They only have to click on it once. It's not like they should be concerned about the waste of time... all things considered. Sometimes it's nice to have a pleasant distraction for all things fandom. I think they're great.
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If I could, I would. I swear. DrWatson private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by Darkseid_of_town
My very first post in the forum was a sort of off topic thing I do and a forum reg hammered me pretty hard for it as the first response I was given so I worry now if I share or post anything

Here?
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Thank you sir. May I have another? Siggy private msg quote post Address this user
Double post.
I hate when I hit quote instead of edit
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