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It was also much easier to use the tumbler than the spherer--there are no adjustments necessary. The downside: 1 week vs. 4 hours. There's 61 GraniteGuy videos, 58 of them have no words, one has 1 word (How Not To Set A Granite Post), one has 4 words (What Was That About?), and one has an excerpt of an auction (Maker's Challenge #5).

Glad you like the new bowl, Awik gave me this one for rock play. Next video is going to go backwards: I'm going to make plain ol' rocks out of polished spheres. Then I'll put the rocks back into the wild. I'll use my WAS (backwards saw) which puts stone back onto the rock until it's like it WAS.

The quartz makes the feldspar translucent, so the pretty banding becomes 3-dimenisonal. I think the spheres really bring it out. The rare element everyone seeks at Ruggles is beryllium, crystallized out of the hot water to become gems. And it is the decay of uranium that makes smoky quartz dark (and made us bring a Geiger counter on our trip).

This stone is the largest chunk of unfractured quartz I've ever found. Found in a river, any fractures would have long been broken by tumbling--usually quartz pebbles in this river are pretty small.

Thanks. We missed you at Friday's meeting. I brought in my collection of homemade spheres, showing them off!

The spheres sound good in that bowl. I put the mixing bowl in a pot to suspend the bottom, so it rings like a bell.

A small tile saw makes a rough shape. Then a dremel with the stone underwater (in a little bin). Finish by hand with wet sandpaper. Cheapest stone carving setup ever.

The light reveals a lot of details that go unseen under normal lighting.

🎯The rocks are common, but the spheres are not!🥇

No talk, and no sponsors, and no like/comment/subscribe asks, and no logos, and no titles or credits. I try to include only stuff that makes the videos better: 100% pure video.

The best rockhounding places are the ones you find yourself. Good luck with the polishing!

Yes! And as high contrast as it comes.

Thanks. Everyone loves that Lancaster epidote.

My goal is to produce just a few spheres each month for fun. To do that this saw is all I need. This little tile saw does 2 things even the finest lapidary saw does not: 1) Cost little, and 2) Constrain the rocks that I can consider and collect to those where one dimension is approximately 2 inches. This eliminates 99% of rocks and so makes search easier, more productive, and less likely to lead to hoarding.

When it comes to my spheres: "Numquam Venduntur, Semper Dantur."

Beauty from common materials is the reason to carve. Your wooden animals are also emergent art.

Remember: "Read my lips: Time to party!"

@@GraniteGuy lmfao

Never knew about it until now. Another rockhounding adventure awaits!

Thanks. It's fun to make toys.

Good to be back in New Hampshire. I sure missed Awik's waffles and french toast.

The fractures weren't throughout the entire rock, just through some of the minerals. So those spheres were strong enough to bash together in the bowl.

😀🐇🧵 !!

The green epidote is from AB Excavating in Lancaster, NH. The Gem & Mineral Society is no longer invited there, so these specimens are limited and soon to be rare.

@@GraniteGuy well that sucks. You do nice work on those spheres.

Can't rockhound AB, instead rockhound the places that AB supplies. I know some ditches rebuilt after the July flooding that are now chock full of AB material, perfectly sized for sphering.

Mt. Eustis is in Littleton, but the Mt. Eustis Road goes all the way into Lisbon. The Mt. Eustis Quarry is right on the Littleton town line, a good 7 miles northeast of downtown Lisbon.

@@GraniteGuy Yeah, right there by Streeter Pond isn't it?

Yes. Streeter is on the Gale in Franconia, the quarry is on the Ammonoosuc in Littleton. But both are along the same town line on Lisbon's northeast edge.

I'll make a sphere or two from that Kentucky banded flint you sent me. (You can see it jamming Dennis's saw at 00:16.) That sphere will be its own video, since the stone is so pretty.

Nice Andrew. Those are sweet. Really love the second one. Your fellow Kentucky man is jealous. Lol

The squished, striated form suggests a metamorphic stone. And the high polish is a clue that even the schist has become silicated, another feature of gneiss. Good catch!

Thanks. I didn't even realize you could see my handsome face in this video! 😀 What animals are you carving today?

@@GraniteGuyLOL, wrapped up a six foot bear today

Absolutely correct. This is metamorphic granitic gneiss. Thanks to @stephenfassi223 for the id.

I'm not going to be at the September meeting of the PGMS; I'm currently in Florida working on my stand-up comedy (catch me at 3 Bridges Brewery). I will be back for the October meeting.

@GraniteGuy I'm not familiar with the PGMS, not associated with them.

The Presidential Gem & Mineral Society meets at 6:30 on the second Friday of every month at St. Paul's Episcopal in Lancaster. If you like rocks, come on by.

Yeah, this was a beautiful piece. I call it Mauve Granite. Made one for the Society member, and a smaller one to keep.

I told her I'd give her the sphere in exchange for the video of her rolling it in the bowl. She obviously was pretty confused about why I'd want that, but it's all in the name of art.

@@GraniteGuy who is this Art guy?

TH-cam is a great place for rockhounding videos. Any place on earth you want to go, youtube's got videos from there. Of course, if you want NO TALK rockhounding, you'll want to subscribe to @GraniteGuy.

Thanks. I like your animal carvings, very impressive! Your neck of the woods does have some interesting rock specimens. Loved the pendant you carved for your mom (#19), nice winter waterfalls too.

@@GraniteGuy 😊 thanks

Remember I am limited to rocks about fist-sized, bigger won't fit in my saw, smaller won't make a 40mm sphere. Of the 3 rocks I kept, the first was just black inside, the second was half mud. Both were rejected. The last one was common porphyry found in great abundance here. Common and opaque are not usually the stuff of gems, but look how beautiful it is! ✨

Beryl Mountain in Acworth is public and if you can climb a steep (but short) trail, you'll come to the diggings throughout the woods. I go to the top (at the base of the cliffs) to look for rocks that are just recently out of the seams. Since they haven't tumbled down the hill or down a river, many are fracture-free, important for sphering. The largest beryls I've seen there are about matchbox-sized.

@@GraniteGuyyeah i dont want quartz or any of that stuff i want sapphire and emerld and stuff Semi precious gems and big garnets But i was told you need metamorphic rock like mica schist and stuff I was looking to go south west nh Im still undecided, my fiance and i are going this weekend for the first time Usually we go gold panning and search for gems and gold

Thanks, man.

Thank you. Like most creators, I feel the latest videos are the best.

Feldspar and quartz are common, and especially common in New Hampshire. It is easy to overlook because of its ubiquity; making spheres forces a new appreciation.

Cutting 'backwards' also means any caught rocks get thrown away from you. However, it still makes a huge mess; I cut outside and let the spray shoot into the woods. Inside, this would be a disaster. When it comes to my spheres, "Numquam Venduntur, Semper Dantir" so you'll just have to do something nice and then hope I notice.

@@GraniteGuy Can't think of anything nice I could do. I could put it up for sale at a reasonable price on my shop. It's been viewed 1,000,000 times over 5 years... Of course praising your fine craftsmanship and eye for nice rocks.

"Numquam venduntur" means "(they are) Never sold" so a shop is no place for one of my spheres. Semper dantir, always given. 🈚

Yes, the sphere forces a new perspective on the plain ol' rocks we walk over every day. Nature is endlessly fascinating when viewed carefully. Glad you are enjoying the spheres--you know I love my subscribers!

I've been called a lot of things, but never nimble! Thanks.

The flint was cut and to be delivered at last night's PGMS meeting, but it was forgotten at home. I will send out your sphere (our finest granite) this week. Why not try your hand at those rocks yourself? I was hoping to inspire.

@@GraniteGuy I would but my saw is too small unfortunately.

You oughta know! Don't you have more than one of my spheres yourself?

@@GraniteGuy I sure do 🤩

I agree. If only I knew enough to provide that info, I surely would. It's New Hampshire, so a good guess is always "some kind of granite."

@@GraniteGuy I'm a plant guy, I know pretty much all the plants from Kentucky to Maine. I don't know a lot about geology. I know more about it where I grew up than here in NH. I took a deep dive into geology last night, and it is not simple. Basically, the three most common groups of rocks in NH are schist, granite, and gneiss. These rocks can then be further divided seemingly indefinitely into different types of rocks. They're defined by their mineral components, some common ones being quartz, various types of feldspar, plagioclase, mica, and biotite.

Remember, when it comes to my spheres, "Numquam venduntur, semper dantur."

Everyone loves spheretown! Spheretown always welcomes another citizen. Glad you're enjoying them.

Every rockhound has a barrel, a box, a bin, and a bucket full of rocks!

The tile saw, with its small bite, limits the size of the final piece, but does not limit the shapes you can make. I like spheres because I can play with them. The disc is for tiny curling perhaps, or maybe checkers?

That tough Kentucky flint smoked the first saw we tried (much to the chagrin of the saw owner's wife). A second saw needs to be called in.