honeybern Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 30x at surface 30x subsurface 30x bubble pop 400x surface detail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honeybern Posted September 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 another couple of shots at 30x and 400x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck G Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 Hi Honeybern, i have not got my electron micro scope set up quite yet either and as soon as i do maybe we can compare notes as we see the marbles much closer. My goal is to evaluate the glass itself much closer in many factors. Chuck G-- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ric Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 Honeybern, You may never see a mint marble again . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck G Posted September 20, 2011 Report Share Posted September 20, 2011 Ric, i would deffinitly say you are right on never finding a mint marble but a total glass analysis is what i am after. That means from the vintage to the new, to the remelts, the polishing the buffing and hopefully comparing the old glass formulas to the new. I have already viewed some marbles with my cousins scope and for instance you can really defferienate what patina is and what it is. I have no thoughts of using it for evaluating the condition, just the analitical part of the glass. Cant wait to share my findings!! Chuck G-- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99marbles131 Posted September 20, 2011 Report Share Posted September 20, 2011 i'm really excited to learn about this... keep us in the loop... or should i say loupe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honeybern Posted September 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2011 Hi Honeybern, i have not got my electron micro scope set up quite yet either and as soon as i do maybe we can compare notes as we see the marbles much closer. My goal is to evaluate the glass itself much closer in many factors. Chuck G-- I'm working on putting together a 3 day virtual excursion into an as made bubble pop on a Vitro Cosmic Galaxy. Have room for 6 more, want to sign up? In the meantime, this is the beast it's plug and play and user friendly and you can do whatever after about 5 minutes from opening the box. Let's say you have this mib: and you say to someone, "Hey, check out my new red and blue oxblood limeade glowy mib!" But the response you get is, "Alls I see is red oxblood, there ain't no blue in it." Well, you can show them this 35x mag shot of the oxblood and say, "There, you see?! Red and blue!" But they still say, "I still don't see no blue... how much you pay for this, you get gypped or what?" KAZAAAM!!! 400 x mag! "Ha! Kiss my grits you no-blue-oxblood-sein'-mutha-so-n-so! Now what?!?!" Veho USB Microscope. About $60 through Amazon and others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ric Posted September 22, 2011 Report Share Posted September 22, 2011 This is cool for study and all, but I would never pay a premium for a marble with an extra color that requires 400X magnification to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honeybern Posted September 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2011 Honeybern, You may never see a mint marble again . . . Tellmeabout it. I was checkin out one of my best mibs - paid over two hunnert dolla fer it - dang near mint golden reb shooter w/aventurine n everything then got a hot hair to check it out under my new microscope like an idjit ...... O the humanity! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honeybern Posted September 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2011 This is cool for study and all, but I would never pay a premium for a marble with an extra color that requires 400X magnification to see. Exactly! And I would never break out a microscope just to enhance some color-challenged lame's viewing pleasure of one of my mibs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ric Posted September 22, 2011 Report Share Posted September 22, 2011 I've looked at marbles under real optical microscopes before too and it really can be a little scary. Basically, I decided I didn't care for it . . . too depressing. But it's an old-time marble collector who told me, for collecting purposes, "if you can't see it with your own vision, it may as well not be there", and I agree. Psssstt . . . Hey, check out this marble . . . it's awesome . . . just let me get the AFM tuned in. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sissydear Posted September 22, 2011 Report Share Posted September 22, 2011 I get amused at the people who check every marble with their huge magnifying devices. I have always subscribed to the idea that if I can';t see it with the naked eye or feel it with my fingers, it isn't there. Nobody looks at my displayed marbles with magnifiers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honeybern Posted September 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2011 ...Nobody looks at my displayed marbles with magnifiers!!! What do ya do to them if they try? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sissydear Posted September 22, 2011 Report Share Posted September 22, 2011 People who come to my home never try. They don't know enough about marbles to worry about magnifyers. I don't take them to marble shows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honeybern Posted September 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 People who come to my home never try. They don't know enough about marbles to worry about magnifyers. I don't take them to marble shows. Oh, displays in your home.......Whew! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leroy65 Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 I'm amazed that this topic is being discussed and I love every minute of it. Lately I have reconditioned 175 (my own) marbles that looked fantastic to the naked eye and than I brought out my 20 power magnifier that I used when I was working scouting corn, soybean and milo fields. I won't go into the tiny, tiny eggs, and etc of insects and diseases that I was looking for, but believe me the 20 power magnifier is pretty revealing. Of the 175 marbles that I had finished over 100 of them are now going back through the pre-polish and final stage as I could see some streaking. I will never send another reconditioned marble out of here without first using that 20 power on it. Without a doubt if a person uses a more powerful magnifier they will be able to see that the marble has been reconditioned in some cases. Up until I got my 20 power out I had been using a 10 power. What I have posted here is my opinion and mine alone. ----Leroy---- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterMarbles Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 Leroy, a polishing question....How fine of a grit would recommend to pre-polish at, so no streaks or fine scratches are visible at 20 power magnification? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leroy65 Posted September 24, 2011 Report Share Posted September 24, 2011 At the present time I am using a 600 grit to pre-polish and Monday I will take a look at what the 1200 grit (this I used all the time until it became hard to get) will do. Right now I have about 100 marbles that all measure from 15/16" to 1 1/4 " that I have refinished and I can't see anything on the marbles surface using my 20 power. The main problem is micro bubbles that surface during the pre-polish stage and the broken glass gets dragged across the marbles surface leaving a streak (ditch) behind it. This is what I call streaking and it can be a very bad problem with some marbles. ----Leroy---- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterMarbles Posted September 24, 2011 Report Share Posted September 24, 2011 Thanks for the insight Leroy. A 1200 pre-polish sounds like a good idea, I have been using 800 for the pre-polish but was thinking of going finer. I don't see any surface scratches at 15 power, but im sure they can be seen at 20. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honeybern Posted September 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2011 At the present time I am using a 600 grit to pre-polish and Monday I will take a look at what the 1200 grit... Thanks for the insight Leroy. A 1200 pre-polish sounds like a good idea, I have been using 800 for the pre-polish but was thinking of going finer. I don't see any surface scratches at 15 power, but im sure they can be seen at 20. Are you guys talking diamond pads or compounds with multi-head machines? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honeybern Posted September 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2011 ...But it's an old-time marble collector who told me, for collecting purposes, "if you can't see it with your own vision, it may as well not be there", and I agree... I think that works right up until the time when you're selling a marble to another collector and that collector pulls out the 20x or 30x loupe. At that time I might have liked to have seen what he's seeing, first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterMarbles Posted September 25, 2011 Report Share Posted September 25, 2011 I use a tri-head with diamond pad inserts, if i sell it, its always listed as polished. Its such a nice feeling to bring an old dead marble back to life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honeybern Posted October 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2011 I use a tri-head with diamond pad inserts, if i sell it, its always listed as polished. Its such a nice feeling to bring an old dead marble back to life. Cool, did you build it? Diamond pads seem more sensible than the plans for the one with just wooden dowels doing the polishing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterMarbles Posted October 5, 2011 Report Share Posted October 5, 2011 I purchased it, it uses diamond pads except for the final stage which uses wood cups with cerium oxide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honeybern Posted October 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2011 I purchased it, it uses diamond pads except for the final stage which uses wood cups with cerium oxide. Cerium Oxide, rules! I got a 1 lb jar of it from a shower door place and use it as a slurry for light polishing on mibs with my Dremel and the thick, small dia polish pads well soaked in water so the CerOx doesn't dry out so quick. I use it for > 2 mins on NM+ or better mibs to counteract light pocket wear - doubles wetness on some mibs in 30 secs or so at just < 20k rpm. Way better than turtle wax or Renaissance Wax. Great on knives, too! But I wouldnt try polishing a knife on a tri-head...and, for anyone trying this at home, a deep mixing bowl a MUST with a Dremel or similar rotary tool with the CerOX at the bottom and a little water...unless you want you and everything around you coated in a CerOx wash. :music-rocker-001: Though its way more punk rock w/o the bowl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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