I'm considering making a gift of a piece of petrified wood to be used as a marker for a good friends gravesite, complete w/copy as to whom it's for and who gave of it and when...
My question is this: as petrified wood is so extremely hard, has anyone ever sandblasted one as a moneument? Can it be done or is it just to hard and dense?
If so, I'm thinking to use rubber blast mask for copy, any negative thoughts along those lines? I'm checking all angles here folks, thanks in advance for any help forthcoming...
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
Frank, I don't see why it couldn't work.
Petrification is just a process where an item becomes stone through exposure to minerals over time and stone can be blasted OK. I can't imagine petrified wood being much different.
Posted by Wayne Webb (Member # 1124) on :
Frank, I don't see why it wouldn't work. Like Mike says, it's just stone. You might not get the grain effect unless the stone growth rings alternate hard/soft like normal wood does. But, if it's smooth enough to put the mask on, it can't be much harder than granite.
Show us pics when you get it done
Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
We blast Granite all the time. Not much is harder than that. For polished stone, we use Anchor #117 (light tack). For rougher surfaces, we use #116 (heavy tack).
Posted by Frank Magoo (Member # 3950) on :
Cool, I was worried that it might not be do able, that's a load off my mind, thanks guys. I'll be sure to post some pics, my friend is the late Ed Roth and last year at tribute a couple of us during a private moment graveside came up w/idea of leaving it for others to rub/pat for luck when they visit the man's resting place. It should make for a nice reminder of how Ed led his life, solid as a rock in his beliefs and steadfast in his convictions....thanks again so very much as you now know how much it means to me to be able to do this...sorta theraputic this year, got alot to get off mind and this gift to my friend will help put the world right again, at least for me as compassioninate feelings are in short supply this year........thanks again... Posted by Dale Feicke (Member # 767) on :
Frank, You have to use petrified sand. And please give the stone a healthy rub for me. Big Daddy was a hero of mine for a long time. I even saved up my grass cutting money to buy one of his famous hand airbrushed 'wierdo shirts' way back around '60. I used to love all the far-out cars he built...way ahead of his time. God Bless him.
Posted by Roy Frisby (Member # 736) on :
Just be careful of the petrefied knot-holes! Posted by Ricky Jackson (Member # 5082) on :
Petrified wood is mostly quartz and that has a hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale; granite is 7-8. It should do just fine. That sounds like it's going to be a beautiful marker Frank.
Posted by Frank Magoo (Member # 3950) on :
OK Dale, just got back from sandstore and 50lbs. of petrified sand looks strangely like a ROCK!!! The knots will probably be tied too!!! damn...
Thanks, as I have one piece I'm cutting on, I've decided to enlarge project, instead of one stone for gravesite that might create more movement there than wished and fact this piece is 26" in height and about 12" diameter. I'm going to cut it on a diagonal and create two pieces...one for gravesite and one for entrance to his museum they have built in town. Think it would be cool there for those like Dale sometime to get to visit and actually pat or rub this stone...an extension of idea truely created here from responses so far got me thinkn' that I'm not only one w/huge respect for the man and what a shame to make it an "inside" thing only...Ilene will always welcome those wishing to see museum; w/rock there to rub will allow others right of passage w/o treading on sacred ground to get the chance. His museum is offically opening this year from what I hear, unbelievable is all that I can think of to describe contents...which I've contributed to in many different forms, along w/many other men/gals of the brush, place takes hours to absorb, nothing short of spectacular, a must see if anywhere closely interested in Ed or the RatFink and movement behind/forward of it...
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