Milling and polishing Petrified Wood

[ChrisYaughn]

Anybody got any experience trying this? A buddy in Savannah was brought a chunk and asked to polish to see what it looks like. Any thoughts on getting one side dead flat and ready to polish?

The do not have a milling wheel for the bridge saw. And I wasn't sure how the material would react to stubbing wheel.

And remember, this is the open forum, so no high school jokes just ssayin........

[clhilde]

Chris get it to me and I can mill it

[Nick]

Chris get it to me and I can mill it

Oh yeah? Chris get it to him, bring a camcorder.

[clhilde]

We did a piece for a customer and i thought it would fall apart but it stayed together.we ended up making an outdoor table out of it.It polishes up like quartzite.I would recommend soaking it with penetrating from wood and stone

[Dan R.]

Somehow, the only image I have is a redneck (being egged on by Briggs) saying "how hard can it be, I have this idea, watch this" followed by a a 911 call, an ambulance ride and a semi successful attempt to reattach a severed appendage.

It does make me feel better that Chris has some experience.

[DavidL]

I'm picturing Chris "Team Bubba Boat" from his video using the handheld grinder to cut a slab. What are you gonna do with that wood big boy!

[clhilde]

Well actually it is no longer wood
Petrified wood (from the Greek root petro meaning "rock" or "stone"; literally "wood turned into stone") is the name given to a special type of fossilized remains of terrestrial vegetation. It is the result of a tree having turned completely into stone by the process of permineralization

[Matt Lansing]

Cliff Clavin?

[clhilde]

Nope wikipedia

[clhilde]

this looks like the one we did

[Brian Briggs]

Dan

Just think, when you were a teenager that piece of wood was just a sprout coming from the ground

Chris Y
It will polish nicely and like quartz (just as my fellow Bubba Boater said. Fill it with penetrating before you cut it. We did about q/2 dozen chunks and the first one or two was actually just as Dan described . We blocked it tight on all 4 sides with concrete blocks to hold it secure (and to contain any possible projectiles) and step cut them. My sawyer was worried (he was the only one standing close) on the first one.

[Nick]

Chris, how thick was the piece you cut and what did you cut it with?

Did you polish it, or did you actually mill or remove say 3/32"?

[Nick]

We blocked it tight on all 4 sides with concrete blocks to hold it secure (and to contain any possible projectiles) and step cut them. My sawyer was worried (he was the only one standing close) on the first one.

It takes me about 24 tedious minutes to make one cut in tiger eye 4" thick by about 14" long. It has taken me long to cut petrified wood about a 6" diameter. I have a capable bridgesaw. Lots of clamping etc. as Brian said.

I don't believe anyone on this site is capable of working with petrified wood with any kind of efficiancy.

[Boyd]

Chris' last picture looks like a biopsy of Charlie Sheen's liver.

Before 'winning'.

Boyd, SFA

[topshop]

Cool stuff. I don't think any 2 pieces of petrified wood will polish the same unless they are from the same tree at the same place. The wood has actually been replaced by leached in minerals which would be different in each location it happens. Any piece would be purely an experiment.

[politefab]

I have done 2 pieces. I was scared to death on the first one because i did not know what i was getting into i just put it on the Yukon shimmed it up so it was some what level and milled about 1/4" at a time until the one surface was flat i than surface polished it. the second time was for the same guy and I was way less nervous so it went faster.

[ChrisYaughn]

Thanks guys. Chris, I may take you up on that. We might have some other things to talk about also.

[clhilde]

Chris, how thick was the piece you cut and what did you cut it with?

Did you polish it, or did you actually mill or remove say 3/32"?

It was about 6" thick and 18-20"wide and did as said by blocking it in

[Nick]

The problem is you can o9nly make about 2-4 cuts like that before your blade is straight iced over, even at 1/8" steps.

[clhilde]

Yeah but i dont see a problem milling it with a 1.25 milling blade. If it did glaze just have a piece of es close by

[Nick]

. I can't even talk about this. All I can say is that had I need been through it myself, I would have never expected in a million years what I came across. It is sooo much different than how our minds work with stone and diamonds it is like a bad joke. The difference in hardness between slabbed quartzite, and actual quartz rocks is beyond the difference in slabbed quartzite and the softest material you have ever worked with. When you get that high on the hardness scale, the hardness from one level to another is on a crazy exponential level, as I am sure a 6" X 12" diamond if one existed would be impossible for a fabricator to cut. It is not that these materials are impossible to cut, but the speed at which they are "properly" cut is mind numbing to a fabricator that cuts at 20ft./min on their 20HP bridgesaw. You don't cut quartz/petrified wood, you sand blades through it.

[BellaRocha]

waterjet would cut it, would take a while and you'd be left with stratations though

[Nick]

6" thick? Negatory.

[Joe Durfee]

Technically he is right Nick. The waterjet has cutting power down into the tank about 10-12" or so. When I was at GLGM we cut 4" thick stuff occasionally, so 6" isn't out of the realm of possibility.

Is it feasible? Not really, the 4" cut looked like crap.

[Nick]

Joe, a WJ can cut metal 7" away from what it is cutting?? I was under the impression that the nozzle is close to the surface because it is powerful for the first ____ inches, like a pressure washer if you will removing crap from concrete, not very effictave from 14" but pretty effective from 3".

I am not intending to be combative on this, but I have a lot of experience with this and maybe my mind is confusing "can" and "efficient" , but "Can" is even suspect I think for a WJ regarding certain stones considering the jet has to cut down through 6" while the nozzile is safely above the rock itself. You would also be talking about 1" pm in which case the water is "sanding" away the mineral as oppossed to actually cutting it (which I guess WJing is anyway) but a diamond blade can do the same at the same speed, which makes the WJ inefficient.