pebblesky
fully equipped rock polisher
Purchased another UV mini bowl for tumbling
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,509
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Post by pebblesky on Jan 28, 2024 20:53:49 GMT -5
These are from the third source, an etsy store as "Mexican Crazy Lace Agate Rough ... Old Stock". The following are two most interesting pieces from the many tumbled pieces from that store. I don't know, but they look more like a neighbor of Mexican Crazy Lace that I forget the name. These go through step 1 pretty quickly and are relatively less fractured than the rockshed pieces, but in general I would prefer the patterns of the rockshed pieces.
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pebblesky
fully equipped rock polisher
Purchased another UV mini bowl for tumbling
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,509
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Post by pebblesky on Jan 28, 2024 21:01:03 GMT -5
That second Botswana is kind of trippy, I really like it.
Enjoying your progress and variety of material.
You are right about the Berber, I'm using them the same way. Similar to what Brent does with his Lakers. just use showy filler instead of ceramics.
Thanks! With the mini UV bowl, I managed to get some of the Lake Michigan beach rocks I got from you more shine, although not as glossy as the agates. The UV mini bowl is really a game changer in polishing efficiency.
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Post by jasoninsd on Jan 28, 2024 21:07:24 GMT -5
Very distinct differences in those three different Crazy Lace sources. I like each one of those!!
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Post by velodromed on Jan 29, 2024 12:19:15 GMT -5
Some less exciting tumbles, most are Gold Coin Eye Agate from Gobi Desert, Inner Mongolia. The two pieces whose dominant colors are not yellow and dark brown are Gobi Eye Agates from Mongolia. [ Nice!! I’ve had my eye on getting some Gobis, I find them extremely intriguing. You’ve done an amazing job with all these rocks here recently, and I absolutely love your pictures.
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pebblesky
fully equipped rock polisher
Purchased another UV mini bowl for tumbling
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,509
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Post by pebblesky on Jan 29, 2024 13:13:28 GMT -5
Some less exciting tumbles, most are Gold Coin Eye Agate from Gobi Desert, Inner Mongolia. The two pieces whose dominant colors are not yellow and dark brown are Gobi Eye Agates from Mongolia. [ Nice!! I’ve had my eye on getting some Gobis, I find them extremely intriguing. You’ve done an amazing job with all these rocks here recently, and I absolutely love your pictures. Thanks! Most Gobi Agates are much more valuable in their raw form. For the Golden Coin Agate batch I picked a few ones I have seen eyes but the surfaces are too dirty to look nice, for experiment. Going forward I only tumble these Gobi Agates who look absolutely miserable in their original form. From my Rebel 17 washout yesterday, it seems I have no luck so far. Too discouraging to take pictures but maybe I should just to entertain myself. Trash in trash out. I will give them one or two more weeks in stage 1 to improve. The roughs themselves were worth nothing but the international shipping was steep, and I got a lot of these. I feel like a fool On the bright side, I have a personal collection of some Gobi Eye Agates that I will absolutely not polish. They are the most expensive rocks I ever acquired, but there is no guess work on how they could become. Here are some of them:
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chris1956
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2022
Posts: 1,320
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Post by chris1956 on Jan 29, 2024 13:18:23 GMT -5
Wow! Those are spectacular!
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pebblesky
fully equipped rock polisher
Purchased another UV mini bowl for tumbling
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,509
|
Post by pebblesky on Feb 3, 2024 17:03:19 GMT -5
I wasn't too fond of this rock (Sumatra Island banded agate) until it was polished. I see cherry blossom, even with pistil.
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roughingon
off to a rocking start
Member since January 2024
Posts: 13
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Post by roughingon on Feb 3, 2024 23:04:01 GMT -5
I wasn't too fond of this rock (Sumatra Island banded agate) until it was polished. I see cherry blossom, even with pistil. That is nothing but spectacular
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adam5
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2023
Posts: 146
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Post by adam5 on Feb 6, 2024 0:32:08 GMT -5
That one looks awesome!
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whyofquartz
spending too much on rocks
So, Africa is smaller than I expected...
Member since December 2019
Posts: 317
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Post by whyofquartz on Feb 6, 2024 8:29:57 GMT -5
For my first batch, I did not use ceramic media and did not put enough smaller rocks into the barrel. I wonder how much that contributed to the bruises on my tumbled rocks or it is just normal and I would need more time at step 1. Anyway for the re-tumbling batch, I put some smaller rocks as well as various sizes of ceramic pellets in, hoping to get smoother results. It's okay not to use media in the coarse stage that way the sharp edges get smoothed out quicker. However, media does help carry the grit to more surface area of the rocks. I normally do not include media in the coarse stage. A good mix of rock sizes works best. I would keep them in step 1 longer, you'll be glad you did. hey folks, I know this post is old and I have been a way a few years but I just wanted to drop by and say "hola" and recommend that instead of media in your stage 1 you could try hardware store gravel. Just regular old playground gravel, 30lbs is about $6 and( in my area of Texas at least) is 90% high MOHs stuff of fairly uniform size. It acts like buffer media in that it moves grit around but it is cheaper(I think) and comes with a prize inside.
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hplcman
spending too much on rocks
Just getting into this....
Member since August 2022
Posts: 417
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Post by hplcman on Feb 6, 2024 8:43:59 GMT -5
It's okay not to use media in the coarse stage that way the sharp edges get smoothed out quicker. However, media does help carry the grit to more surface area of the rocks. I normally do not include media in the coarse stage. A good mix of rock sizes works best. I would keep them in step 1 longer, you'll be glad you did. hey folks, I know this post is old and I have been a way a few years but I just wanted to drop by and say "hola" and recommend that instead of media in your stage 1 you could try hardware store gravel. Just regular old playground gravel, 30lbs is about $6 and( in my area of Texas at least) is 90% high MOHs stuff of fairly uniform size. It acts like buffer media in that it moves grit around but it is cheaper(I think) and comes with a prize inside. I usually bring a gallon ziplock bag with me to the beach and fill it up with gravel. It’s usually pretty hard rock, is rounded already so it helps with movement in the barrel, and they polish up beautifully so I can fill up jars and bowls around the house with it when it’s done.
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pebblesky
fully equipped rock polisher
Purchased another UV mini bowl for tumbling
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,509
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Post by pebblesky on Feb 6, 2024 11:56:26 GMT -5
It's okay not to use media in the coarse stage that way the sharp edges get smoothed out quicker. However, media does help carry the grit to more surface area of the rocks. I normally do not include media in the coarse stage. A good mix of rock sizes works best. I would keep them in step 1 longer, you'll be glad you did. hey folks, I know this post is old and I have been a way a few years but I just wanted to drop by and say "hola" and recommend that instead of media in your stage 1 you could try hardware store gravel. Just regular old playground gravel, 30lbs is about $6 and( in my area of Texas at least) is 90% high MOHs stuff of fairly uniform size. It acts like buffer media in that it moves grit around but it is cheaper(I think) and comes with a prize inside. Yes these gravels are cheap (or free, if your neighbor just abandon them on the road), and look good when tumbled.
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pebblesky
fully equipped rock polisher
Purchased another UV mini bowl for tumbling
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,509
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Post by pebblesky on Feb 23, 2024 20:08:48 GMT -5
Small but cute: When the mosses are properly encapsulated in the clear chalcedony and don't result in any undercut they are admirable.
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adam5
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2023
Posts: 146
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Post by adam5 on Feb 23, 2024 20:30:06 GMT -5
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pebblesky
fully equipped rock polisher
Purchased another UV mini bowl for tumbling
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,509
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Post by pebblesky on Feb 26, 2024 13:19:10 GMT -5
Have been tumbling rocks for over a year, and still feel surreal that I could produce beautiful tumbles like this: All the credit should give to this Swazi Agate though. Tumble or not, it is a beauty. Why did I not discover rock tumbling ten years ago? But back then it would be hard to store and operate on all the equipments when we lived in an apartment.
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hplcman
spending too much on rocks
Just getting into this....
Member since August 2022
Posts: 417
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Post by hplcman on Feb 26, 2024 15:46:02 GMT -5
Have been tumbling rocks for over a year, and still feel surreal that I could produce beautiful tumbles like this: All the credit should give to this Swazi Agate though. Tumble or not, it is a beauty. Why did I not discover rock tumbling ten years ago? But back then it would be hard to store and operate on all the equipments when we lived in an apartment. That Swazi is stunning! And I feel the same way! I have had a lot of hobbies over the years (model airplane building, large format photography, brewing beer, backpacking and hiking...) but none of those has hit quite as hard as tumbling rocks. I only got into it a couple years ago, and I wish I had discovered it sooner.... I'm going to be 52 this year and I wish I had been doing this hobby for the last 20 years or so...
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pebblesky
fully equipped rock polisher
Purchased another UV mini bowl for tumbling
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,509
|
Post by pebblesky on Feb 26, 2024 15:59:16 GMT -5
It's never too late for us, hopefully still 50 more years to go
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chris1956
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2022
Posts: 1,320
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Post by chris1956 on Feb 26, 2024 16:00:04 GMT -5
That Swazi Agate is absolutely beautiful!
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pebblesky
fully equipped rock polisher
Purchased another UV mini bowl for tumbling
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,509
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Post by pebblesky on Mar 11, 2024 11:36:35 GMT -5
This week's stage 1 progress: There are some new materials that I haven't tumbled before, such as a blue lace agate (thanks choochoorocks ), and one piece of Ruyuan colour stone (epimetamorphic Quartz siltstone with 90% quartz, minor mica and very few hematite and chlorite, and the Mohs scale could vary from 4 to 7 according to the paper) from Shaoguan, Guangdong Province of China. These are how some of them look before tumbling. I just feel some pieces more not survive tumbling and could break apart along the fractures, so I picked the one on the right-top corner for tumble and it did round up well in stage 1, although undercut on one of the black lines. Next I will see if how it will polish. I plan to only polish it with my sandstones, wonderstones, Rockshed picture stones that do not have a shiny polish. This waterline agate's back turned out quite unexpectedly "busy". I am afraid another week of tumbling in stage 1 will overdo it but we will see. I've been tumbling this agate for a while (months), trying to get rid of a small but deep dent, and the "Turtleback" effect (do I use the correct term?) started to show up more and more clearly. It finally is ready for stage 2. Examining, sorting and recharging a 12lb every week seems to be a lot of work. I am slowly getting more efficient by not checking TOO closely on the small fillers. I also run the cabber once every two weeks to shape the rocks to my taste and/or get rid of the dents and fractures that will take long to tumble out. I enjoy working on the cabber, and the 80 grit Silicon Carbide becomes noticeably smaller. At a point of time I will need to replace it with the diamond wheel, but the replacement itself seems to be a big project that I procrastinated on.
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hplcman
spending too much on rocks
Just getting into this....
Member since August 2022
Posts: 417
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Post by hplcman on Mar 11, 2024 11:48:10 GMT -5
As always that's a beautify looking batch. I love the variety! I have some blue lace as well (some that I bought a while ago and some from an exchange with dillonf). I have been concerned about tumbling it but seeing yours I'm excited to chuck it into the barrel during the next cleanout. Did that blue lace lose a lot of mass during the tumble, do you think?
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