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Post by puppie96 on Sept 3, 2004 20:36:55 GMT -5
Hi -- maybe one of you experienced folks can help out with this. I've been tumbling mixed batches of rocks I picked up in the west in several locations. I'm keeping them sorted out by location and not worrying much about hardness; they seem to be relatively the same, some agate, I think I hope and jasper and quartzy type rocks. I ran a batch through to final polish using the vibe, and at the end, the polish was the proverbial mirror finish, BUT a bunch of the rocks had tiny white spots all over them, to a greater or lesser degree, and of course, these were pores. I've had this happen before, but it seems worse with these. Many of the rocks had this to a greater or lesser degree. What is driving me crazy was that I decided this was probably my own fault and punished myself by taking them ALL THE WAY BACK to stage 1 -- took my time all the way through -- again, they polished but with the pores. What's more, this only appeared after they were dry -- they looked great after prepolish. It almost seemed as if they got worse going along. Also, many of these rocks seem to repeatedly get small fractures on the surface. They always look grindable, so I try that, but more keep forming. These ones with the pores, do you know whether the pores go all the way through, or do you eventually get down to solid rock? THANKS!
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Post by cookie3rocks on Sept 3, 2004 21:30:23 GMT -5
Puppies, You did exactly what I would have done, back up to coarse believing they hadn't stayed there long enough. Since you found all of these, maybe it's just a matter of quality and unseen flaws. The only suggestion I would have is to try the rotary tumble. Don't know if it would make a difference, but maybe tumbling slower and longer would help. Of course, you taught me everything I know about vibes, so take it with a grain of salt
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Banjocreek
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since March 2003
Posts: 1,115
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Post by Banjocreek on Sept 4, 2004 0:54:55 GMT -5
Some stones are just porous. It would be like trying to get the pores out of a sponge. You could run them in 60/90 till they were gone. Sounds like they are getting over worked and banging into each other rather violently to cause those fractures. How did the prepolished batch look dry? How long are you washing them after polish? What are you using to do that final clean-up?
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Post by connrock on Sept 4, 2004 6:31:08 GMT -5
The porousity you're seeing can and will cause you all sorts of problems.
Unless you REALLY like the rocks,,,,,,,Don't go through the bother.
The pores start filling up right in the rough stage and continue right through the polish and burnishing stages.The reason they look good to you is that they are wet and this gives you a false impression of whats really going on.
Throw them in your garden,,,,,Get some "good" rough"!!
Tom
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Post by puppie96 on Sept 4, 2004 23:13:59 GMT -5
Thank you all. I have to digest all this...wow. I'll try to respond to your comments:
Connrock, I'm beginning to think this, too. Unfortunately these are often quartzy colored all different ways water rounded so that you think they will do great. I've improved some in the past by regrinding, but this batch is really frustrating.
Banjo, don't know that I looked all that closely at the prepolished stones dry, if at all. They looked fine wet.
The fractures, I don't know, they aren't showing up only in the final stages, they seem to start early but then refuse to grind out, or new ones form.
Cookie, yup, I had the same idea about rolling them and I have done that too, though not very systematically. I'm just moving stuff around all the time. Recently I've been going back to the barrel for irregularly shaped surfaces that just really seem to need more rounding and smoothing. Then I have a hard time being patient with the barrels.
I've got a neighbor that just bought a tumbler, she already had gotten addicted from watching me wash the rocks.
I wash them thoroughly under the hose and hand rub off any polish that sticks, then this time I washed it in a combo of borax and Ivory dish soap for a couple of hours.
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Post by cookie3rocks on Sept 4, 2004 23:28:04 GMT -5
Hey Puppies, If polish sticks, you got a problem. If the rest of the stone is wet shiney, at that point, take it or leave it. Personaly, I would take it. You did a great job with what you found, not paid for, and you can't get much better than that ;D
cookie
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Post by puppie96 on Sept 6, 2004 0:25:45 GMT -5
Cookie, I've always got some polish sticking at the end, even in the barrels it sticks in places on the stones. So to get any residue off after the rinsing I put them back in a soap/borax wash of some sort, like everybody else talks about doing. Doesn't everybody's polish stick?
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