James
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 876
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Post by James on Oct 14, 2003 2:48:08 GMT -5
I was just wondering if any of you, from your personal experience, have found any significant difference between aluminum oxide and tin oxide? I'm planning on doing a batch of really nice Queensland Agate and I don't want to risk using cheap polish. Unless of course there is no real difference.
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Post by docone31 on Oct 14, 2003 20:42:31 GMT -5
There is a difference between tin oxide, and aluminum oxide. Understand, I have no experience with tin oxide. I am not entirely certain however that the properties of either will conflict with each other. I routinely mix aluminum oxide, and cerium oxide. I am not really sure if the combination really produced any tremendous results. The trick is to not mix grit sizes. There is the problem. If there is one piece of larger grit onboard during the final polish you will probably have hazy stones. It is late, and I have been doing sheetrock and concrete all day. If I remember, the agates are ortho-morphic crypto chrystalline. Polishes that work for glass should work for the agates. I have used aluminum oxide for the agates and they came out beautifully. The key is keeping the grits seperated. I am doing a run of blue aventurine, prefacet, and I am going to experiment with silicone oxide. I have 80, 220, 440, 660, and 1200. So I am looking at six weeks plus final polish with cerium oxide. I am running two bbls to test the effect of a coarse grain in a batch. I will tell you what, agates polished are beautiful. I had an agate that was given to me when I was very young. I remember it to this day. I used to just touch it and feel the contours. I probably didn't help one little bit, but it sure felt good to remember. Good luck. You might try wire wrapping a special piece.
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James
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 876
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Post by James on Oct 15, 2003 0:23:50 GMT -5
Thanks for the insight. Also, please let us know how your experiement's turn out.
The specimen's I'm going to do in this load are wonderful. A wide variety in coloration and patterns. To anyone not familliar with Queensland Agate; check it out! I'll post the pic's as soon as I'm done. I think I try to wire wrap one of the pieces too.
Anyone else have any knowledge of the differenes between polishes?
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donwrob
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2003
Posts: 509
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Post by donwrob on Oct 15, 2003 12:11:01 GMT -5
James, I have had no luck at all with the alum oxide polish that I have. I know others like doc, have had good success with it so I think I may have just gotten a bad batch. The alum oxide polish I have just seems to be a tiny bit finer grade of the alum oxide pre-polish I got at the same time. Nothing I have tried to polish with it (flints, agates, jaspers, obsidian or glass) has shined up better than a semi-gloss. I have had to run either cerium or tin oxide to finish the batches I've done. This has been my experience with alum oxide polish. I bought a 5lb bucket of it too! What I am doing now is using it as a med-polish between the pre and final steps. Most likely just a waste of time . I will probably try it again some day from a different source as it is much more reasonably priced, but for now I will stick with cerium and tin for final polish. Talk to you later, Don
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Pdwight
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2003
Posts: 619
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Post by Pdwight on Oct 17, 2003 0:25:57 GMT -5
Hey Don, those are some neat points !!! did you do the knaping yourself ??
What type of material are they ??
Thanks Dwight P
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donwrob
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2003
Posts: 509
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Post by donwrob on Oct 17, 2003 8:18:11 GMT -5
Hi Dwight, thanks! Yes, I made those last year. I have been knapping a little over 7 years. That is a Hopewell cache I made out of a flint (chert) called Burlington High Ridge from Mo. It is one of my favorite pics so I decided to use it as my icon. It is hard to tell in that little pic, but the 6 larger blades are right around 5"L and all of them came from one big rock. That is why I started tumbling. There is a lot of waste when knapping, broken pieces, flakes and crumbled material. And, the flints, jaspers and agates and other knappable materials seem to be perfect for tumbling as most all of it takes a good polish ;D Thanks again, talk to you later, Don
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Post by Noosh9057 on Dec 2, 2003 10:52:46 GMT -5
Very very interesting info on the Different Types of polish. I look forward to try the different ones.
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