newatrocks
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2006
Posts: 2
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Post by newatrocks on Sept 4, 2006 19:51:15 GMT -5
I am new at this and I purchased a tumbler from Michaels so it's not the highest quality. I am trying to polish rocks I brought back from Cape May NJ. where the rocks are already smooth and some of the crystals are known as "Cape May diamonds". I just want to polish them so they always have that wet look. My question is, can I just go directly to the polish stage? As of now I have them in the tumbler and they are at the 1st stage but I was thinking I could probably skip step one and two. Can anyone help? Thanks.
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offbeat
no posts
Member since May 2010
Posts: 0
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Post by offbeat on Sept 4, 2006 19:55:36 GMT -5
Welcome to the board! You prob. can skip step 1, but I would go to step 2 after that. Step 1 shapes, the rest of the steps get the stones ready for polish. As you are starting out you can learn a lot by looking at the stones with a 10X loupe or mag. glass and see what the steps are doing. Each step takes out the scratches from the step before until they are ready for polish. Good luck, you will get some great info here, great bunch of rock nuts for sure!! Bill
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Post by puppie96 on Sept 5, 2006 1:56:36 GMT -5
Hi! We went to Cape May a lot when I was a kid and the first tumbled rocks I ever saw were in the rock shop on Sunset Beach. I wanted that tumbler in the worst way!! Over the years we all had collected many Cape May rocks and diamonds so of course I wanted to tumble them. For the typical rounded and smooth ones, you definitely should omit the first stage -- rough grind -- you don't need it, and you would probably lose more bulk from the rocks than you need or want to. However, I'd still do a step two with 120/220 grit rather than start finer. Better to take your time and not rush them and you'll be more satisfied with your results.
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newatrocks
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2006
Posts: 2
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Post by newatrocks on Sept 5, 2006 18:58:20 GMT -5
Thanks for the advice....I'll let you know how they come out! I'm real excited about this project!
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Post by LCARS on Sept 5, 2006 20:50:29 GMT -5
If you are happy with the shapes of the rocks and there are no pits, wedges or deep concavities in them then I would start them in a 120/200 graded silicon carbide grit (a.k.a. stage-2). You can probably follow the tumbling guide that came with the unit from that point. Tumbling takes awhile to get a good feel for so browse the guides and forums on this site for tips and techniques in the meantime while your rocks are rollin'. Good luck and don't hesitate to come here for answers or advice.
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Post by puppie96 on Sept 6, 2006 1:50:02 GMT -5
By the way, I forgot to mention that I rushed a load of Cape May rocks once and they polished but looked hazy, which improved after additional grinding. So experience supports the don't rush it theory.
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Post by sandsman1 on Nov 4, 2006 20:30:35 GMT -5
my family has a house in capemay bout 5 mins from diamond beach at the sunkin ship and if i was you i would only skip the first stage they need the fine grind and pre and polish if ya want the diamonds to keep the wet look i did some small ones i got from diamond beach and had to redo them back to 120/220 they wouldent keep the wet look they where hazy but after the second try they stayed nice but by then they where so small hahaha
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mrdimond
off to a rocking start
Member since August 2014
Posts: 1
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Post by mrdimond on Aug 23, 2014 14:05:43 GMT -5
i just started tumbling rocks as a hobby i have cape may dimonds i bought a tumble supply kit and a tumbler in the kit it has stage one 60/90 mesh. silicon carbon stage 2 is 150/220 mesh sil. carbon stage 3 is 500f and stage 4 is micron aluminum oxide i did each stage for a week and the stones came out with a haze on them still not polished(like they are wet ) any advise what i am doing wrong i would be gratefull thank you and in my insrtuction with the kit it said to put water in with each stage and on some other board i read from another person no water should not be in there tumble dry link
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Post by kap on Aug 23, 2014 14:33:20 GMT -5
A week is not usually long enough for each stage unless you are using a Vib.
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