rivarat
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 140
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Post by rivarat on Jul 10, 2016 3:02:16 GMT -5
Not as shiney as they could be, I should have left them in the polish for a couple of more days. Could have done more in the coarse tumble but I wanted some of the original exterior to the agates maybe next batch. Mostly local (victoria Australia) agates, chert and some other bits and pieces.
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Fritz
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since May 2016
Posts: 77
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Post by Fritz on Jul 10, 2016 23:01:35 GMT -5
Some of those look nice
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richardh
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 391
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Post by richardh on Jul 10, 2016 23:02:28 GMT -5
Some very nice looking rocks. The finish looks a lot like what I have gotten so far. I'm trying hard to get them glossier. Keep up the good work, I love looking at these photos.
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riverrock
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since April 2010
Posts: 1,395
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Post by riverrock on Jul 11, 2016 9:37:56 GMT -5
The shine will come better after time. keep at it .
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huskeric
spending too much on rocks
Member since May 2016
Posts: 353
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Post by huskeric on Aug 1, 2016 14:29:15 GMT -5
The shine will come better after time. keep at it . Do you have suggestions on how to improve the shine? I rolled my first final batch with ceramics, and it was very smooth, but dull, so I ran them again with two stages of car polish, each for about a day, with plastic media, and then with Borax and plastic media for about another day. The are shini-er, but not with the lustre of some of the rocks on the boards I have seen. rivarat, those are some pretty stones. I am a novice as well, and I agree with you on your statements, and they are about the same as I would say for my own, let them ride longer on stage 1, then the rest of the stages will go better. Can't wait to see your next batch!
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riverrock
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since April 2010
Posts: 1,395
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Post by riverrock on Aug 1, 2016 16:39:58 GMT -5
Why are you using car polish.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2016 18:02:06 GMT -5
Car polish?
To use enough, it would be very expensive. And, depending what oxide is used, may be ineffective.
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huskeric
spending too much on rocks
Member since May 2016
Posts: 353
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Post by huskeric on Aug 2, 2016 14:12:28 GMT -5
Why are you using car polish. Well, because I don't know any better, and I wanted to see what would happen. I am a much better car detailer than rock polisher, so I already have a good bit of the stuff around. I probably used about 3 Tbsp in a 3lb barrel with plastic media. I think it made a slight improvement, but my rocks are still somewhat dull. I thought they looked pretty good, and then I set them next to some that I have purchased in the past, and they look pretty bad. I know this is a question with a million answers, but IN GENERAL, when you have the rocks shaped where you want them, no major nicks/bruises, etc. and they are still dull, can you say where I might have fallen down? - I used separate barrels for each stage
- I let them run in each stage for a minimum of a week (for stage 1, it was probably 2-3 weeks, depending on which rock)
- I used ceramic media with stage 3
- I put plastic tumbling media in for the final polish stage, and with the car polish
- I did a final cycle with Borax and let it run for 24 hours to burnish them
In reading some of the other posts, I think it may be (at least in part) that I tried to polish too many at once. I probably had over 2lbs of rocks in there of various sizes, and only about 25% of it was plastic media. I did, however, have lots of pea gravel-sized pieces in there. Here is a pic of ALL of them from the barrel: And here is a picture of some of them to illustrate the contrast I'm mentioning: The bottom/left one is NOT my work... Was this just about trying to fit 10lbs of...rocks into a 3lb barrel? Thanks, and sorry for thread-jacking, but I think this will probably benefit the OP.
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Post by pauls on Aug 2, 2016 19:55:16 GMT -5
Hi Rivarat Gippsland material? You have a whole bunch of quartz type material there so all the same hardness which is good, hardness around 7, you also have a lot of cracks and fractures with sharp edges so these will be working against your polishing process, hardness 7 sharp edges will scratch hardness 7 polished surfaces. Worse, grit caught in those cracks coming out in the polishing stage will mess up a whole batch easily. I run all my rocks for a couple of weeks to clean them up then go through and any with serious cracks and holes I will either saw or grind the bad bit off, anything porous or badly fractured gets flicked into the garden. I then run them again (often for months)until they are nice and smooth and then go through them again, only (hopefully) flawless stones ever get past the coarse grind stage. I say hopefully because often cracks aren't obvious while the stone is wet and has a frosty exterior.
Paul
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Post by krazydiamond on Aug 2, 2016 20:07:52 GMT -5
Not bad for a first batch, love (jealous) that you have access to such nice local material.
KD
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napoleonrags
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2015
Posts: 474
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Post by napoleonrags on Aug 2, 2016 20:27:25 GMT -5
Nice stuff. So, what is that metallic, greyish stuff in the last pic? I think I need about 200 lbs.
Get some rock polish and keep on keepin on.
Colin
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
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Post by tkvancil on Aug 11, 2016 12:47:11 GMT -5
Congrats on the first batch. I wasn't completely happy with my first either.
If you haven't tried the Rockshed's AO polish do so. I haven't found anything it won't put a shine on.
I used to do all my polish in a 3# rotary and got it down pretty good over time. This was my method. Fill the barrel full to like 85 to 90%. The overfill provides cushioning by leaving less headroom. Six tbs. polish and 5/8cup of water in with the rocks. If filler is need I prefered ceramic over plastic. Lastly let them run for at least fourteen days, I always ran mine for twenty one.
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huskeric
spending too much on rocks
Member since May 2016
Posts: 353
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Post by huskeric on Aug 11, 2016 16:22:42 GMT -5
rivarat, have you started batch #2? I put mine back in on stage 3. I added a lot of plastic pellets, and I'm going to let it run for a couple of weeks. It's about halfway through, and then I'm going to do the same on stage 4. You found some BEAUTIFUL stuff, especially all of those agates. Just gorgeous. Most of my first batch came by way of eBay. =) Share some more pics, please, as you do more rocks. I promise I won't threadjack you next time!
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rivarat
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 140
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Post by rivarat on Aug 12, 2016 3:35:20 GMT -5
I haven't started batch 2 yet, but a got a package in the mail today. I'll do a bit of grinding before I put them in this time.
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huskeric
spending too much on rocks
Member since May 2016
Posts: 353
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Post by huskeric on Aug 12, 2016 8:42:11 GMT -5
so...many...agates...(wiping drool)...so...many...preeeetttty colors...
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Post by pauls on Aug 12, 2016 16:09:27 GMT -5
Good one Rivarat. These are Agates from Agate Creek in Queensland Australia, one of the premier Agate collecting places. Anywhere.
Paul
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