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Post by MrMike on Oct 1, 2016 18:27:43 GMT -5
Apologies for the poor quality pics, haven't had a digital camera in years. Not satisfied with the shine in this batch, may run again. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 any guesses on this, hint - I cheated
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Oct 1, 2016 19:15:09 GMT -5
What were the steps you used on this batch?
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Post by MrMike on Oct 1, 2016 19:31:38 GMT -5
Rotary 4 step: 60/90, 120/220, pre polish & polish
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richardh
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 391
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Post by richardh on Oct 1, 2016 19:39:46 GMT -5
I love 1-4. If you don't mind me asking, where did you get that rough? That is exactly the type of material I have been lusting after.
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Post by MrMike on Oct 1, 2016 19:52:36 GMT -5
The OJ came from GemShop. It was mainly scrap pieces with lots of vugs. I bought 3 lbs & didn't end up with too many nice pieces.
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richardh
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 391
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Post by richardh on Oct 1, 2016 19:54:57 GMT -5
The OJ came from GemShop. It was mainly scrap pieces with lots of vugs. I bought 3 lbs & didn't end up with too many nice pieces. Thanks for the info.
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dottyt
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2016
Posts: 305
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Post by dottyt on Oct 2, 2016 0:11:24 GMT -5
Very nice rocks! I think your photos look fine too. What sort of tumbler do you have? What are the pink stones in 13? They look a little like some common opal I bought and had no success in polishing. I am giving up on softer stones for the time being. I am no expert, but some of those look like they could get shinier (the OJ and agates, I don't have enough expertise to comment on the rest). Maybe just try some extra time in Stage 4? This has sometimes worked for me. Is your trick lacquer, varnish, or polyurethane for 15?
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Post by MrMike on Oct 2, 2016 5:31:24 GMT -5
Thanks Dotty. I've just got the cheapo HF, saving for a Lortone QT66. You're right that I probably should have gave it more polish time. I didn't have any borax which lots of people use in the last steps.
#15 is from an old patio paver that is flagstone or marble. Soft stuff & wont take a high polish so I put some baby oil on them.
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Post by MrMike on Oct 2, 2016 5:44:53 GMT -5
Oh yeah, the pink stones in #13 are rose quartz I got out of landscaping rock. Rookie mistake running it with hard stones though.
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richardh
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 391
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Post by richardh on Oct 2, 2016 10:59:39 GMT -5
Others with more experience might disagree but so far in my tumbles (and I am using a HF just like you) I find that I can tell when things are going to get nice and shiny when they come out of the 500 grit stage. If they are really smooth to the touch and starting to get a little shiny then the polish stage goes pretty fast and the rocks come out great. Maybe going back to the 500 grit and letting that run longer will do the trick.
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Post by MrMike on Oct 2, 2016 11:39:09 GMT -5
I'll give that a try, thanks Richard
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dottyt
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2016
Posts: 305
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Post by dottyt on Oct 2, 2016 12:11:41 GMT -5
Thanks Dotty. I've just got the cheapo HF, saving for a Lortone QT66. You're right that I probably should have gave it more polish time. I didn't have any borax which lots of people use in the last steps. #15 is from an old patio paver that is flagstone or marble. Soft stuff & wont take a high polish so I put some baby oil on them. I can see why borax would help quite a bit with a vibe (surfactant), I can also see how it helps with cleaning after polishing in a rotary, but I have found it has a very slight effect in polish. Of course it all depends on your tumbler, stones, polish, etc. I have a very small rotary tumbler and the stones aren't crashing around so much. I don't think your rose quartz is ruined as they are still pretty and good sized, but they look a bit granular and I do not know how to polish more granular stones. Keep tumbling and posting!
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dottyt
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2016
Posts: 305
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Post by dottyt on Oct 2, 2016 12:24:47 GMT -5
Others with more experience might disagree but so far in my tumbles (and I am using a HF just like you) I find that I can tell when things are going to get nice and shiny when they come out of the 500 grit stage. If they are really smooth to the touch and starting to get a little shiny then the polish stage goes pretty fast and the rocks come out great. Maybe going back to the 500 grit and letting that run longer will do the trick. That's what I used to think and experience too. Then because of this and that I left a batch in the polish stage about a week longer than usual and they were the shiniest ever. I did change a couple of other things too; they seemed less significant, but it may have been those. I really want to do a thread on it, but it would be ultra lame without photos, so I will have to wait till I have time/motivation to look into PhotoBucket or similar. You are right it depends on how smooth your stones are going into polish though for sure, but is hard to judge online sometimes, some of my stones look smooth, but you can feel they are not. You definitely only get good results if they are smooth enough. I have found that granitey stones look great, but never really get smooth enough with my methods.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Oct 3, 2016 10:46:06 GMT -5
I have found that granitey stones look great, but never really get smooth enough with my methods. Granite undercuts because it is made up of various minerals with varying hardness. I find that the black parts (mica?) undercuts the worst. The harder portions of granite shine up well though.
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richardh
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 391
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Post by richardh on Oct 4, 2016 11:51:18 GMT -5
Others with more experience might disagree but so far in my tumbles (and I am using a HF just like you) I find that I can tell when things are going to get nice and shiny when they come out of the 500 grit stage. If they are really smooth to the touch and starting to get a little shiny then the polish stage goes pretty fast and the rocks come out great. Maybe going back to the 500 grit and letting that run longer will do the trick. That's what I used to think and experience too. Then because of this and that I left a batch in the polish stage about a week longer than usual and they were the shiniest ever. I did change a couple of other things too; they seemed less significant, but it may have been those. I really want to do a thread on it, but it would be ultra lame without photos, so I will have to wait till I have time/motivation to look into PhotoBucket or similar. You are right it depends on how smooth your stones are going into polish though for sure, but is hard to judge online sometimes, some of my stones look smooth, but you can feel they are not. You definitely only get good results if they are smooth enough. I have found that granitey stones look great, but never really get smooth enough with my methods. I would love to do some more controlled experiments and try to figure out which variables have what effect and to what degree. Interestingly enough on my second batch that I ran I let them roll in the polish stage for two weeks while on a family vacation and some of the rocks looked nice and shiny and some actually got damaged from banging into each other. The agates all looked great and mostly the Jaspers that were in the batch (softer rocks) were the ones that got beat up. I couldn't really tell for sure if the extra week of polish time helped the shine or not because as you point out it is tough to really judge from photos. I guess I should have held some out after one week so I could compare in the hand. My latest challenge recently has been rushing the 500 grit stage. I have found that if they feel really smooth in my hand at the end of the 500 stage they will look great after polish. If they don't have that really smooth feel they come out dull. When I have just put the dull rocks into the polish stage for another week they have still come out dull. The only way I have gotten the dull ones to shine is to put them back to the 500 stage and get them to that really smooth feel.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,687
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Post by Fossilman on Oct 8, 2016 14:58:04 GMT -5
Not a bad job for first time.........As you said,you can run them again if you choose....
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Post by MrMike on Oct 8, 2016 16:23:34 GMT -5
Thanks, put them back in 500 for a week & now in polish. Really need to get a camera. My iPhone pics look extremely "amateurish", well I suppose they are.
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