ubermenehune
spending too much on rocks
Member since March 2016
Posts: 293
|
Post by ubermenehune on Jan 23, 2017 12:16:24 GMT -5
After your final polish step, do one additional stage with just soap or borax and water. This is referred to as burnishing.
|
|
scottyh
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2007
Posts: 181
|
Post by scottyh on Jan 23, 2017 13:33:00 GMT -5
Good first try. I think that the main problem that you have is that some of the rocks in that batch will always cause you issues due to pits and fractures. In particular the big white one needs to be excluded from the batch if you want a quick result. That one could go through many many cycles of the first stage before being, if ever, ready for the subsequent stages. Despite what the written instructions state. One week at stage one is, in my experience, never long enough. Sometimes it will take literally years to get some pieces ready to move on.... sometimes they will never be ready to move on. Once you have a load ready to move on then the second, third and polish stages will be finished in 7-10 days (each stage). The secret here is cleanliness. Both the rocks and the barrel have to be surgically clean when shifting between grit sizes. Finally, it really does help to have one barrel that is dedicated to the polish stage and only the polish stage.
If you are very patient and you follow the above then you will get a great polish.
Cheers Scott
|
|
|
Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jan 23, 2017 13:51:51 GMT -5
At least nine helpful posts to help out a new member within the first 18 hours since the original post. This is how to keep a forum thriving.
Chuck
|
|
vera
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 259
|
Post by vera on Jan 23, 2017 16:29:43 GMT -5
You have a great start on your rocks. Many people only take the best few rocks out of each stage at a time, since rocks rarely reach the end of each step at the same time. You can also send any rocks you are not completely satisfied with back a step or two to get them smoother and remove any pits you find that you did not notice when you removed them from a stage. I think the rocks look nice sitting around the house in little dishes at various stages. It gives everyone a chance to look them over and notice the differences between the steps they go through. Then when you have enough sitting around to fill the barrel and go to the next finer grit you can just get them rolling again. ;-)
|
|
vayank5150
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 118
|
Post by vayank5150 on Jan 23, 2017 19:33:53 GMT -5
Wow. This place is pretty awesome. Thank you ALL for all of your input. Having never tumbled rocks before, I simply followed the directions that came with the tumbler, which basically stated 4 stages of grit, one week per stage. My daughter is actually quite pleased with the results, and since this was her Christmas gift, I am going to leave the rocks be for now.
I have ordered additional grit. My daughter has a penchant for picking up rocks no matter where she goes. She has been collecting rocks since she was probably 3 or 4 years old. Personally, I prefer the look of Rock God's stones, so perhaps I can nudge her in that direction. We have already chosen our next batch of rocks from her "collection" and I made sure to let her know that we need to exclude rocks with too many pits and/or holes.
A couple of questions....she typically picks up rocks from wherever she is....our yard, the woods, her playground at school. Is this typical? Where do you all get your rocks from? Also, based on jamesp's post, should I automatically plan on doubling the time for each stage, versus what is written in the Nat Geo instruction manual? Thanks again for all of the information!!!
|
|
|
Post by wigglinrocks on Jan 23, 2017 19:39:14 GMT -5
Stage 1 is the one that takes the longest . You can probably get by for now with 1 week runs for the rest of the stages .
|
|
vayank5150
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 118
|
Post by vayank5150 on Jan 23, 2017 19:47:06 GMT -5
So....perhaps two weeks for stage 1? The coarsest grit?
|
|
vayank5150
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 118
|
Post by vayank5150 on Jan 23, 2017 19:58:48 GMT -5
After your final polish step, do one additional stage with just soap or borax and water. This is referred to as burnishing. Do you mean, in the tumbler, or by hand?
|
|
|
Post by wigglinrocks on Jan 23, 2017 20:18:52 GMT -5
So....perhaps two weeks for stage 1? The coarsest grit? It depends on a lot of things . How picky you are about what goes in the barrel , how picky you are about cleaning between stages and how picky you are about how the rocks turn out . For the first few batches , keep up with the cleanliness , have fun and read everything you can on this forum . I don't think anyone here turned out perfect tumbles on the first batch .
|
|
|
Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jan 23, 2017 20:48:34 GMT -5
So....perhaps two weeks for stage 1? The coarsest grit? There is no set answer for particular question. If you toss in fairly soft (mohs scale 5-6) beach rocks that have already been rounded and partially smoothed by nature then two weeks in stage one might be fine. If you toss in super hard agates (mohs scale 7-8) that were busted up with a sledge hammer then 20 weeks in stage one with weekly grit replacement is not uncommon. brazilian agates day one Same exact brazilian agates when finished. These spent 16 weeks in stage one plus hand some hand grinding in stage one to speed them up. Chuck
|
|
vayank5150
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 118
|
Post by vayank5150 on Jan 23, 2017 20:55:54 GMT -5
WOW! Those are Gorgeous!!!!!
|
|
|
Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jan 23, 2017 21:07:12 GMT -5
WOW! Those are Gorgeous!!!!! Thank you- Just take baby steps. Some of the tumbles you are seeing are the result of years of experience and also some equipment that comes at a hefty price but simplifies and shortens the process. My normal tumbling operation has 36 pounds of rough rolling in stage one at all times and multiple vibe tumblers handling the rest. That being said I got started four years ago with one of my kids and a plastic barrel toy tumbler. Now I have enough rotary tumblers to run 100 pounds at a time. This stuff is addicting. Chuck
|
|
vayank5150
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 118
|
Post by vayank5150 on Jan 23, 2017 21:13:14 GMT -5
So, these are two rocks from her collection that seem to have promise....just because there are shiny parts to them. I have no clue what kind of rocks they are, but each are approximately 2" x 2". 1485221137208 by Michael Aldrich, on Flickr
|
|
|
Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jan 23, 2017 21:29:50 GMT -5
The one on the left could be chert. Looks like it will polish up nicely. Just remember that after stage one the rocks do not change in shape or quality. Any rough areas, pits or imperfections that are not addressed in stage one will still be there when the tumble is done.
One other thing that has not been mentioned is that using a small 1.5 pound barrel means stage one takes even longer then the larger rotary barrels that most of us our running. The larger diameter barrels create more falling/grinding action and the added rock volume also helps the grind.
After your 1 week stage one run was the grit 100% used up or could you still feel any grit in the slurry?
You are aware that no water used in your clean outs can go down your household drain right?
Chuck
|
|
vayank5150
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 118
|
Post by vayank5150 on Jan 23, 2017 21:40:03 GMT -5
The one on the left could be chert. Looks like it will polish up nicely. Just remember that after stage one the rocks do not change in shape or quality. Any rough areas, pits or imperfections that are not addressed in stage one will still be there when the tumble is done. One other thing that has not been mentioned is that using a small 1.5 pound barrel means stage one takes even longer then the larger rotary barrels that most of us our running. The larger diameter barrels create more falling/grinding action and the added rock volume also helps the grind. After your 1 week stage one run was the grit 100% used up or could you still feel any grit in the slurry? You are aware that no water used in your clean outs can go down your household drain right? Chuck Based on what I could tell, there was no "grit" left after each one week run. And yes, the Nat Geo instructions did tell us to NOT pour the clean out down the drain!!
|
|
ubermenehune
spending too much on rocks
Member since March 2016
Posts: 293
|
Post by ubermenehune on Jan 23, 2017 22:02:08 GMT -5
After your final polish step, do one additional stage with just soap or borax and water. This is referred to as burnishing. Do you mean, in the tumbler, or by hand? Sorry. I should've been more specific. Run the rocks again in your tumbler with just soap or borax. Some folks burnish a full 24 hours. I usually let it run 4 hours or so.
|
|
|
Post by spiceman on Jan 23, 2017 22:44:08 GMT -5
Also, Keep a good log of all you tumbles. Hardness of rocks, grit type, amount of : grit, water,(whatever) Easier to repeat if you keep a log.
|
|
vayank5150
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 118
|
Post by vayank5150 on Jan 24, 2017 20:09:37 GMT -5
Do you mean, in the tumbler, or by hand? Sorry. I should've been more specific. Run the rocks again in your tumbler with just soap or borax. Some folks burnish a full 24 hours. I usually let it run 4 hours or so. That makes sense. When you say "soap"....how do you mean? Soap to a NOOB like me is in bar form?
|
|
|
Post by Jugglerguy on Jan 24, 2017 20:19:45 GMT -5
Shaved ivory soap or powdered Dreft laundry soap. They don't have many if any additives.
|
|
|
Post by spiceman on Jan 24, 2017 20:41:59 GMT -5
I still like the fact that your working hard to get the right info. to tumble rocks. So your little girl (#1) is happy. I love that. Dad...job well done.
|
|