richardh
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 391
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Post by richardh on Jan 25, 2017 16:35:38 GMT -5
I finally finished the material that Texasrockhunter was nice enough to send to me in an effort to help me improve my rock hounding skills. Based on the polished samples that he sent along with the rough material that he had collected from the San Jacinto River I think I can safely say I have plenty more to learn when it comes to getting that perfect finish on my tumbles but I feel like I am continuing to make progress. Here’s what I started out with: Here are some of the best samples of the finished product: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Looking forward to getting feedback. Thanks for looking! or looking!
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Post by wigglinrocks on Jan 25, 2017 17:54:33 GMT -5
A little feedback for ya Richard , beautiful rocks , nicely shaped and killer shine
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grizman
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since July 2011
Posts: 878
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Post by grizman on Jan 25, 2017 18:15:27 GMT -5
Very nice! Did you put the final polish on those with a rotary or vibe? You certainly have the polishing skills!
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,466
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Post by Sabre52 on Jan 25, 2017 18:31:14 GMT -5
Wow! Beautiful eye candy. The red palm looking one is outrageous....Mel
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Post by captbob on Jan 25, 2017 18:42:28 GMT -5
Honest feedback?
okay ... those are honestly some good looking tumbles!
From the last two rocks pictured, I would recommend running a bit longer in in 500 & especially 1000. That would take them to the next (final?) level of perfection. I don't see that slight grainyness in the other rocks, not sure if it the angle of the reflection of if just the last two rocks didn't take as well to being tumbled. Are you over cushioning (a good thing, just makes it take longer) your final fine grit loads and polish run?
Finishing in a vibe or rotary? Not a vibe guy, so if you are finishing in a vibe, my recommendation may not be valid.
Again, great looking batch!
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Post by orrum on Jan 25, 2017 18:43:49 GMT -5
Man those r out there great!
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Post by txrockhunter on Jan 25, 2017 18:56:43 GMT -5
Man, that is some beautiful stuff! Great polish and fantastic photos! I think you've got it figured out! Favorites are 20, 9, & 10.
Always fun to see how they turn out. Thanks for posting!!!
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richardh
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 391
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Post by richardh on Jan 25, 2017 19:12:51 GMT -5
Very nice! Did you put the final polish on those with a rotary or vibe? You certainly have the polishing skills! These were all done in rotary. SiC 30 for a few weeks then I put in AO 80 and ran for two weeks without checking then did AO polish for a week. Thank for the encouragement
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richardh
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 391
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Post by richardh on Jan 25, 2017 19:23:03 GMT -5
Honest feedback? okay ... those are honestly some good looking tumbles! From the last two rocks pictured, I would recommend running a bit longer in in 500 & especially 1000. That would take them to the next (final?) level of perfection. I don't see that slight grainyness in the other rocks, not sure if it the angle of the reflection of if just the last two rocks didn't take as well to being tumbled. Are you over cushioning (a good thing, just makes it take longer) your final fine grit loads and polish run? Finishing in a vibe or rotary? Not a vibe guy, so if you are finishing in a vibe, my recommendation may not be valid. Again, great looking batch! I agree the last two and all of the ones that aren't pictured are currently back in the tumbler with SiC 500. Hope they can get close to the others. Jeremy can really pick out some nice rocks from the river. I was really impressed with all the color and that almost all of them had very few fractures. I am learning that I need to be a lot more careful when collecting. On the polish I had about 30% ceramic media, half large and half small. Thanks very much for the help.
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Jan 25, 2017 19:29:16 GMT -5
About how long did these roll in your first stage? I've been running a batch for a month and these sure seem hard!! I weighed them from last week to this week and had a 5% reduction, but it sure seems like it's slow going.
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Erich
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2015
Posts: 411
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Post by Erich on Jan 25, 2017 19:33:43 GMT -5
I don't tumble very often so I'm no expert that can give you constructive advice. That being said ,I think you've got the polishing pretty much down pat.
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Post by MrMike on Jan 25, 2017 19:57:04 GMT -5
Very nice! Did you put the final polish on those with a rotary or vibe? You certainly have the polishing skills! These were all done in rotary. SiC 30 for a few weeks then I put in AO 80 and ran for two weeks without checking then did AO polish for a week. Thank for the encouragement Only 3 grits, wow. Great batch and pics Richard.
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Post by captbob on Jan 25, 2017 20:02:35 GMT -5
If you wouldn't mind one more suggestion from this rotary only guy ...
I would recommend losing the ceramic media for 1000 grit and polish steps. I don't even use ceramics for 500, but I'm as anal as one can get. Go with plastic beads for filler. Use a LOT of them. Only use your ceramics and plastic beads in designated stages, meaning don't use your filler from 500 in 1000 and so on. Save 'em in marked tupper ware (whatever) containers for reuse.
ETA: what sized barrel(s)?
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richardh
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 391
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Post by richardh on Jan 25, 2017 20:06:06 GMT -5
About how long did these roll in your first stage? I've been running a batch for a month and these sure seem hard!! I weighed them from last week to this week and had a 5% reduction, but it sure seems like it's slow going. I believe it was five weeks but it was very aggressive. I was adding grit every 48 hours and it was pretty much broken down by the end of that time. It didn't hurt that several of these were pretty well rounded when I started. The pet wood were the ones that really took a lot of time.
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osuguy0301
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2015
Posts: 203
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Post by osuguy0301 on Jan 25, 2017 20:28:10 GMT -5
Those look awesome to me. txrockhunter sent me a nice box of material and it is great. That polish looks good and I love how easy it is to run the coarse, AO 80, and then polish. Makes life and clean ups a lot more simple...good work! Jake
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jan 25, 2017 21:37:06 GMT -5
They look really good to me, and the photography isn't half bad either. I'm even more impressed to hear that you only did AO 80 for two weeks and then went right to polish. More steps sounds like a good idea for improving the polish, but they're impressive already.
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richardh
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 391
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Post by richardh on Jan 25, 2017 21:57:18 GMT -5
If you wouldn't mind one more suggestion from this rotary only guy ... I would recommend losing the ceramic media for 1000 grit and polish steps. I don't even use ceramics for 500, but I'm as anal as one can get. Go with plastic beads for filler. Use a LOT of them. Only use your ceramics and plastic beads in designated stages, meaning don't use your filler from 500 in 1000 and so on. Save 'em in marked tupper ware (whatever) containers for reuse. ETA: what sized barrel(s)? Yes I keep the media segregated for each stage. I don't use any in the coarse or the 120-220 stage. I have media for the 500 and polish. I have used the plastic beads and they have worked well enough but they are a bit of a headache during clean outs. For that reason I have avoided them. Maybe I need to be less lazy and put them back into service. Thanks for the suggestion. Edit: the barrel is a 3lb.
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richardh
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 391
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Post by richardh on Jan 25, 2017 22:06:14 GMT -5
Those look awesome to me. txrockhunter sent me a nice box of material and it is great. That polish looks good and I love how easy it is to run the coarse, AO 80, and then polish. Makes life and clean ups a lot more simple...good work! Jake This was the first time I've tried the AO 80 trick but Jamesp was doing well with it and I was going to be out of town so I decided to give it a shot. So far I'm happy with the results. Definitely does save some work.
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Post by Garage Rocker on Jan 26, 2017 9:13:56 GMT -5
Most excellent tumble, richardh! I'd say you did those San Jacinto's justice. You got a nice shine out of that three step process. And it appears you have that soft box dialed in too. Great work. Too many I like here, but I'll try. How about 1,2,3,10,12,18,20 and 22? If forced to pick, I'll take #10 for the win.
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Jan 26, 2017 9:53:56 GMT -5
Thanks for the info. This is a great batch. And good job on the photos also!
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