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Post by arghvark on Jul 26, 2019 10:35:11 GMT -5
Starting to get the local wonderstone (a rhyolite) figured out a bit better. This stuff is mostly pretty soft, with significant variation in hardness. Lot-o gives much better and more consistent results than rotary. At least for me. Don't think I'll ever get a glass-like finish but these are starting to come out pretty shiny and the colors are pretty darn cool. Shaped in rotary with 80 grit. Throwing in a handful of agate smalls helps a lot. It grinds fast, so by the time the grit is exhausted the slurry is pretty darn thick. I run the rotary til grit is fully exhausted (typically 2 weeks to 17 days in 3lb, 5 days to one week in 6lb) so 120/220 stage in vibe doesn't seem to be necessary. Lot-0, all with 50% by weight ceramic media. Half hour with a few drops of Dawn after each stage. 24 hours SiC 500 and 2 tbsp borax. 24 hours AO 1000 and 2 tbsp borax. 24 hours Raybright (don't know it's composition, bought several pounds of it a couple years ago at Ed's in Portland and have been extremely happy) and 2 tbsp borax. About an hour with a couple drops of Dawn. Hot weather, garage gets hot, really have to monitor water content. ETA: Wondering whether 12-24 hours with just borax would help to finish? Has anyone tried this with soft stuff? This stuff is very easy for me to get. Willing to put together some SFRBs if anyone is interested. Will put a post in marketplace. Thanks for looking! local wonderstone:
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Post by MsAli on Jul 26, 2019 11:55:23 GMT -5
Those look great Eric.
I love wonderstone.
I tumbled a few and got decent shine with a longer run time in polish and then 24 hours with just straight borax to clean them up.
When I get all moved and settled I may take you up on a box of them
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Post by orrum on Jul 27, 2019 5:58:31 GMT -5
Try cooking it. Put in a turkey roaster, electric skillet, old crock pot etc. Put kitty litter in the n ottoman then the rock then fill with kitty litter. Put a folded up towel or something on the lid to help hold heat in. Run it at 200 degrees for a day to dry out the moisture. Then run the temp up a little every hour until it's maxed out. Hold it a day to soak. Then run it down and don't open gor several days. To hot to fast or too cool too fast and it will crack. It will make the colors more vibrant and it polishes better. Try it.
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Post by orrum on Jul 27, 2019 5:59:04 GMT -5
Drop ottoman out! LOL
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Post by arghvark on Jul 27, 2019 10:16:59 GMT -5
Try cooking it. Put in a turkey roaster, electric skillet, old crock pot etc. Put kitty litter in the n ottoman then the rock then fill with kitty litter. Put a folded up towel or something on the lid to help hold heat in. Run it at 200 degrees for a day to dry out the moisture. Then run the temp up a little every hour until it's maxed out. Hold it a day to soak. Then run it down and don't open gor several days. To hot to fast or too cool too fast and it will crack. It will make the colors more vibrant and it polishes better. Try it. I've been told this before; have actually been thinking about building a cheepo DIY kiln for just this. Have you done it? I thought it needed a higher temp than a crock pot will attain?
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,178
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Post by RWA3006 on Jul 28, 2019 14:58:24 GMT -5
Try cooking it. Put in a turkey roaster, electric skillet, old crock pot etc. Put kitty litter in the n ottoman then the rock then fill with kitty litter. Put a folded up towel or something on the lid to help hold heat in. Run it at 200 degrees for a day to dry out the moisture. Then run the temp up a little every hour until it's maxed out. Hold it a day to soak. Then run it down and don't open gor several days. To hot to fast or too cool too fast and it will crack. It will make the colors more vibrant and it polishes better. Try it. I've been told this before; have actually been thinking about building a cheepo DIY kiln for just this. Have you done it? I thought it needed a higher temp than a crock pot will attain? If you look around you can sometimes find used ceramic kilns for good prices. I inherited my mother in law's ... she was a crafty gal who loved doing ceramics with the ladies back in the 1960's - 80's. The only drawback is they take up space and require wiring for 220 volts.
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Post by arghvark on Jul 28, 2019 16:28:07 GMT -5
I've been told this before; have actually been thinking about building a cheepo DIY kiln for just this. Have you done it? I thought it needed a higher temp than a crock pot will attain? If you look around you can sometimes find used ceramic kilns for good prices. I inherited my mother in law's ... she was a crafty gal who loved doing ceramics with the ladies back in the 1960's - 80's. The only drawback is they take up space and require wiring for 220 volts. Yeah, I've actually called on a couple inexpensive kilns here locally, they seem to come up fairly often, but I also seem to never be the first one.
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,178
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Post by RWA3006 on Aug 1, 2019 16:58:24 GMT -5
I traded some rough with Eric for some of his wonderstone and was tickled with what he sent me. Can't wait to work on it!
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NevadaBill
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2019
Posts: 1,332
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Post by NevadaBill on Aug 9, 2019 10:06:39 GMT -5
Wow, those turned out really great! I had no idea that Wonderstone could take such a shine. I've been thinking about visiting a couple of locations that I know about where I could find some, a bit North of Las Vegas. I'll be in your neck of the woods next week, but returning from a long sweep of California that has business and pleasure wrapped up in it. But I'll probably be exhausted. Otherwise you'd probably find me knocking at your door one morning, asking to be brought to the spot! Hehe. Thanks for sharing!
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megalotis
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since April 2009
Posts: 226
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Post by megalotis on Aug 9, 2019 11:51:11 GMT -5
Bill,
I recommend that you head up to Fallon and wonderstone mountain. That stuff takes a great polish, and there's LOTS of it. Easiest collecting you'll ever do.
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Post by arghvark on Aug 11, 2019 11:28:27 GMT -5
Wow, those turned out really great! I had no idea that Wonderstone could take such a shine. I've been thinking about visiting a couple of locations that I know about where I could find some, a bit North of Las Vegas. I'll be in your neck of the woods next week, but returning from a long sweep of California that has business and pleasure wrapped up in it. But I'll probably be exhausted. Otherwise you'd probably find me knocking at your door one morning, asking to be brought to the spot! Hehe. Thanks for sharing! Just give me a heads up and we can probably work something out! I'm going to be busy pretty much all day Tuesday and Wednesday but other than that should be pretty simple to make a run out. It's not far from town at all. Large chunks are _slightly_ more challenging, collecting tumble size is incredibly easy. Argh
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Post by arghvark on Aug 11, 2019 11:29:26 GMT -5
Bill, I recommend that you head up to Fallon and wonderstone mountain. That stuff takes a great polish, and there's LOTS of it. Easiest collecting you'll ever do. All true!
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braat
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 350
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Post by braat on Aug 11, 2019 15:56:54 GMT -5
Try cooking it. Put in a turkey roaster, electric skillet, old crock pot etc. Put kitty litter in the n ottoman then the rock then fill with kitty litter. Put a folded up towel or something on the lid to help hold heat in. Run it at 200 degrees for a day to dry out the moisture. Then run the temp up a little every hour until it's maxed out. Hold it a day to soak. Then run it down and don't open gor several days. To hot to fast or too cool too fast and it will crack. It will make the colors more vibrant and it polishes better. Try it. I'm trying this... just set up a small crockpot as suggested above with a few agates, granites and local stuff. I took wet and dry "before" photos and will take "after" photos in a few days when it's done. Very curious to see how this turns out...
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Post by TheRock on Aug 12, 2019 21:23:33 GMT -5
Looks good Eric
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NevadaBill
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2019
Posts: 1,332
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Post by NevadaBill on Aug 13, 2019 11:42:22 GMT -5
Wow, those turned out really great! I had no idea that Wonderstone could take such a shine. I've been thinking about visiting a couple of locations that I know about where I could find some, a bit North of Las Vegas. I'll be in your neck of the woods next week, but returning from a long sweep of California that has business and pleasure wrapped up in it. But I'll probably be exhausted. Otherwise you'd probably find me knocking at your door one morning, asking to be brought to the spot! Hehe. Thanks for sharing! Just give me a heads up and we can probably work something out! I'm going to be busy pretty much all day Tuesday and Wednesday but other than that should be pretty simple to make a run out. It's not far from town at all. Large chunks are _slightly_ more challenging, collecting tumble size is incredibly easy. Argh Thanks Eric. PM incoming.
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