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Post by fernwood on Aug 14, 2019 7:49:17 GMT -5
I did a mixed batch of tumbles in the 3 lb. rotary. All was well until I did a clean out after 1200 AO. Life got in the way and I let them run for about 12 days. There was a mix of smooth stones/cabs and some with druzy pockets. There was a ton of pre-polish stuck in the pockets, so I did a 24 hr run of Borax cleaning. Checked this AM and there is still a lot of pre-polish left on/in the pockets. I wanted to keep the pockets intact. Spent about an hour using a stiff nylon brush to clean the pockets best I could. They are back in Borax for another 24 hours. I threw in extra plastic tumbling pellets and reduced the water level a little from my norm. Am hoping this works, as there are a lot of nice rocks/cabs in this bunch. It has only been going for about 2.5 months. Any thoughts if I did the correct things? Thanks 8-15 Here is what they looked like after another 24 hrs in cleaning. Scrubbed a few with the brush. The polish is now soft. Found a few that were OK for polish stage. The rest are in a water bag until I have time to brush them. Some of the pre-polish is in crazing that formed in pre-polish. Some is in crystal pockets and fossil undercutting.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,680
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Post by Fossilman on Aug 14, 2019 9:03:01 GMT -5
I pressure wash the druzy pockets on mine, if they load up with grit.... Works great...
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JBe
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2019
Posts: 103
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Post by JBe on Aug 14, 2019 9:17:38 GMT -5
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jimaz
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2018
Posts: 461
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Post by jimaz on Aug 14, 2019 11:29:45 GMT -5
If you have a water pik it will also help.
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Post by greig on Aug 14, 2019 13:31:46 GMT -5
Wow. That is some stubborn pre-polish. For sure, you want to clean it out of there, so your polish isn't contaminated. I would use a fabric gun to clean the rocks individually (because I have one). Usually, I am able to extra-clean rocks by running them together in the tumbler with clean water for 20 minutes. I have never done it for 24 hours, so your pre-polish is major stuck. It doesn't sound like borax is working. I don't have a good answer, but I think I would try something other than borax and TSP comes immediately to mind.
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Post by fernwood on Aug 14, 2019 14:05:51 GMT -5
I will see what they look like tomorrow. This is my 4th batch with crystal pockets and have never had this happen before. At least the rocks are already very shiny, lol.
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Post by rmf on Aug 15, 2019 3:54:16 GMT -5
If you know some one that makes jewelry use their ultrasonic cleaner.
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