Attempt at 'Mexican Beach Pebbles' *pics*
Oct 19, 2019 11:21:31 GMT -5
captbob, RickB, and 6 more like this
Post by hornagain on Oct 19, 2019 11:21:31 GMT -5
After wasting about $40 on Ebay for some "outstanding" agate that was closer to "terrible" agate, I decided to go as low cost as I could and headed to the local hardscape store to see what I could find.
Nothing was too appealing except some Mexican Beach Pebbles. They were beautifully rounded but soft and minutely pitted. Undeterred, I bought about 35 lbs of mixed colors and sizes from 1" to 4". I also wanted to use gravel as my tumbling media so I bought 1/2" to 1" 'Aztec Gravel"
I was also leaving town in 9 days so this project was going to have to be quick.
Recipe:
Overall the results were better than I expected. The variety of rocks were much better than I expected when I just randomly purchased 35 pounds of bulk landscape pebbles.
Here are the final rocks...the complete batch including the Aztec gravel media. Note the Quarter..i.e. some of these rocks were quite large but their rounded shape made them tumble well in the vibe.
Here are the before/after showing the washed Mexican Beach Pebbles and Aztec Gravel before tumbling.
A couple of closer-ups of interesting finds in the batch. The second pic is an oddball from the Aztec Gravel
Nothing was too appealing except some Mexican Beach Pebbles. They were beautifully rounded but soft and minutely pitted. Undeterred, I bought about 35 lbs of mixed colors and sizes from 1" to 4". I also wanted to use gravel as my tumbling media so I bought 1/2" to 1" 'Aztec Gravel"
I was also leaving town in 9 days so this project was going to have to be quick.
Recipe:
- UV-10 Vibe
- Handfuls of Aztec gravel for tumbling media
- Mixed sizes from 3/4" to 4" of nice rounded beach pebbles
- 2+2 days of Medium Grit 150/220 SiC - 6 TBS. I did a grit change after 2 days because the mud buildup from some of the softer stones (probably the Aztec gravel) was too great to manage. I had hoped this relatively longer run in the medium grit would grind down all of the tiny pits in the rocks. I 'sorta' did on some rocks but most still had some tiny pits. After a thorough wash with a power hose, I ran a few hours with dish soap before the next step.
- 2 days in Fine Grit 500 Sic - 3TBS. I ran this one day 'normally' and one day with thickened batter by adding Borax I probably needed another day here but I was on a timeline to finish in 9 total days and I had burned 4 in the first stage. After a thorough wash with a power hose, I ran a few hours with dish soap and Borax before the next step.
- 2.5 days in AO Polish - 3TBS. I experimented with Borax again here as the shine was slow in coming. i.e. ran a day with thin batter and a day with thick batter.
- .5 days in bar soap, borax, and liquid dish soap. I was throwing everything at it to get a decent shine plus try and dislodge the embedded polish.
Overall the results were better than I expected. The variety of rocks were much better than I expected when I just randomly purchased 35 pounds of bulk landscape pebbles.
Here are the final rocks...the complete batch including the Aztec gravel media. Note the Quarter..i.e. some of these rocks were quite large but their rounded shape made them tumble well in the vibe.
Here are the before/after showing the washed Mexican Beach Pebbles and Aztec Gravel before tumbling.
A couple of closer-ups of interesting finds in the batch. The second pic is an oddball from the Aztec Gravel