181lizard
Cave Dweller
Still lurking :)
Member since December 2005
Posts: 2,171
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Post by 181lizard on Oct 5, 2007 16:26:13 GMT -5
I am sick, Sick, SICK to DEATH of work right now. So I took a few minutes to take care of my Topaz batch. Can't remember who it was that did a batch of these a few weeks back...but I loved them soooo much, I had to try. I'm gonna pick a few to drill on & see if I can't get them to look cool on a necklace or pendant somehow. This picture is some little odds & ends I threw in to fill out the barrel with the pellets. Thanks for lookin all!
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stonesnbones
spending too much on rocks
Member since September 2007
Posts: 255
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Post by stonesnbones on Oct 5, 2007 16:35:27 GMT -5
Ahhh nothing like lapidary work to relieve stress.That topaz is cool may I ask where you bought it?It appears some of that is silver topaz and that is my favorite to cab and polish.
Brad
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Post by flintfish on Oct 5, 2007 16:35:28 GMT -5
Wow!! I've never seen Topaz tumbled before Lizard, I must have missed the batch a week or two ago. You sure got a brilliant batch of pretty rocks there! Thanks for sharing them with us. I hope they drill up well for you, they would make a wonderful bracelet or necklace. There seems to be a few coloour variations, did it have that gentle green or blue tint on any pieces? I really love the batch you've made WTG!!! They are fabulous. Oh - I'm fairly tired of work too Rocks are the best distraction Cheers, Harry.
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Post by LCARS on Oct 5, 2007 17:27:58 GMT -5
Cool, first time i've seen tumble polished topaz! I should have a finished batch of mixed agates and goodies to post pics of myself, sometime before the weekend's over...
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Post by Bikerrandy on Oct 5, 2007 18:35:28 GMT -5
I've never seen that either, too cool!! The odds and ends are great!
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raqy
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since March 2007
Posts: 799
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Post by raqy on Oct 5, 2007 18:37:31 GMT -5
Looks like ice. Very pretty.
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Post by beefjello on Oct 5, 2007 18:48:56 GMT -5
Nice little plateful of ice cubes! I like it!! The odds & ends platter looks tasty as well!
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181lizard
Cave Dweller
Still lurking :)
Member since December 2005
Posts: 2,171
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Post by 181lizard on Oct 5, 2007 19:11:59 GMT -5
Thanks all...I got them from roughgemstones on ebay. A little over 1400 cts for 17.00. (one of those best offers) I'm gonna try for a bigger batch in a few weeks.
thanks Harry! I think they're real pretty. I was pleasantly surprised that the pale blue were actually fairly clear. Brad...I've never heard of silver topaz before...but it sure suits. Some of the pieces have a shiller type effect...like sunstones and they almost have a mirror glow. Would that be considered silver?
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Post by cpdad on Oct 5, 2007 19:20:36 GMT -5
yep...a first for me to....those are nice!...kev.
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oriongal
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since May 2007
Posts: 96
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Post by oriongal on Oct 8, 2007 9:14:46 GMT -5
It was me, I think... forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1185648282Those came out gorgeous, Liz! I've bought some more myself (from several different vendors on eBay - another good one for topaz is wizgems2005 - pretty much all the blue topaz in the batch I did came from him), but haven't set it tumbling yet. Don't have a free tumbler to put them in just now, <grin>. Looks also like you got almost all clear pieces as well, very nice! I actually like most of the ones I have that have a few inclusions, but wasn't as thrilled with the ones that were so bad that you can't see through them at all. Fortunately I didn't have a lot that were like that, but a few were - and those mostly the larger ones. Very nice job on them, glad they came out well for you!
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181lizard
Cave Dweller
Still lurking :)
Member since December 2005
Posts: 2,171
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Post by 181lizard on Oct 8, 2007 11:19:01 GMT -5
There YOu Are!! Yup...yours are what inspired me to try!
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dtcmor
freely admits to licking rocks
Back to lickin' rocks again!
Member since May 2006
Posts: 898
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Post by dtcmor on Oct 8, 2007 11:29:53 GMT -5
Really great batch Liz! You are right in that this is a relaxing hobby - I think it is the patients factor that helps one unwind from the rest of the world - that and the satisfaction of seeing beautiful results in the end! Great job!
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oriongal
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since May 2007
Posts: 96
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Post by oriongal on Oct 8, 2007 14:55:37 GMT -5
Yeah, haven't been around much lately - been doing lots of traveling, and that keeps interrupting my tumbling. Leaving for the UK day after tomorrow as well, which means cleaning out all the tumblers again. Also don't have much to show lately, though I do have a couple of loads (some rainforest jasper, and some quartz) that should be about ready to go into polish when I get back. I'm actually kind of surprised that nobody had tumbled (or posted about having tumbled) topaz before. But then again, I don't suppose that most gemstones are typical rockhound fare either. Since there isn't really much in the way of rockhounding in Florida, I figured that if I was going to have to buy rocks at all, might as well have some of 'em be gemstones that I like. I didn't know any better, and as they say, ignorance is bliss. After my mixed load of rocks that I'd picked up in Oman (and before finding RTH), I actually started out with some mixed ruby/sapphire. It was only after I'd had it in for a few weeks that I learned that it 'couldn't' be tumbled. I abandoned it after reading on a few sites that it was folly to even try (not here, in fact I did read here that someone else had done some corundum long ago), but after reading here, and comparing the results I'd gotten even in coarse grind to what the experts seemed to be telling me I'd get, I decided to put them back in again. I bought some more rough to make a full 3# load, and this time I took before and after pics of just how much shaping did occur in rough grind (ungraded 60/90 SC grit). Rough, before, dry and wet: After about 3 weeks in coarse, recharging every week (with the batch above added to the batch I'd done previously in coarse): I sent the pics off to an Australian sapphire expert who claims on his site that: "Every rockhound knows that if you put a sapphire crystal in a tumbling machine with grinding compound and let it run for even 10 weeks the sapphire will probably still have it's corners still visible. If you do the sum for a 500mm diameter tumbler doing 40 revs per minute, for 60 mins/hour, 24 hrs/day, 7days/week, for 10 weeks - you will find that your sapphire has traveled some 6,000 kilometres in a dry abrasive environment - but is still not reduced to a round pebble." Guess that's more proof that I'm really not a rockhound, because they sure look like they've lost most of their corners to me - and after quite a bit less than 10 weeks too, <grin>. What I'm guessing I'm not going to see with these (using regular methods) will be a shiny polish. Silicon carbide is just slightly harder than corundum, so I can see it continuing to do the job through the fine-grit stage - just not as fast as it would on something softer. What I'm guessing I won't see is a good prepolish/polish without some sort of diamond-based grit. But I'll take it all the way through and see what turns out. I've already exceeded the expectation I had of regular grit doing anything with these, so the last phases might surprise me yet as well. And if they don't work out, I do have some diamond-based polish I can throw them in with at the end. In the meantime I'm not bothered that they're taking up a single barrel for a long time - they're in the CE out in the garage, and having anything taking up a barrel on it for potentially a very long time isn't too bothersome to me. I doubt I'd be willing to make the same commitment on one of the Lortones or Lot-O's though.
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