Foreverdown
having dreams about rocks
Member since August 2004
Posts: 66
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Post by Foreverdown on Nov 23, 2004 13:45:43 GMT -5
Hi All, A few months ago, I took my son to a creek nearby to look for rocks. I am in south Mississippi and the rock pickins' are not that great. I found creeks and gravel pits are about the only thing around here, other than the neighbors rock garden. Anyway, on our way back to the truck, I had noticed that someone had thrown a 30 something inch TV off of the bridge. On closer inspection, I found the glass very interesting and took home several pieces. I have seen the tumbled glass on this sight and decided to try and do a batch. I mixed some slag glass I bought in Arkansas and some pieces of the TV screen. I have to say I was amazed at how the TV screen glass came out. First of all, the TV glass is about 3/4" thick and smokey colored. SO, all the pieces come out looking like slabs with well rounded corners. The smokey color of the glass also adds to the overall asthetics. I had several pieces come out and are ready for jewelry. Two matching earrings and two different pendants. Like they say, "One mans trash is another mans tumblings". ;D Will try to get some pics tomorrow. [glow=blue,2,300]Brett[/glow]
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Post by rockyraccoon on Nov 23, 2004 14:19:24 GMT -5
brett can't wait to see the pics. did you start at 60/90 or 120/220? tell us exactly what you did.
kim
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Foreverdown
having dreams about rocks
Member since August 2004
Posts: 66
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Post by Foreverdown on Nov 23, 2004 14:38:12 GMT -5
When I broke up the slag glass that I had bought with a hammer, it was very sharp edged and pointy. I also had alot of small pieces from shattering them. I decided to use pellets in all stages for cushion because I didn't want it to crumble.
I ran in 60/90 for 4 days, then 120/220 for 5 days. The glass relly looked cool at this point, but I decided to see if I can go all the way through polish.
Next, 500 for 5 days and AO polish for 5 days. Then I burnished in water and Ivory soap for around 36 hours, due to my time schedule.
They came out ok, but not polished like 'glass'. Can you polish glass all the way to optical quality? I would probably need a different polish. Anyway, I took out a few pieces along the way so I could keep track of the progress.
Glass is pretty cool to tumble and probably shapes fairly well with a Dremel. Haven't tried that yet...LOL
[glow=blue,2,300]Brett[/glow]
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Foreverdown
having dreams about rocks
Member since August 2004
Posts: 66
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Post by Foreverdown on Nov 23, 2004 14:39:07 GMT -5
BTW... That was done in a dual 3 lb. CE tumbler.
Brett
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Post by cookie3rocks on Nov 23, 2004 19:49:13 GMT -5
Brett, There is such a thing as "optical grade" cerium oxide. I don't know if that applies to all polishes. I had the optical grade and mixed it with the regular cerium on agates and flint with excellent results, glassy, mirror finish. Then I screwed up, thought it was regular cerium and used it on a local batch that had no chance from the get-go. Now I don't have any I believe KingsleyNortgh carries it, but they are moving away from grit and findings and going after the hard core jewlery/gem makers at this point. Good Luck, cookie
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Pdwight
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2003
Posts: 619
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Post by Pdwight on Nov 24, 2004 18:01:18 GMT -5
I worked all through high school in the early 70s in a TV Repairshop, anyone remember those?? ;-)
Anyway we would replace the CRT or TV Tube ocasionally and we would always break the neck off the tube to make it safe...when you get a look at a "Picture Tube" it makes you realize how stupid those movie scenes when a person sticks his foot through a TV's face.
Dwight P
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