adrian65
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Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,792
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Post by adrian65 on Mar 3, 2007 4:02:16 GMT -5
Hi, I've put my first stones in the tumbler five days ago. Yesterday I inspected them and they already look pretty. They are jaspers from riverbeds, so they were already rounded from the beginning.
My problems are
1. I have a Lortone rotary tumbler which came with a sort of granular material about 1 mm diameter and yellow - light brown.
What is this? What should I do with it?
2. I know that in the polishing stage is useful to add sugar in the polish + water mix, in order to make the "soup" more viscous and avoid strong hits between rocks. Could anybody tell me how much sugar must be added (proportion between water and sugar)? I know about plastic pellets too, but I don't find any.
3. I have aluminium oxide and cerium oxide for polish. Any advice which is the best?
Thank you in advance for advices,
Adrian
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Terry664
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since March 2005
Posts: 1,146
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Post by Terry664 on Mar 3, 2007 9:44:18 GMT -5
Adrian, I am not sure but my guess on the powder you have is Tripoli or some type of pre-polish. As for the sugar some people on here have said it is not a good idea and makes a mess, never tryed it myself. I would prefer using cut up foam, or plastic pieces. Also some people find stuffed dolls with pellets in them. Sorry I couldn't help more. I have never used Cerium, but have used AO and like it.
Terry
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adrian65
Cave Dweller
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,792
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Post by adrian65 on Mar 3, 2007 11:07:27 GMT -5
Thank you, Terry. Good ideea with the dolls. I think my daughter's dolls are in great danger, but she doesn't know yet  . That Tripoli, should I use it as it is or in combination with water? Adrian |
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Terry664
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since March 2005
Posts: 1,146
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Post by Terry664 on Mar 5, 2007 8:26:05 GMT -5
Just add it to your barrel, like you would grit.
Terry
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RockyBlue
fully equipped rock polisher
Go U.K.
Member since June 2006
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Post by RockyBlue on Mar 5, 2007 8:30:02 GMT -5
Hey Adrian!
I use AO polish all the time no matter what type of rock i`m tumbling and i always get good results,
right now i have a tumbler full of Botswana Agate tumbling in tripoli,it`s the 1st.time i`ve used it as a pre polish.i`m trying the 5 stage method to git a super shine if i can........Rocky
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adrian65
Cave Dweller
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,792
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Post by adrian65 on Mar 5, 2007 9:16:46 GMT -5
What's that 5 stage method?
I still don't understand: tripoli with or without water?
Thank you,
Adrian
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Post by snowdog on Mar 5, 2007 9:34:10 GMT -5
Hi I sent you a "pm" --- check the top of the page and click on " messages" to get it
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Terry664
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since March 2005
Posts: 1,146
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Post by Terry664 on Mar 5, 2007 10:03:53 GMT -5
Don't you use water with your grits? You add water
Terry
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yogi
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2006
Posts: 175
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Post by yogi on Mar 5, 2007 10:45:19 GMT -5
Hi Adrian65,
Yes, water with all steps.
Instead of pellets or suger you could use rubber bands.
5 step polishing:
1. rough-60/90G as long as it takes (very rough stone can take months)
2. med-120/220G for a week
3. fine-500G for a week
4. Pre Polish-Tripoli (I use 1000G with very good results) for a week
5. Polish- AO, CreOx, or any of a dozen others (I use AO on every thing) for a week to 10 days. (AO seems to work better if you extend the polish to 10days)
I burnish with Borax between each stage. If you can't find Borax, you could try a very mild laundry soap
Hope this helps,
Bill
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adrian65
Cave Dweller
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,792
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Post by adrian65 on Mar 5, 2007 11:29:30 GMT -5
Wow, with such advices, now I feel I'm a doctor in tumbling . Meantime, I purchased plastic pellets. Thank you everybody. When ready, I will post some pictures of these pebbles. Adrian |
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181lizard
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Still lurking :)
Member since December 2005
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Post by 181lizard on Mar 6, 2007 1:49:43 GMT -5
Hey there Adrian!
Just in case no one else mentioned it:
Sugar - Lots of members say to stay away from things that are "organic" in nature. I think they say that because besides being messy...bacteria can develope.
Always use water when tumbling. (no matter what stage)
If you don't have a dedicated barrel for each of your polish stages...be very careful when cleaning it for next use. Sometimes, left over grit can cross contaminate causing more scratches on rocks. I have 4 different barrels.
Pellets - use in stages 2, 3 &4. Pretty much all of use re-use these time after time. (again...pellets in stage 2 should stay with stage 2 rocks and so on) There's lots of info on tumbling around here...read - read - & read!!! If you don't find answers...just ask.
Welcome!
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wm7734
spending too much on rocks
wheres my rockhammer ?
Member since January 2007
Posts: 252
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Post by wm7734 on Mar 6, 2007 8:19:00 GMT -5
can ANYBODY give me tips on tumbling turquoise?ive had fair luck so far but seems some pieces just wont lighten up(tumble)some rocks have been through 1st stage 3 timess
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stefan
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Member since January 2005
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Post by stefan on Mar 7, 2007 12:28:36 GMT -5
WM- Turquoise is a difficult tumble- it is soft- so treat it with care (pellets in all stages- and tumble it by itself) I have seen tumbled nuggets so it is possible!
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RockyBlue
fully equipped rock polisher
Go U.K.
Member since June 2006
Posts: 1,719
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Post by RockyBlue on Mar 7, 2007 18:25:20 GMT -5
I agree with Bill,exactly, right down to the last letter, do it like that and you`ll come up with
some beautys.............Rocky
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wm7734
spending too much on rocks
wheres my rockhammer ?
Member since January 2007
Posts: 252
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Post by wm7734 on Mar 10, 2007 2:53:47 GMT -5
thanks guys appreciate it
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Maybe you can post some pictures here