StoneCrazy
spending too much on rocks
Stone Crazy
Member since July 2011
Posts: 331
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Post by StoneCrazy on Aug 2, 2011 8:28:28 GMT -5
Well im on my third batch of rocks. First two failed. I'm going to leave them in there longer this time. Im not using course grit because these rocks are off the beach and already rounded. My problem is im too anxious to get them finished. I didn't leave the first two batches in the medium grit long enough. I guess 5 days is too short. But they felt real smooth I thought.
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Post by paulshiroma on Aug 2, 2011 8:56:33 GMT -5
Totally understand that! Messed up a batch by getting impatient and moving them along too quickly. I ended up getting a magnifying glass so that I could check for imperfections. Taking a photo also helps. The photos seem to reveal a lot of imperfections.
If you check through the threads, you might find some good ideas on why to use the coarse stages. I changed up my pattern after reading several of them. Just a thought ;D
Good Luck! I'm still learning too! Paul
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Steve
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2005
Posts: 506
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Post by Steve on Aug 2, 2011 9:23:05 GMT -5
Once as an experiment, I skipped the 60/90 run with carefully selected, very smooth, beach rocks. I see no reason to repeat this experiment. Already round just means that multiple course runs are not necessary. Slower is faster.
I found the best solution to moving along too quick is to have multiple tumblers. Addicting hobby - enjoy.
Steve
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,466
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Post by Sabre52 on Aug 2, 2011 9:49:07 GMT -5
I never skip coarse grind even when tumbling river washed prerounded rocks. I still run rough grind at least two weeks in a rotary as I think this is the single most important stage to insure you proceed to the next step with well shaped smooth stones. I've now shortened my fine grind to just a couple of days in the vibe as the only thing fine grind does is remove the minute scratches from coarse and most the fine grinding has been achieved by the coarse grit breaking down anyway. Then after fine grind, I run prepolish and polish for a week each which is probably much longer than necessary in the vibe but seems to turn out great results.....Mel
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StoneCrazy
spending too much on rocks
Stone Crazy
Member since July 2011
Posts: 331
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Post by StoneCrazy on Aug 2, 2011 10:36:45 GMT -5
Thats very interesting. I have heard that I can skip this step. Here is a picture of some of the rocks I tumble. Wouldn't the course grit grind them to about nothing? Attachments:
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Post by jakesrocks on Aug 2, 2011 11:09:54 GMT -5
I run my rocks for 5 weeks in 60/90 grit, regardless of how smooth they are at the beginning. The extra time only serves to remove and round off rough edges. It won't remove very much size. By the time the 5 weeks are over, the 60/90 grit has broken down enough that I could almost bypass the next stage and go straight to pre polish. I'm using a 15 pound rotary, and start out with 14 pounds of rock and grit. At the end of 5 weeks, I still have over 13 pounds of rocks, so you can see that the course grind really doesn't remove that much material.
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Post by johnjsgems on Aug 2, 2011 11:11:43 GMT -5
I ran my beach rocks for at least 4-5 days in 60/90 to remove any big scratches that tend to show up in later steps. Short run would not reduce size much at all. The beaches I collected at were so loaded with rock I could leave behind fractured/gouged rocks. There were always these very nice green rocks that never took a polish no matter what.
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jspencer
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since March 2011
Posts: 929
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Post by jspencer on Aug 3, 2011 0:23:03 GMT -5
The stones you have are plentiful in a place I go to often to hunt. They are going to take some long runs in each stage to polish them. You won`t even notice any size change due to the smoothing of these. We also have the luxury of leaving the fractured or pitted stones. With good long runs though you`ll end up with some good depth to the crackled look and glossy coating. Some I have had to keep adding the same rock to a few different batches to get them to polish good. But the payoff is the result of exercising patience. Of which I have little! I normally use my rotary for the 1st stage at a minimum if not 2nd stage too. Then I finish up in vibe which is much faster. Much like Mels process. Good luck with them!
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StoneCrazy
spending too much on rocks
Stone Crazy
Member since July 2011
Posts: 331
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Post by StoneCrazy on Aug 3, 2011 8:35:06 GMT -5
OK I got to visit The Rock Shed then Thanks guys I will try that.
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