jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Sept 20, 2014 11:54:34 GMT -5
Yes, hail. Hail away. Even bow ?? A cramp in the middle finger ?? Anything
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Post by iant on Sept 20, 2014 12:21:06 GMT -5
Cool glass. For some reason those colours it remind me of Mediterranean holidays. Something I have not enjoyed for many years. Next year god willing?!
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
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Post by jamesp on Sept 20, 2014 13:15:16 GMT -5
Cool glass. For some reason those colours it remind me of Mediterranean holidays. Something I have not enjoyed for many years. Next year god willing?! Naw, you can' go to the Mediterranean and walk the beaches of Scotland. Some have all the fun. life not fair Mediterranean beaches are covered in glass so they say. people hanging around for a good many years
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Post by iant on Sept 20, 2014 13:29:51 GMT -5
In my mind's eye I see the blue skies, turquoise seas, green hills. Ahhh
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Sept 20, 2014 14:06:36 GMT -5
In my mind's eye I see the blue skies, turquoise seas, green hills. Ahhh I know you are teasing me now Ian. May you take a long walk on a short dock.
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Post by nowyo on Sept 20, 2014 23:53:30 GMT -5
Missed a few days, finally got caught up again. James, the time you are spending on this and the attention to detail are amazing. Something to learn with nearly every post. Now I want to go back to Nevada and get a bunch of obsidian again. I've only run a few batches of obsidian, I'm no expert. The photographic journey is incredible. Thanks for taking us along. Russ Cheaper to buy a FRB from catmandewe! Yeah, and would make more sense. More fun to go pick it up off the ground, though! Back to our regularly scheduled program. Russ
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Post by rockpickerforever on Sept 21, 2014 4:33:00 GMT -5
You got that right, Russ! Gotta love the wild caughts!
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Sept 21, 2014 5:20:36 GMT -5
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Post by snowmom on Sept 21, 2014 5:37:46 GMT -5
HAHAHA. great educational thread. I love a story with a happy ending!
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Sept 21, 2014 5:56:58 GMT -5
Pre-grinding a load for a larger run, about 20 pounds, doubling last load. Feeling fairly confident. Same game, lots of glass filler @ 35%, 4 cups sugar/10 pounds, AO steps, and for sure 7/8 full barrel. SiC 30/60 for coarse grind. AO 220, 500, 1000 on hand this time. And extra tumbled glass filler. This load slowly getting shinier, am content with outcome. Will run it in AO Linde .3 micron for kicks. Will try to find AO 5000 for gap between 1000 and 14,000.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Sept 21, 2014 7:26:24 GMT -5
Some scratches. This is something noticed on flat face of flat rocks of this batch. Probably from sliding instead of rolling action. Not hardly visible to naked eye. After 72 hours: Flat shape: Starting to get a defined reflection, improves each day:
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Sept 21, 2014 7:51:03 GMT -5
Tried to inspect surface with loupe at different magnifications. Not so revealing. Digital photo of glare hard to beat. Even though loupe was higher magnification. Something about the light angle highlights the surface. Camera held about 30 degrees from light beam. Camera close to lamp.
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Post by connrock on Sept 21, 2014 8:30:43 GMT -5
First things first,,,GREAT job on the professional photography James! LOL What I'm seeing with the piece you hand polished is that before you hand polished it,it is way too "frosted" to get a glass like shine on it. I don't know what micron Tripoli is but it's what I use for a pre-polish and if I leave the load going for several days(in the vibe) in Tripoli I can get a glass like shine on obsidian,agates and jasper,,,without a polish stage. I use Dreft powdered laundry soap as a thickener/cushion. This is a photo looking straight down into the barrel of Tears/ceramic media/soap and you can see that the soap is pretty thick here,,,, I don't think this would work well in a rotary cuz the rocks would stick to each other too much. I have to keep a pretty close eye on the Lot-O when using this much soap cuz it dries out fairly fast. The amount of grit and polish used in a vibe is MUCH less then in a rotary too.For example,,,I use only 1/2 teaspoon of Tripoli for a 4 lb load of rocks. I use Rapid Polish #61 on agate,jasper and obsidian and get great results.I don't know what the Rapid Polish actually is,,,Aluminum Oxide or Tin Oxide but it does work well for me.It has a "hickory" odor to it,,,sweet smelling. connrock
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Sept 21, 2014 10:28:42 GMT -5
Not sure where the frosting occurred. Scratches too. Curious if 1000 would take them out, or is it going to take a coarser grit. Will find out on next batch by adding one or two of these from this batch at each grit level and tracking them. Am curious if the ones added at 1000 will clean up. Or will it be the ones added at 220 or 500. Will use these for a reference though. Will have to take pictures of the reference rocks to keep up with them ! I am just tickled to tumble these w/out impact pits and get a decent shine for a start.
Tripoli is a great idea. Never heard of it being used to tumble with. It seems that it has a consistency that would do well in a Lot-O. Did it come in a stick or a paste ? Have used the stick on cotton buffing wheels for metals and it is a miracle polish. I looked up Rapid Polish #61, it is a super polish. 75,000 grit or about .3 microns, and is aluminum oxide.
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
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Post by tkvancil on Sept 21, 2014 10:32:59 GMT -5
Glad we are mirroring along tk. The vib is a sure success story on obsidian. Mentioning SiC, I wonder if it digs too deep or something. I read about AO being the preferred grit. So I avoided it except in coarse where the AO 220 could grind the scars away. And thought it did a good job, as it was a very soft frost when done. Vib and rotary are far apart I suppose. I believe obsidian can scratch, and it is glass and we know what a glass cutter can do to it. The AO does round off. And the vib will sure round it. I would order some AO 500 from the Rock Shed. The AO 1000 may take a while to get rid of the surface from the SiC 600 as you mentioned. Thanks for stopping by. Keep your progress posted. 72 hours in AO 1000 and getting a shine of sorts. Going to clean out and go to polish today. Random piece of snowflake. My cheapo camera doesn't have the focus range yours does ...
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Sept 21, 2014 10:42:53 GMT -5
That is closer than my camera shots Ken. I can not focus that close either. I get my magnification from cropping. Back away where the camera will focus, then click off your photo. Can you crop using your computer ? All digital photos have a lot of info that can be blown up. i would guess you have a 10-20 Megapixel camera. Mine is a good camera, but old and only 6 Megapixels. So it does not blow up well, but enough. Notice the top left of the rock is in focus. So backing up an inch or two should get you in focus. I stick the rock on a piece of clay so that a flat face of the rock is facing the camera. Then adjust the desk lamp so the glare is bouncing off the rock and into the camera. it only takes seconds.
Try rubbing the rock on a wet rag w/polish dusted on it to see if you can polish it easy. If it polishes up easy then you may be very close to finish polish.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 21, 2014 12:10:30 GMT -5
Greetings [jamesp] Lortone Pre-polish is 5 microns (equivalent to 5000 grit). Please check out my Sticky's below. -- Please click images to open larger images in a new Tab, same with everything that is Underlined! I currently have a 3lb Beach (UK), Lortone QT 12/66 (USA) rotaries & 2x Viking Vibrasonic (Diamond Pacific) (USA) virbrating tumblers, with Silicon Carbide grit F80, F220, F600, F1200, with Tin Oxide (1.0 micron) & Aluminum Oxide (1.0 micron & 0.3 micron) polishes. I hail from (The Barony of Seabegs) Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire, U.K, where aliens (15mb) sometimes come for a visit & about 4 miles west from that monstrosity & 7 miles west of this new monstrosity! Sticky's: their contents are resource information 1#: Vendors worldwide (2mb), 2#: How to use the forum, 3#: How to identify rocks & minerals, 4#: Save money on expensive grits & polishes, 5#: Aussie Lapidary Forum: Rock Tumbling Guide!
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jamesp
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Posts: 36,548
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Post by jamesp on Sept 21, 2014 12:18:02 GMT -5
Greetings [jamesp] Lortone Pre-polish is 5 microns (equivalent to 5000 grit). Please check out my Sticky's below. -- Please click images to open larger images in a new Tab, same with everything that is Underlined! I currently have a 3lb Beach (UK), Lortone QT 12/66 (USA) rotaries & 2x Viking Vibrasonic (Diamond Pacific) (USA) virbrating tumblers, with Silicon Carbide grit F80, F220, F600, F1200, with Tin Oxide (1.0 micron) & Aluminum Oxide (1.0 micron & 0.3 micron) polishes. I hail from (The Barony of Seabegs) Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire, U.K, where aliens (15mb) sometimes come for a visit & about 4 miles west from that monstrosity & 7 miles west of this new monstrosity! Sticky's: their contents are resource information 1#: Vendors worldwide (2mb), 2#: How to use the forum, 3#: How to identify rocks & minerals, 4#: Save money on expensive grits & polishes, 5#: Aussie Lapidary Forum: Rock Tumbling Guide! Super thanks Andrew. Never tried Lortone. Perfecto
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
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Post by panamark on Sept 21, 2014 12:30:05 GMT -5
Tried to inspect surface with loupe at different magnifications. Not so revealing. Digital photo of glare hard to beat. Even though loupe was higher magnification. Something about the light angle highlights the surface. Camera held about 30 degrees from light beam. Camera close to lamp. Ah-ha, confirmation that photographs inflate flaws. Never thought I looked as bad as my mug shots appear. How many times have we heard "didn't notice the scratch in the cab until I looked at the picture"? But if it magnifies things, why do my fish always look smaller in pictures???
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Sept 21, 2014 13:39:05 GMT -5
Tried to inspect surface with loupe at different magnifications. Not so revealing. Digital photo of glare hard to beat. Even though loupe was higher magnification. Something about the light angle highlights the surface. Camera held about 30 degrees from light beam. Camera close to lamp. Ah-ha, confirmation that photographs inflate flaws. Never thought I looked as bad as my mug shots appear. How many times have we heard "didn't notice the scratch in the cab until I looked at the picture"? But if it magnifies things, why do my fish always look smaller in pictures??? I noticed that when I saw your picture in the Post Office Mark. Something else looks small in my photos. Hey, if the camera can point out the wrongs, it might as well be used for a tool.
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