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Post by Jugglerguy on Jun 12, 2015 10:17:02 GMT -5
I've always heard that Petoskey stones are soft enough to polish by hand, but I had never really tried it. Now I've tried it and found that it works great. I bought an assorted package of wet/dry sandpaper at an automotive store. I started with 320 grit, then 600, and finally 800. It looked pretty good at that point, but didn't really shine. When I do them on a flat lap, I would use Zam with a Dremel at this point, but I wanted to continue by hand. I really wanted to find a polish that I could recommend for someone to buy locally, but I couldn't find anything that worked. I read on the Internet that rubbing compound works, so I bought a can of Turtle Wax rubbing compound. I used it on denim, but it had no effect. Then I tried tooth paste, baking soda, and Soft Scrub. None of them did a thing, except the toothpaste made my rock smell minty. I also read that a product called Dico PBC plastic polish works well and is available at Ace Hardware. We don't have an Ace in town, but we went to Petoskey yesterday and I stopped at two Aces, but couldn't find any. I gave up this morning and just use Aluminum oxide on denim and it worked great. Here are the pictures. The back of the rock was bad so I didn't bother polishing it. Here's the natural rock. It's about an inch by an inch and a half. This is what it looks like when sanding with 320 wet/dry paper. i spent about 25 minutes on this stage and then about five minutes on each stage after this. I forgot to take a picture after 320, but here's what it looked like after 600: After 800 there wasn't much change. Here it is after AO polish:
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Post by captbob on Jun 12, 2015 10:27:47 GMT -5
Bonus cool points for doing it by hand! How long did it take?
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Post by rockpickerforever on Jun 12, 2015 11:06:14 GMT -5
Wow, very nice, Rob. That is way cool!
Bonus cool points for doing it by hand! How long did it take? Uh, captbob, I know it is purdy, but didja just look at the pictures? 25 + 15 (5 min X 3 stages [600, 800, AO polish]) = 40 minutes.
This is what it looks like when sanding with 320 wet/dry paper. i spent about 25 minutes on this stage and then about five minutes on each stage after this.Too bad all Petosky stones are that bland tannish color. Wouldn't it be awesome if they were red, green and yellow? But those polyps sure show up good!
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jun 12, 2015 11:18:44 GMT -5
Good math, good math!
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Post by rockpickerforever on Jun 12, 2015 11:21:23 GMT -5
Bonus points for me, yay!
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Post by iant on Jun 12, 2015 11:31:44 GMT -5
Great Stuff Rob!
The Petoskey fish and pebble you sent still rest on my mantel piece and are great talking points.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jun 12, 2015 12:18:09 GMT -5
Do you talk about what shape that fish is supposed to be? I have to work on my fish shapes!
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Post by orrum on Jun 12, 2015 16:00:40 GMT -5
Now that thread should be a sticky!
I have a friend in Q that does a lot of stones by hand, they are healing stones. Brian is always rubbing a rock on his shirt, jeans or a flannel cloth.
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Post by adam on Jun 12, 2015 16:01:05 GMT -5
Wicked cool finish. Great work!
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swiper
having dreams about rocks
Member since June 2014
Posts: 64
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Post by swiper on Jun 12, 2015 16:53:00 GMT -5
Cool looking rock!! Nice work.
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peachfront
fully equipped rock polisher
Stones have begun to speak, because an ear is there to hear them.
Member since August 2010
Posts: 1,745
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Post by peachfront on Jun 12, 2015 17:45:09 GMT -5
Beautiful. Much better than the one I posted back in the day although I'm still fond of it since it was my first try. I need to try it again with your technique.
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Post by snowmom on Jun 12, 2015 18:12:17 GMT -5
Looks great, now I want to try it too. There are also pink Petoskey stones, over Petoskey way, they are rare, but there are some out there. They can command some pretty prices, too. Thanks for the Demo jugglerguy,and the inspiration. I know what my next project is going to be. fun to do!
www.snobappealjewelry.com/blog/tag/pink-petoskey-stone/
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,676
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Post by Fossilman on Jun 12, 2015 18:19:23 GMT -5
Now that's a reward for some great work!!!!!!! AWESOME!!!!!!!
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Post by adam on Jun 12, 2015 18:41:28 GMT -5
If anyone can help me, would greatly appreciate. Can I hand polish an agate with wet sand paper, water, polish, and denim? I would like to try my hand at the work. Also grit types for the sandpaper? Perhaps 50-120 for the first stage? And then keep doing finer grit?
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jun 12, 2015 18:48:49 GMT -5
Petoskey stones are extremely soft, about MOHs 3. Agates are MOHs 7. What took me an hour or so might take months with an agate.
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Post by orrum on Jun 12, 2015 19:00:24 GMT -5
An agate by hand..... makes me think of a rock tumbling along in the river.... said rock would be a piece of petrified dino bone.... rollin, rolling for millions of years and it's almost round now.... a few more million and it will not only be round but shiny!!
My friend Brian polishes copal, turquoise, fluorite etc by hand true but they are very soft on the mohs scale.
My suddestion is to get a dremel, that's how I started, very cheap way to start. Well a tumbler too.
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Jun 12, 2015 19:17:07 GMT -5
None of them did a thing, except the toothpaste made my rock smell minty. LOL, Well that's not all bad.
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Post by adam on Jun 12, 2015 20:45:04 GMT -5
Well, I can tumble to the smaller chunks of agates that I find, but recently I bought a blue Uruguay fortification agate. Good price, I think. Wish I had a job. In a few months, at least, I'll start at my college. I ain't complaining. I've no experience with a dremel, sadly. One of these days, that'll change.
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Post by iant on Jun 13, 2015 15:31:13 GMT -5
Do you talk about what shape that fish is supposed to be? I have to work on my fish shapes! No, its meant to be what you made it to be. Remember I first thought it was a Christmas tree. Beautiful either way!
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cardiobill
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since March 2012
Posts: 879
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Post by cardiobill on Jun 13, 2015 17:56:21 GMT -5
Rob, Looks great It's probably obvious but how did you polish with AO? Did you just sprinle some on a wet cloth and rub? I hand sanded 2 petosky's just like you did but never thought to polish them They actually look a little shiney without polish but nothing like yours
Thanks Bill
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