New Grinder, Big Shiny Pudding Stone, and a Stone Bowl

[fantastic5]

Love both the bowl and the pudding stone. But there was a third rock on the table....I wanna see that one too please.

[Jugglerguy]

May 8, 2017 14:49:53 GMT -5 fantastic5 said:

Love both the bowl and the pudding stone. But there was a third rock on the table....I wanna see that one too please.

Chuck picked that up when he came here to rock hunt. I think he put It in my bucket to haul back. I thought it was for him, but he hauled it home of me to use with my now toy. It's a coral fossil in black matrix. It should be a little quicker than the pudding stone because it's a much softer rock. It needs some serious reshaping because it has some concave areas. That's a project for another day.

[nowyo]

I really like that bowl. Nice job, Rob.

Russ

[Drummond Island Rocks]

I am partial to that awesome pudding stone but I really like that bowl too. Now you just need to make a pudding stone bowl.

Chuck

[Jugglerguy]

May 9, 2017 21:48:12 GMT -5 Drummond Island Rocks said:

I am partial to that awesome pudding stone but I really like that bowl too. Now you just need to make a pudding stone bowl.

Chuck

I'm thinking about it! I think I'll do the big fossil we picked up and maybe a big chunk of Kona dolomite first.

[johnjsgems]

I use a submersible pump with my BD wet polisher. They come with a hose connection but you have to be careful with excessive water pressure which can damage seals. BD/MK has a nice convex grinder that would work great for roughing out bowls.

[Jugglerguy]

May 10, 2017 9:50:53 GMT -5 johnjsgems said:

I use a submersible pump with my BD wet polisher. They come with a hose connection but you have to be careful with excessive water pressure which can damage seals. BD/MK has a nice convex grinder that would work great for roughing out bowls.

Do you have to be careful of contamination when recirculating water?

[captbob]

Couple more quick questions if you don't mind Rob.

I went to Home Depot (had to go there anyway) to check one of these out and it wasn't stocked on the shelf. Maybe has to be ordered off the website. Reckon you shopped around for the best deal... wanna save me the time - where did you get yours?

How loud is this thing when grinding? Thinking that if I get one I may want to use it in the front yard to keep any mess away from areas my dogs can get to - wouldn't want them walking through the rock grinding aftermath. Loud enough to bother the neighbors?

And, I know it's a wet grinder, so hopefully little dust (?) but what kinds mess does grinding something like that pudding stone you did make?

Thanks for any info and insight!

[Jugglerguy]

Someone else sent me a PM asking almost the exact same questions, Bob. I'm going to paste my response to him here.

I don't mind sharing info at all. After all, isn't that what this site is for? I'll warn you ahead of time that this is not cheap. I'm a teacher and I took on the extra job of teaching a student who has been expelled. I'm making some extra money there and I decided to spend in in irresponsible ways. This was one of those crazy purchases.

I've always wanted to make a birdbath out of a large boulder. I now have the tools to do that, but haven't had the boulder moved yet. I'm not sure I'll do that yet, but this was my practice project. I was also inspired by this stone sink video, but I never figured out how he got his sink so smooth.

Last summer I started the bowl using just a regular angle grinder with a diamond blade. I made cross hatch cuts to start the bowl. I used a chisel to remove the material after I had cut grooves about every half inch. I tried to keep things wet, but it was a very dusty project. Wear a mask. After I had cut and chiseled a couple of times, I used a diamond cup grinder from Harbor Freight to smooth things out. At this point the bowl was formed, but not smooth or shiny.



That rough interior has bugged me since last summer, so I was glad to finally finish it up this summer. I bought a Makita stone polisher from Amazon. It was $280 when I got it. I've been following it for a while and it's usually $300. I got polishing pads from The Tool Jungle. I actually bought my first set from the Tool Jungle through eBay because the deal was a little better. I ordered a second time later to get a softer backer pad. Get the softest one they sell, so that it contours to the bowl better. I have the following grits: 30, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1500, 3000. I also bought a pad called "buff", but it didn't do any good. I need to get a felt pad. I'd also like to find a finer grit than 3000. I pretty much wore out the 30 grit because I was just using the edge to get into the bowl. When you buy your grinder, be sure to buy a Gardena quick connect. I got just the female part from a local hardware store for $5. The biggest complaint about the grinder was that the connector doesn't work with regular garden hoses. Some of the reviews I read gave the grinder one star just for this. I've also read that you can burn out the motor if you don't use a heavy enough extension cord.

I wear rubber garden shoes and I bought a pair of fairly heavy rubber gloves for $5 from Home Depot as added protection against electrocution. My outdoor outlets have GFI and there's a GFI in the cord of the grinder. Hopefully I won't die.

I hope that helps. If you learn any tricks that I haven't run across yet, please share them. I'm just learning, but I'm pretty happy with my results so far. It was a fun project and I plan to do more.

Response to a question about noise:

The noise question is hard to answer. I made most of the bowl last summer and I was wearing earplugs. I think that grinder is louder. I'm not sure that I can put a saw blade on my new grinder, but I haven't really tried yet. The new grinder is not so loud because it's mostly sanding, not cutting. Maybe you could compare it to a rock saw vs. a flat lap or cabber. With the new grinder I was listening to podcasts on earbuds that have rubber tips and go into my ears. It was not hard to hear the podcast. I could take a quick video next time I use both machines if that would help. My guess is that the dry angle grinder might bother the neighbors, especially if they were outside or had their windows open.

As for the mess, that's something I'm struggling with. I'm not sure if I'm running too much water, but it get pretty wet around my feet. I'm afraid that I'm going to ruin my lawn by walking around on such wet ground. There was no dust, but I wore a mask anyway. The plants in the nearby garden where covered in rock dust from the mist landing on them. I just waited for the rain to wash them off, but I probably should have sprayed the with the garden hose. I don't think the rock dust itself will be bad for the grass, but I wouldn't want to keep doing this in the same spot. The problem is that my heavy extension cord isn't that long. I might just have to buy another and move into the woods. The other option would be to work in different areas of the lawn so the rock dust doesn't build up too much in one place.

If you have more questions, let me know.

[captbob]

Thank you sir! I appreciate the answers. I had thought about sending a PM but figured others here may wanna know as well.

Think I'll get one to mess around with. I specialize in BIG rocks. Been face cutting many lately and throwing them on one of my vibrating laps. Such heavy rocks aren't good for the life of a vibe lap pan. Being able to do most of the steps quickly with such a wet grinder a huge plus. Polishing on the vibe lap no biggie, only wearing out a piece of carpet.

Thanks again!

[morerockspleaz]

Very nice. I like the bowl, been thinking about trying something with petrified wood. Beautiful pudding stone.