mrflake
having dreams about rocks
Member since August 2003
Posts: 58
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Post by mrflake on Sept 20, 2003 4:49:43 GMT -5
Proof (if it were needed) of the need to use totally seperate items for different grits, polishes, cloths in fact almost anything that comes into conact with stones being "gritted down". I had recieved some amber recently and of course it cannot be tumbled so I started to hand polish it (bear with me it realtes to tumbling in the end anyway) starting with 80 grit on a hard plastic sheet, moved to another corner of the sheet for 220 grit then another corner for 400 grit ( now, as you know,400 looks like fine dust, in fact you can get it to fall out of thge container invisibly and only show as a light grey dusting on the plastic). Finally on to cerium oxide, and the problem, it was possible to feel something harse rubbing under the oxide and yet nothing was visible in the paste and yet massive scratches were appearing on the amber. I eventually watererd the paste down to a pale water liwuid and got the loupe out, there in the paste were tiney pieces of the 400 grit, only just visible to my eyes and yet the devastation they were casuing was immense. So clean , clean,clean the rocks before stages just one tiny piece of grit means the difference between great results or total frustration.
Oh, and I hand facetted the amber and (eventually it looked really good)
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mrflake
having dreams about rocks
Member since August 2003
Posts: 58
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Post by mrflake on Sept 20, 2003 4:51:17 GMT -5
er ooops Harse should be harsh and pale water liwuid should be watery liquid..!!!
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WilliamC
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2003
Posts: 416
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Post by WilliamC on Sept 20, 2003 21:32:45 GMT -5
Greetings All, I see you are experiencing and thinking the same things I have as I got my first batch through the entire process. Cleaning the rocks between stages and keeping coarser grit from contaminating the rocks in the later stages is the difference between a uniformly smooth surface on all the rocks (at least all the ones worth picking up individually and feeling) and having scratches and rough spots on the rocks, which have to be worked out if the rocks are going to get a high polish. Of course the "quality" of the polish I suppose depends somewhat on the person, that is a friend of mine says he actually prefers the rocks not being mirror-like in their polish, but the softer look of rocks that are smooth and went through just one 5-day round of polish. So there is going to be a grading or sorting issue to consider also. For now I have ~2 pounds green aventurine that I sorted and as smooth as I can feel. I'll save these until I have 4 more pounds, enough to make a full 6 lb load, and by then I'll definitely have some plastic pellets, so then I'll re-polish with cerium oxide. That is, unless I can trade them for $15 cash or equivalent value. I spent $4 per pound for the green aventurine rough, so without even figuring in the cost of the grit, polish, and electricity I would not think it possibly profitable to let them go for less. Hummm, I can see where I need to keep better notes, if I want to actually be able to know how much it is costing me to make these rocks polished. Heck, I know how much I am paying for them, so I better know how much I'm paying into them WilliamC
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