ethos
starting to shine!
Member since February 2020
Posts: 28
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Post by ethos on Feb 6, 2020 13:43:32 GMT -5
i recently bought 2 pounds of Amazonite from The Rock Shed and before i started working on them i figured i would post and see if anyone on here has any tips or tricks for tumbling it. the 2 pounds i ordered i asked for pieces that had lots of matrix on them (find the color contrast between green white and the shiny grey/black very appealing) and was hoping to not lose a ton of it. Most pictures i have seen of finish amazonite are almost pure green with white veins.
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Post by knave on Feb 6, 2020 13:54:44 GMT -5
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Benathema
has rocks in the head
God chased me down and made sure I knew He was real June 20, 2022. I've been on a Divine Mission.
Member since November 2019
Posts: 703
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Post by Benathema on Feb 6, 2020 13:55:44 GMT -5
It likes to chip and split like crazy with the cleavage plains. It's softer than your average quartz-like minerals. I suggest after coarse grinding to try to cushion it as much as you can. The best I have from my self-collected batch are on the small side since bigger ones (normal 1-1.5") would keep chipping.
It is a challenging material to tumble, in my book anyways. $0.02
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Benathema
has rocks in the head
God chased me down and made sure I knew He was real June 20, 2022. I've been on a Divine Mission.
Member since November 2019
Posts: 703
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Post by Benathema on Feb 6, 2020 14:03:44 GMT -5
A few I set aside. Weakly colored, but I kind of like it. Done in a 3 lb barrel.
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ethos
starting to shine!
Member since February 2020
Posts: 28
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Post by ethos on Feb 6, 2020 14:07:03 GMT -5
i was thinking of doing the course in the rotarty then switching over to a vibratory for the 120-220, pre-polish, 1000 AO and polish stages
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Post by knave on Feb 6, 2020 14:09:22 GMT -5
Any chance you could preshape with a tile saw or grinder? I kind of like the flat surfaces of amazonite.
Would condsider 100% vibe starting with 1 day of 120/220
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ethos
starting to shine!
Member since February 2020
Posts: 28
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Post by ethos on Feb 6, 2020 14:15:36 GMT -5
AH thats also one thing i need advice on. sometime when i'm tumbling and i check on some of my batches sometimes some of the slurry turns to like a complete foam is this bad? kinda looks the the polish slurry in the video you linked me but in 60/90 and 120/220 grit stages. I saw some youtube videos where people added borax to stop it, but again not 100% on if if this is recommended or not
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