whyofquartz
spending too much on rocks
So, Africa is smaller than I expected...
Member since December 2019
Posts: 316
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Post by whyofquartz on Jul 13, 2020 6:47:56 GMT -5
That is a nice piece of Pet wood. But, if it were mine, I'd break it up into smaller pieces and have a go at them. I think pieces about 1-2" would work in your tumbler. I don't think that you will see any big difference after a week of tumbling. It may take months with weekly checks to view the progress, clean and replace the grit, before they are nicely shaped and ready for stage 2. Just my 2 cents. I will see how it comes out Saturday. This is actually my second attempt at a large pet wood tumble, I was just less persistent the first time around. If this goes nowhere i can always put it on the saw.
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whyofquartz
spending too much on rocks
So, Africa is smaller than I expected...
Member since December 2019
Posts: 316
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Post by whyofquartz on Jul 21, 2020 7:28:19 GMT -5
I pulled it out Saturday and the progress was minimal. I am going to give it another go but I think I need more rough gravel, the stuff it had been tumbling with was becoming too smooth and was not grinding enough. I have found a spot, and here is a hot tip, where people have been cutting the corner at T intersection and have ground the local flint and agate into something between gravel and grit. I am going to get me a bucket full of that and see what it does to the pet wood chonker. the barrel will not be idle in the mean time though.
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Post by Bob on Aug 11, 2020 18:05:40 GMT -5
whyofquartz, I tumble PW quite a bit, including pieces much larger than that. I've also experimented with 30,40,50,60,70 and 80 grit as first rough grind. This was tested in 40lb, 20lb, 12lb, and 6lb barrels (my smallest). Strange things happened with 30 and 40 and some with 50. From some research it could be that centrifugal forces were acting on it like it does the rocks, but whatever happened, not much grinding got done to my great surprise. After a week sometimes most of the grit was still there. So I no longer go larger than 60 for rough grind.
I also have had best luck with PW by only having 1 piece of it combined with other rocks (jaspers, agates, etc.) that 1) aren't PW and 2) already are rounded and have no sharp corners. This seems to lessen the cracking problem that can occur along the grain of PW.
And if I'm doing a very large rock in any barrel, I only put in it plus smalls such as quartz stream gravel I buy cheap on eBay. But what does large in this context mean? I suppose it would mean if a rock was more or less spherical and 75% or more of the distance between the barrel interior sides, I would consider it large.
When I first got my Lortone C40, I made a big mistake. I loaded that 40lb barrel with all my PW--5 years of careful collecting. It was all ruined! The machine was set to too high a speed because, according to the owner of Lortone, it was shipped with the wrong sized pulley. He and I became friends after visiting about it all, but boy did I learn from that mistake!
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Aug 12, 2020 5:25:02 GMT -5
whyofquartz, I tumble PW quite a bit, including pieces much larger than that. I've also experimented with 30,40,50,60,70 and 80 grit as first rough grind. This was tested in 40lb, 20lb, 12lb, and 6lb barrels (my smallest). Strange things happened with 30 and 40 and some with 50. From some research it could be that centrifugal forces were acting on it like it does the rocks, but whatever happened, not much grinding got done to my great surprise. After a week sometimes most of the grit was still there. So I no longer go larger than 60 for rough grind.
When tumbling with large sized grit, The slurry needs to be really thick, almost thick like pudding. The thick slurry will carry the grit and suck the rocks together for faster results.
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whyofquartz
spending too much on rocks
So, Africa is smaller than I expected...
Member since December 2019
Posts: 316
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Post by whyofquartz on Aug 12, 2020 10:17:49 GMT -5
whyofquartz, I tumble PW quite a bit, including pieces much larger than that. I've also experimented with 30,40,50,60,70 and 80 grit as first rough grind. This was tested in 40lb, 20lb, 12lb, and 6lb barrels (my smallest). Strange things happened with 30 and 40 and some with 50. From some research it could be that centrifugal forces were acting on it like it does the rocks, but whatever happened, not much grinding got done to my great surprise. After a week sometimes most of the grit was still there. So I no longer go larger than 60 for rough grind. I also have had best luck with PW by only having 1 piece of it combined with other rocks (jaspers, agates, etc.) that 1) aren't PW and 2) already are rounded and have no sharp corners. This seems to lessen the cracking problem that can occur along the grain of PW. And if I'm doing a very large rock in any barrel, I only put in it plus smalls such as quartz stream gravel I buy cheap on eBay. But what does large in this context mean? I suppose it would mean if a rock was more or less spherical and 75% or more of the distance between the barrel interior sides, I would consider it large. When I first got my Lortone C40, I made a big mistake. I loaded that 40lb barrel with all my PW--5 years of careful collecting. It was all ruined! The machine was set to too high a speed because, according to the owner of Lortone, it was shipped with the wrong sized pulley. He and I became friends after visiting about it all, but boy did I learn from that mistake! I wish i had seen this before I cycled my barrel. I decided that the rock was just too big and was only tumbling on 1 axis and that was not as desirable as i had thought. I chose 3 or 4 smaller PWs that could move more freely in the barrel and loaded them down with the agate chips and 60/90. we will see what happens.
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whyofquartz
spending too much on rocks
So, Africa is smaller than I expected...
Member since December 2019
Posts: 316
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Post by whyofquartz on Aug 12, 2020 12:41:44 GMT -5
ok, since this is still about trying to tumble a big ol pet wood i decided to do a little experiment I got me three chunks of wood that fit completely with in the dimensions on my barrel(2 angles on each piece) and one that almost fit to act as a kind of stirrer-er plus it has a knot on the bottom there that i really want to polish up then I added the crushed native stone(with a little limestone/asphalt contaminant) the gravel made it really hard to judge the water level but i got it right and added 60/90 it was a little too heavy for the tumbler, i had to help it a long a few times but once it got up momentum it was off and rolling. I will check it Saturday and i may trim down and restart the chonker with some different filler rock.
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Post by Bob on Aug 13, 2020 10:47:02 GMT -5
What's going to happen is the softer material I can see in your batch, the porous filler and the limestone you mentioned, is going to get ground down but not much will happen to your PW I'm afraid. I found out long ago when experimenting with limestone road gravel as filler that it ruins tumbling because it's so soft compared to the rocks that need to be abraded in the batch. Granted not all your filler is this way, but I see enough that I make that prediction. If you are having trouble finding filler of Mohs hardness 7, go by a landscape business or Lowes or similar and attempt to buy some cheap quartz stream gravel, ideally around 1/2" or so. If not locally, you can find on eBay.
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whyofquartz
spending too much on rocks
So, Africa is smaller than I expected...
Member since December 2019
Posts: 316
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Post by whyofquartz on Aug 18, 2020 7:45:11 GMT -5
What's going to happen is the softer material I can see in your batch, the porous filler and the limestone you mentioned, is going to get ground down but not much will happen to your PW I'm afraid. I found out long ago when experimenting with limestone road gravel as filler that it ruins tumbling because it's so soft compared to the rocks that need to be abraded in the batch. Granted not all your filler is this way, but I see enough that I make that prediction. If you are having trouble finding filler of Mohs hardness 7, go by a landscape business or Lowes or similar and attempt to buy some cheap quartz stream gravel, ideally around 1/2" or so. If not locally, you can find on eBay. I picked most of the limestone out but i know I didn't get all of it. The chips and shards are agate splinters from the road side. I was supposed to check this batch Saturday but I have not taken the time to do so.
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whyofquartz
spending too much on rocks
So, Africa is smaller than I expected...
Member since December 2019
Posts: 316
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Post by whyofquartz on Sept 2, 2020 7:58:12 GMT -5
so, the lesson this week is that 3/4ths full with fine gravel is too full. the grit did not work its way into the barrel and just sat at the surface so apart from that lesson that is three weeks completely wasted. back at it with less fine gravel. hopefully good news next Monday
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Post by Bob on Sept 2, 2020 22:38:40 GMT -5
About how many years have you been tumbling?
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whyofquartz
spending too much on rocks
So, Africa is smaller than I expected...
Member since December 2019
Posts: 316
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Post by whyofquartz on Sept 3, 2020 8:17:53 GMT -5
About how many years have you been tumbling? a little over a year, maybe 18 months. I am still learning lots of stuff, mostly by ignoring sound advice or not seeking it
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Post by Bob on Sept 3, 2020 11:25:13 GMT -5
Had to look up Moore. You are in some serious rattlesnake country. If you have never seen the bat flight out of Frio Cave near Uvalde, I highly recommend seeing it. I have seen many large bat flights, but that was impressed me in ways like no other.
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whyofquartz
spending too much on rocks
So, Africa is smaller than I expected...
Member since December 2019
Posts: 316
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Post by whyofquartz on Sept 7, 2020 9:52:39 GMT -5
Had to look up Moore. You are in some serious rattlesnake country. If you have never seen the bat flight out of Frio Cave near Uvalde, I highly recommend seeing it. I have seen many large bat flights, but that was impressed me in ways like no other. Glad you were able to find it. I have not been to Uvalde recreationally since I have lived here, I haven't done much touristy stuff actually. Surprisingly I have only encountered 1 live rattler in the 11 years i have lived here, in point of fact that is the only one I have ever seen in the wild. what i do have is lots and lots and lots of flint and agate, devil's toenail, and iron. I am planning a project with tha iron
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Post by Bob on Sept 8, 2020 10:53:35 GMT -5
I have worked with rattlesnakes in southern TX. Once you get south of San Antonio, the numbers can be pretty significant especially in April-May-June. George West and Freer are not very far from you, and I've seen many and rather large ones in that area. One one ranch near Freer, I lived for an entire month at the ranch headquarters inside of a rattlesnake fence to protect the ranch headquarters. Had I not seen this fence with my own eyes, I would not have believed it. I turned this fence into a giant drift fence trap for rattlers and caught many for a photographer that way.
Had to look up devil's toenail--never had heard of it. Had found a number of similar mollusks in Oklahoma, but not that particular one. By iron, do you mean iron literally or is that some local name for a rock or fossil?
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whyofquartz
spending too much on rocks
So, Africa is smaller than I expected...
Member since December 2019
Posts: 316
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Post by whyofquartz on Sept 9, 2020 7:49:38 GMT -5
well Bob we have very iron rich soil and that leads to lot if hematite and rust staining. but i have found globes and half sphere nodules that I have always called iron ore, I can't come up with a better idea of what it might be. For a while now I have been gathering any rocks I can find with sufficient apparent iron content and roasting them and grinding them to powder. the plan is to eventually have enough to attempt a bloom ingot and possibly a usable hunk of metal.
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Post by Bob on Sept 9, 2020 9:51:43 GMT -5
Oh my gosh! That's some serious plans.
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