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 Apr 16, 2021 18:04:29 GMT -5
Ohhh this is going to be redonkulously pretty!
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Post by stephan on Apr 16, 2021 18:57:24 GMT -5
Well, I'm late to this thread, but there's still plenty of time for me to enjoy. Lookin' good....
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Apr 16, 2021 21:14:00 GMT -5
Oooh, Henry, that is looking so fabulous already!
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Post by HankRocks on Apr 23, 2021 8:46:43 GMT -5
Day 51 - 600SiC cleanout. Down just under 7 grams to 1889.59 grams. Still looking good. Added a small handful of previously polished smalls to fill some space. Added 6 tbsp of 80 AO and about 2 cups of 80 AO slurry. Not sure how long I will run this stage, 7 to 10 days. Only 1 picture today; IMG_2812 by Findrocks, on Flickr It does seem to fit my theory that the other rocks with the big are grinding more, hence the added smalls.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Apr 23, 2021 8:52:59 GMT -5
Getting shiny, Henry! Looks really, really, good.
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Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,506
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Post by Brian on Apr 23, 2021 10:15:08 GMT -5
That is looking fantastic, Henry! You chose a great piece of pet wood for this big tumble. The grain patterns are really coming to life!
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lunker
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2021
Posts: 425
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Post by lunker on Apr 23, 2021 13:07:25 GMT -5
That's awesome. Now I need a bigger tumbler
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Post by stephan on Apr 24, 2021 9:34:05 GMT -5
You’re going back to 80 from 600? Do you see something that doesn’t show in the pics? It looks good to me, but, then again, I don’t tumble.
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Post by HankRocks on Apr 24, 2021 9:47:56 GMT -5
You’re going back to 80 from 600? Do you see something that doesn’t show in the pics? It looks good to me, but, then again, I don’t tumble. That's 80 Aluminum Oxide. I use it as a pre-polish for normal runs of Agate. Jasper and Petrified Wood. It works well as a pre-polish as it smooths rather than cuts like SiC. It also breaks down into finer and finer grains all smoothing. It also helps that I am using an AO slurry that contains lot's of very fine grain AO. For runs with Slabs, or Pendant Pre-forms, or Arkansas Quartz I use 500 AO as I figure the breakdown rate is much slower. Using the 80 Aluminum Oxide is something I picked up from jamesp. When this stage is finished I will post pics of the piece dry so the finish after pre-polish is visible. Henry
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,155
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Post by jamesp on Apr 26, 2021 8:49:38 GMT -5
Aluminum oxide is a really different animal HankRocks. I'll never forget the fine polish I got from running agates in AO 22 for an extended run in the vibe. What is another mind blower is that most ceramic media is simply 97 to 98% pure aluminum oxide that is fused together. This is why it wears so slowly, because it is as hard as aluminum oxide because it IS aluminum oxide. Another experiment I would like to try is to tumble some aluminum oxide ceramics in say SiC 60 to rough the surface up, then take a load of Mohs 7 agates tumbled to the SiC 220 stage and add them to the SiC 60 surfaced aluminum oxide ceramics and add no abrasive. Then tumble the mix. I'll bet the rocks(and the ceramics) will come out polished. I don't know why larger aluminum oxide in the 30 to 80 to 220 range(or even larger) was never introduced to rock tumbling arena for the finishing operations. AO 22 took some very rough SiC 30 surfaced rocks all the way to polish in my vibe. Granted the vibe had to run a bit longer than doing the step method of AO 500 to AO 1000 to AO 14,000 polish after doing siC 30 and SiC 220 for shaping(SiC 30) and finish prep(SiC 220). Aluminum oxide by nature is a very cheap abrasive. Georgia kaolin clay is about 33% aluminum oxide. Half of Georgia is kaolin. AO is cheap.
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Post by HankRocks on May 2, 2021 17:32:04 GMT -5
Day 60 - 80 AO cleanout. Down another 4 grams to 1884.60. The piece has a nice sheen to it. Added about 5 Tbsp of used Tin Oxide and about 5 Tbsp of fresh Tin Oxide. Not sure how long I will let this run, probably 8 to 10 days. IMG_3374 by Findrocks, on Flickr IMG_3373 by Findrocks, on Flickr
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Post by HankRocks on May 12, 2021 14:38:05 GMT -5
Day 70 - Teaser - I pulled the rocks today after 10 days in Polish(Rotary). I had given it a couple extra days above my normal rotary polish run, why not for a big rock like this. The shine looked good. Put it in Ivory soap and Borax, will pull out tomorrow after 20 hours or so.
(No picture today, will have to wait until tomorrow)
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Post by tims on May 12, 2021 14:54:56 GMT -5
Day 70 - Teaser - I pulled the rocks today after 10 days in Polish(Rotary). I had given it a couple extra days above my normal rotary polish run, why not for a big rock like this. The shine looked good. Put it in Ivory soap and Borax, will pull out tomorrow after 20 hours or so. (No picture today, will have to wait until tomorrow) Really excited to see the finish.
I'm also really curious to see how the rest of the load turns out ... I have a large waterline agate I'm tempted to try, but am unsure whether to roll it with a load of throwaway stone or with good / normal rocks. Is the rest of your load getting beat to death or is it progressing fairly normally?
You've got to be feeling like a kid on Christmas eve
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Post by HankRocks on May 12, 2021 15:24:34 GMT -5
Day 70 - Teaser - I pulled the rocks today after 10 days in Polish(Rotary). I had given it a couple extra days above my normal rotary polish run, why not for a big rock like this. The shine looked good. Put it in Ivory soap and Borax, will pull out tomorrow after 20 hours or so. (No picture today, will have to wait until tomorrow) Really excited to see the finish.
I'm also really curious to see how the rest of the load turns out ... I have a large waterline agate I'm tempted to try, but am unsure whether to roll it with a load of throwaway stone or with good / normal rocks. Is the rest of your load getting beat to death or is it progressing fairly normally?
You've got to be feeling like a kid on Christmas eve I will include a few pictures of the rest of the rocks tomorrow. Quick glance says they looked pretty good. My theory on that is the big guy does not get a full drop due to it's size. Most of the pressure it applies on the others is more of a "squeeze" than a "bang" or a "hit" if that makes sense. It does grind the smaller rocks quicker due to the mass involved. I did not include any soft rocks, all agate and jasper. There's a scrap of Montana agate that if it holds up in the soap run will give a good idea how tough that material is.
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Post by HankRocks on May 13, 2021 19:31:03 GMT -5
Ok, about 20 hours in Ivory soap and Borax. It came out real nice. Start weight - 2069 grams Ending weight - 1882 grams or just over 4 pounds. Here's a few pictures of the beast. IMG_3388 by Findrocks, on Flickr IMG_3390 by Findrocks, on Flickr IMG_3392 by Findrocks, on Flickr IMG_3393 by Findrocks, on Flickr One thing about petrified wood, you almost always have areas where the material has softer spots. Sometimes they are in zones and sometimes they are in thin veins through the piece. You can see some of the soft veins running through this piece. It's also why making pendants out of petrified wood can be frustrating as the it will fracture of have a hidden soft spot that show up. Anyway, the rock held together, which I was hopeful that it would as it was river pre-tumbled which tends to break pieces down by knocking off fractured sections. Henry
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Post by jasoninsd on May 13, 2021 19:34:46 GMT -5
Once again, thanks for taking the time to bring us along on this journey Henry! What a beast!
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Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,506
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Post by Brian on May 13, 2021 19:43:46 GMT -5
That really turned out well! The polish really makes the grain pop.
Thanks for taking us on another one of these large tumble rides!
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Post by HankRocks on May 13, 2021 19:48:47 GMT -5
As promised, here are some pictures of a few of the rocks that went on the journey with the big guy. They all took a very nice shine, only some selected bruising. Some smaller Petrified Wood(Texas); IMG_3395 by Findrocks, on Flickr Various Agates and Jaspers. The blue in the top center is an end cut of Marfa Bouquet; IMG_3396 by Findrocks, on Flickr Round Mt Arizona agate; IMG_3398 by Findrocks, on Flickr Blue Chalcedony I picked up at a sale a couple months ago. Paid way above my limit for material. It appears to have some internal fractures that kept showing up; IMG_3401 by Findrocks, on Flickr Montana Agate from a 5 gallon bucket of the trim pieces I have been using as tumbler filler. Always amazed at the polish this material takes, beyond mirror; IMG_3402 by Findrocks, on Flickr This thin piece of Montana shows how tough Montana can be, it road the whole journey with the big guy and survived; IMG_3404 by Findrocks, on Flickr One piece of Ark Quartz I threw in. It frosted very badly as I knew it would. To polish without frosting takes a whole different process. For beginners, the moral is that some material cannot be polished without a special process. With this post, I am shutting down my lapidary machines for 3 to 4 weeks. Getting a new knee next week. If this one goes well I will do the other knee in 3 months or so. I figured I needed to avoid toting rocks and tumbler barrels down the driveway. I will be online, but no pictures to share for a while. Henry
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Post by fernwood on May 13, 2021 21:00:33 GMT -5
Thanks for posting the results. The big pet wood and others all look great.
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Post by stephan on May 13, 2021 22:06:58 GMT -5
HankRocks Good luck with the bionic knee installation. Hope it goes well, and that your recovery is smooth.
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