willp2003
off to a rocking start
Member since February 2021
Posts: 7
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Post by willp2003 on May 16, 2021 13:40:29 GMT -5
After a couple of months I finally took out my first batch in my Nat geo pro. Everything had looked pretty good up until the final polish stage. Some have come out great, but some not so shiny. I know a mixed bunch will produce varied results. A bit of tiger’s eye has broken off which may have damaged others, but all the quartz type ones are dull, and have “white” in the cracks. sole of the rocks might be bruised from the speed of the tumbler, but I ran it on the lowest setting throughout. Hopefully can post a few pics, but these are some of the more disappointing ones.
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
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Post by stefan on May 16, 2021 16:27:28 GMT -5
Some look pretty good. Some not so much. The white haze and spots is polish that is left in the bad spots. As you have figured out those broken chips did you in. A little more care in the course grind should get rid of this problem areas.
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RedWingTumbler
having dreams about rocks
Member since April 2021
Posts: 65
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Post by RedWingTumbler on Jul 9, 2021 22:01:57 GMT -5
I'm seeing a lot of bruising in this batch, especially on the tiger's eye, amethyst, & aventurine. This has also happened to me with aventurine & it didn't show up until the polish stage. It's caused by the rocks bumping into each other during tumbling. Agate & jasper have no problem constantly bashing into each other. However, some rocks that are at the same Mohs hardness, like amethyst, tiger's eye, & aventurine, are less durable. I believe that the best preventative measure for this is to make sure you have lots of tumbling media (ceramic or plastic) in the later stages. The media provides a barrier between the rocks, so the rocks are hitting ceramic or plastic (both of which are less dense than the rocks), instead of each other.
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Post by Starguy on Jul 11, 2021 10:22:12 GMT -5
willp2003My recommendation would be to add some smaller stones to the mix. Yours look to be all roughly the same size. A mix of sizes improves grinding efficiency and helps protect the stones from beating each other up.
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