jamijr
having dreams about rocks
Member since April 2021
Posts: 59
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Post by jamijr on Jun 13, 2021 13:50:34 GMT -5
Not all my rocks polished, not even burnishing them seemed to help. I hear granite is hard to polish, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Some rocks though I ended up putting back in the tumbler with different polish - in one barrel I'm doing tin oxide, in the other is cerium oxide. If that doesn't work then I'll try switching it around. Some I'm afraid to run again for fear they'll just vanish. The following one I'm sure people will tell me I shouldn't have bothered. No matter how much I ran it through grinding it just kept getting more and more holes. Here's the thing though, this is one of three rocks (the other two I'm trying to polish again) that my dad saved for me when he planted a lime tree for mom. Dad wasn't supportive of my new hobby at first. (More for the monetary cost than anything.) So the fact he actually saved me some rocks shows he's coming around. I call it - Dad's Rock. It might not look it in the picture, but IRL it's one of the few that took the polish rather well. But honestly, imagine how the colors on the following piece of granite would've really popped had it taken the polish - At least the granite in this photo took the polish enough you can see the bits of pink in it - Oh well, at the very least it's good practice for me. After all, thanks to that dang Covid-19 there's no gem and mineral clubs having real life meetings so I'm having to learn everything via the internet and trial and error.
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Post by jasoninsd on Jun 13, 2021 17:09:05 GMT -5
Jami, sorry that your tumble didn't come out as planned. I'm too new to tumbling to give any advice. I hope you can figure out a way to make things work for Dad's Rock!
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
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Post by stefan on Jun 13, 2021 18:19:15 GMT -5
Granite is a challenge for sure. Tons of patience and cushion after the medium stage. I also polish it for 3 weeks in Aluminium Oxide (but either of your polishes should work)
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 766
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Post by lordsorril on Jun 13, 2021 19:00:00 GMT -5
I have pieces of granite that have taken weeks in my vibe tumbler. I would hate to think how long it would take to finish them in a rotary.
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quartzilla
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2020
Posts: 1,215
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Post by quartzilla on Jun 13, 2021 19:55:10 GMT -5
A lot of your stones look like grit catchers. How well did you clean them between runs?
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jamijr
having dreams about rocks
Member since April 2021
Posts: 59
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Post by jamijr on Jun 14, 2021 8:03:44 GMT -5
A lot of your stones look like grit catchers. How well did you clean them between runs? I washed them until stuff stopped coming off them. I put Borax and Ivory Soap shavings in during the grinding stages because someone somewhere said they found Borax makes the grit wash off a lot easier and I've found combining it with the Ivory really helpful. It wasn't until I started using that combo that I started getting my stones to polish. And they were right, grit washes off super easily. Like it doesn't even have a chance to stick.
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
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Post by stefan on Jun 25, 2021 11:57:08 GMT -5
Need to run them longer in course.
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Post by Bob on Jul 2, 2021 15:32:09 GMT -5
Need to run them longer in course. Totally agree, perhaps a month or more more. I tumble a lot of granite, including up to grapefruit size and larger. Only maybe 1% is "tight" enough to take a polish, and even then, not a shine per se. But much of it will look great with a satiny sheen after the final being 1,200 or 1,500 SC grit. I've learned that if it still has pits that erode after one week in 220, there is no use continuing.
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