felrock
starting to shine!
Done with the agates, now onto some Quartz!?!?
Member since July 2021
Posts: 39
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Post by felrock on Jul 19, 2021 1:12:51 GMT -5
Hi everyone! I'll be posting my progress on my first time ever on tumbling some agates here on this thread. My first question was about what type of agates I've collected since I just got them at a rock farm in Bancroft Ont. And I don't know where they originated from. Also, take a look and see. And I'll be surely seeking help in no time here especially if these aren't shiny in the end.. I'm hoping for the best and to learn from my errors So here is my agates after running them for three days in the 60/90grit silicon carbide I'll be posting again when I'll take them out from my second run in the coarse grit Let me know what you think! 😁😁
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Post by fernwood on Jul 19, 2021 4:12:24 GMT -5
Welcome to RTH.
The first stage of tumbling for hard rocks, like agates, is usually 1 week minimum. Many times, it takes weeks (or longer) to smooth out the rocks enough for stage 2. Some check their rocks after 1 week. Then remove those ready for stage 2. Keep the others tumbling in stage 1 longer. If there are any pits in the rocks, grit can collect there and be carried to the next stage.
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felrock
starting to shine!
Done with the agates, now onto some Quartz!?!?
Member since July 2021
Posts: 39
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Post by felrock on Jul 19, 2021 18:29:20 GMT -5
fernwoodThanks for the reply. I had a question though about the grit I should use for step3. Right now I only have 600SiC grit for the third stage. I was wondering if I should get myself some AlO instead.
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RedWingTumbler
having dreams about rocks
Member since April 2021
Posts: 65
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Post by RedWingTumbler on Jul 19, 2021 18:44:37 GMT -5
The Rock Shed has 500 AO & I have used it with a lot of success.
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felrock
starting to shine!
Done with the agates, now onto some Quartz!?!?
Member since July 2021
Posts: 39
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Post by felrock on Jul 19, 2021 22:01:37 GMT -5
I've ordered some AO polish for my fourth stage, but I'm wondering if it's absolutely necessary to use AO as a pre-polish or the Silicon Carbide can work for now. Since I've been spending a lot lately 😅
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Post by parfive on Jul 20, 2021 0:10:38 GMT -5
felrock You’ll do just fine with the 600 SiC, don’t give the AO another thought. And welcome to RTH, Félix. Are you in the city or elsewhere?
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felrock
starting to shine!
Done with the agates, now onto some Quartz!?!?
Member since July 2021
Posts: 39
|
Post by felrock on Jul 20, 2021 7:16:47 GMT -5
parfiveThanks for the reply! And no I'm in the same region as my city. Which is about 45 minutes of drive away from the city.
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Post by Starguy on Jul 20, 2021 10:16:13 GMT -5
felrock600 SiC pre-polish will do nicely. The harder decision is what to use for polish. Your agates are looking nice. You didn’t mention whether you are using rotary or vibratory tumblers. Welcome to the forum.
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felrock
starting to shine!
Done with the agates, now onto some Quartz!?!?
Member since July 2021
Posts: 39
|
Post by felrock on Jul 20, 2021 21:42:07 GMT -5
felrock 600 SiC pre-polish will do nicely. The harder decision is what to use for polish. Your agates are looking nice. You didn’t mention whether you are using rotary or vibratory tumblers. Welcome to the forum. Oh sorry, you're right! I'm running these in the Nat Geo hobby tumbler (rotary) following rob's video ( Jugglerguy ) So grateful for the video he made recently for the Nat Geos. It basically saved some of my rocks and will save my future ones as well.
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felrock
starting to shine!
Done with the agates, now onto some Quartz!?!?
Member since July 2021
Posts: 39
|
Post by felrock on Jul 20, 2021 21:56:20 GMT -5
So here's how they look after the second run of four days in the 60SiC grit. Two big ones are ready to pass on to the next step! Also some small ones were also ready as well as a nice triangular pyramid one that I'll share with you here: Lots of them aren't quite coming out the way that I want them to. Some of them I'll just keep tumbling until they get nice and round. And a few of them will need some fine tuning on the grinder. So I'll need to grind off some dents because some of the rocks have really deep dents that would take too much time to tumble down. So at least I've got a machine to work with the rocks and shape them how I want them to be. Most of them still needs to go back in for another four days of tumbling.
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