waterboysh
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2021
Posts: 369
|
Post by waterboysh on Jan 19, 2022 11:53:27 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by miket on Jan 19, 2022 12:17:06 GMT -5
Very nice! So the dremel is working out, then? Which burrs did you end up going with?
|
|
waterboysh
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2021
Posts: 369
|
Post by waterboysh on Jan 19, 2022 12:38:07 GMT -5
Very nice! So the dremel is working out, then? Which burrs did you end up going with? Actually these rocks had been running in polish for a while before I got the Dremel. This batch was polished in the rotary. Going forward, everything will get polished in the Lot-o though. I've got some running in polish in the Lot-o right now that came out of pre-polish in the rotary, so I wouldn't have had a chance to use the Dremel on them either. But, I did have a chance to use the Dremel on a bunch of Tiger's Eye this weekend though. I got these, and it worked really well. A lot of the Tiger's Eye pieces had small lumps of some type of softer rock sticking out of the hematite on the top/bottom that I could tell would probably not polish and wanted to grind off. It handled it perfectly.
|
|
|
Post by miket on Jan 19, 2022 12:43:30 GMT -5
Very nice! So the dremel is working out, then? Which burrs did you end up going with? Actually these rocks had been running in polish for a while before I got the Dremel. This batch was polished in the rotary. Going forward, everything will get polished in the Lot-o though. I've got some running in polish in the Lot-o right now that came out of pre-polish in the rotary, so I wouldn't have had a chance to use the Dremel on them either. But, I did have a chance to use the Dremel on a bunch of Tiger's Eye this weekend though. I got these, and it worked really well. A lot of the Tiger's Eye pieces had small lumps of some type of softer rock sticking out of the hematite on the top/bottom that I could tell would probably not polish and wanted to grind off. It handled it perfectly. Awesome, glad they worked for you!
|
|
catskillrocks
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2008
Posts: 1,270
|
Post by catskillrocks on Jan 19, 2022 12:49:06 GMT -5
Great looking batch. Can't wait to see what the Lot-O does for the shine!
|
|
doublebluff
having dreams about rocks
Member since September 2021
Posts: 54
|
Post by doublebluff on Jan 26, 2022 7:25:18 GMT -5
I am so impressed with the artistry in this thread, and throughout the site in general. Honestly, I can't imagine ever getting there. I never thought of tidying up a rock with a Dremel before or between stages in the tumbler. I wouldn't even know where to start!
I have had a tumbler going throughout the entire Covid madness era, but it remains mostly "cookbook" for me. Thoughts like the ones presented above, along with the wonderful product, might help me get to some new level someday. Thanks for the post.
|
|
|
Post by Son Of Beach on Jan 26, 2022 7:32:21 GMT -5
I am so impressed with the artistry in this thread, and throughout the site in general. Honestly, I can't imagine ever getting there. I never thought of tidying up a rock with a Dremel before or between stages in the tumbler. I wouldn't even know where to start! I have had a tumbler going throughout the entire Covid madness era, but it remains mostly "cookbook" for me. Thoughts like the ones presented above, along with the wonderful product, might help me get to some new level someday. Thanks for the post. One of the perks of being a rock tumbler is all that TIME you have to ponder what you are going to do better next time lol.
I've only been at it for 9 months or so and I've gotten better, it takes practice and lots of patience.
You are right though, many talented people all over this site.
|
|
|
Post by fernwood on Jan 26, 2022 7:37:06 GMT -5
That turritella is wow.
|
|
waterboysh
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2021
Posts: 369
|
Post by waterboysh on Jan 26, 2022 22:53:13 GMT -5
doublebluff I only started March of last year. So I'm going on about 10 months now. I've learned a ton from this forum, the rocktumbling subreddit, and watching a lot of Youtube videos, especially Michigan Rocks. None of the ones in this thread had the Dremel used on them. They had been tumbling for months already when I got the Dremel. fernwood I tumbled a whole batch of it a little while back but I had a small amount that wasn't really ready to move on past stage 2 when most of the others were. This was one of those. Check out this thread for pictures of the rest.
|
|
|
Post by holajonathan on Feb 23, 2022 3:25:09 GMT -5
I like: Nice work!
|
|
nursetumbler
Cave Dweller
Member since February 2022
Posts: 914
|
Post by nursetumbler on Mar 1, 2022 0:38:10 GMT -5
Wondering if you are from Michigan seeings you referenced "Michigan rocks". I am from the pinky area. Wondering where I could find some of this fancy agate? I am just starting out and havent seen it in any lapidary I have explored? One other question. Have you ever tumbled florite? Any tips on how to tumble this successfully?
|
|
waterboysh
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2021
Posts: 369
|
Post by waterboysh on Mar 1, 2022 11:45:02 GMT -5
nursetumbler when I mention "Michigan Rocks," I'm talking about the Youtube channel Michigan Rocks that's run by Jugglerguy . He has several videos aimed at people wanting to get started with rock tumbling. I live in Florida. We have tons of fossils, but not so many rocks.
|
|
nursetumbler
Cave Dweller
Member since February 2022
Posts: 914
|
Post by nursetumbler on Mar 1, 2022 12:04:30 GMT -5
nursetumbler when I mention "Michigan Rocks," I'm talking about the Youtube channel Michigan Rocks that's run by Jugglerguy . He has several videos aimed at people wanting to get started with rock tumbling. I live in Florida. We have tons of fossils, but not so many rocks. Thank you waterboysh. Didn't mean to pry in your personal space. I would just love to know where people are from so when I get assigned to a state I would have reference people for area hunting and tumbling. I will definitely look up Michigan tumbler as thats where my next assignment is. Thank you again.
|
|
brybry
Cave Dweller
Enter your message here...
Member since October 2021
Posts: 1,179
|
Post by brybry on Mar 1, 2022 13:55:36 GMT -5
|
|
nursetumbler
Cave Dweller
Member since February 2022
Posts: 914
|
Post by nursetumbler on Mar 1, 2022 14:51:25 GMT -5
Brybry Any thoughts/experience with the gem shop in Wisconsin? I was looking on their site last night and it has rather inexpensive rough. Labradorite for like 8$ a pound where I bought it in a shop here in New Mexico for 25$ a pound. Was the more expensive real and the inexpensive one fake? Ive only been doing this since the first of the year. (First batch was hobble cobble and lots went into polish with no cracks to coming out of polish with huge cracks/gouges) 🤷♀️
|
|
brybry
Cave Dweller
Enter your message here...
Member since October 2021
Posts: 1,179
|
Post by brybry on Mar 1, 2022 17:57:59 GMT -5
Not the Gem Shop, no, sorry. Some shops will overprice in a heartbeat. Kinda like eBay and everything being rare or vintage. They count on most not having google as their friend and knowing they are ripping you off.
|
|
ndwaynep
starting to shine!
Member since March 2022
Posts: 28
|
Post by ndwaynep on Mar 9, 2022 11:14:09 GMT -5
Brybry Any thoughts/experience with the gem shop in Wisconsin? I was looking on their site last night and it has rather inexpensive rough. Labradorite for like 8$ a pound where I bought it in a shop here in New Mexico for 25$ a pound. Was the more expensive real and the inexpensive one fake? Ive only been doing this since the first of the year. (First batch was hobble cobble and lots went into polish with no cracks to coming out of polish with huge cracks/gouges) 🤷♀️ Some of these, I will have to check out. For some reason, RockShed's inventory is very low. I asked if they were going out of business. Three days later, someone responded, "No." They cited supply chain and worker issues. They were the first vendor I ever dealt with. I had to go elsewhere recently to find what I needed.
|
|
brybry
Cave Dweller
Enter your message here...
Member since October 2021
Posts: 1,179
|
Post by brybry on Mar 10, 2022 15:37:37 GMT -5
Pretty much all the better, I daresay even the not so great vendors, have some issues getting some inventory in. It's not just them, pretty much everyone is hurting on getting inventory in as fast as they would like.
|
|
nursetumbler
Cave Dweller
Member since February 2022
Posts: 914
|
Post by nursetumbler on Mar 10, 2022 23:19:01 GMT -5
Not the Gem Shop, no, sorry. Some shops will overprice in a heartbeat. Kinda like eBay and everything being rare or vintage. They count on most not having google as their friend and knowing they are ripping you off. brybryI just bought some carnelian her in New Mexico today. The price had been changed from 11.99 a pound a week ago to 14.99 a pound today. When I asked why the girl said "because the price of EVERYTHING is going to go up" I get it but the bin wasn't any fuller this week from last. 🙄 I got it here because as a travel nurse I never know how close I will be to a shop again and most places I cant get a mail box because I am not a resident so I either see if the RV will accept a pkg for me or go without
|
|
brybry
Cave Dweller
Enter your message here...
Member since October 2021
Posts: 1,179
|
Post by brybry on Mar 11, 2022 3:23:15 GMT -5
I'm not surprised in the slightest. It's even worse when they admit it on stock they already have.
|
|