ashy
off to a rocking start
Member since April 2024
Posts: 2
|
Post by ashy on Apr 16, 2024 21:22:21 GMT -5
Hi, I’ve got to have lot in common with most of you. from day dot, I would scan the ground just hoping to find something noteworthy, you know, just interesting in some way to my eyes at least. I have some clear and Smokey quartz that I found myself[ in Australia]in a tumbler[ I just bought the tumbler, first timer]and have moved through to post polishing. I could do with advice on this stage. Ther are soo many differing opinions online, such a rabbit hole! I ran them through clean water, then did 2 hours in warm water and sunlight soap[pure soap, I think equivalent to velvet soap or ivory soap]now just rerinsed and added 2Tb of borax to a 3lb tumbler[is 2/3 full including ceramic media] and wondered how long others run that stage for, if you do? The stones are looking lovely albeit some residue from the tin and cerium polishes that the 2 hour soap wash still has not entirely removed and also, if I rub one on my jeans, it get shinier, so I hope the borax gets them to that sort of stage.
Hopefully, I get to share my results. if it’s a fail, I’ll just crumble in the corner a while.
I have quite a bit of this stuff and my main beef is hearing the tumbler, albeit relatively quiet AND, that I don’t have 50 tumblers, because I am so darn addicted.
Nice to be here, thanks in advance for any hello’s or advice.
Ashy, in Australia
|
|
|
Post by rockjunquie on Apr 16, 2024 21:49:27 GMT -5
Welcome from Virginia!
I don't tumble, so I can't help you there.
|
|
pebblesky
fully equipped rock polisher
Purchased another UV mini bowl for tumbling
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,442
|
Post by pebblesky on Apr 16, 2024 22:03:05 GMT -5
Welcome! I use warm water and soap in my cleaning stages. They are run between the tumbling stages and after the polishing, all in the vibe, maybe 2 to 4 hours randomly, but I won't leave the stones in the cleaning stage overnight.
I feel in general the cleaning stages make the rocks cleaner and shinier after patting dry. There is still some residue in some cracks or porous areas, and running the ultrasound cleaner or electronic toothbrush doesn't help either. I just accept the fact and blame the rocks and move on.
|
|
|
Post by Starguy on Apr 16, 2024 22:57:04 GMT -5
Welcome from Idaho, USA.
|
|
titaniumkid
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since June 2023
Posts: 204
|
Post by titaniumkid on Apr 16, 2024 23:01:39 GMT -5
Hello also from Aus What type of tumbler do you have?
|
|
ashy
off to a rocking start
Member since April 2024
Posts: 2
|
Post by ashy on Apr 17, 2024 0:41:14 GMT -5
Hi to those here. Titanium Kid, the tumbler is a Lortone, borrowed from my brother who never used it. Hoping to get my own and just got overwhelmed with which one to choose. This one has 2 barrels running which is good but a bigger one would be good as I have some larger quartz bits. What do you have?
|
|
dshanpnw
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since December 2020
Posts: 897
|
Post by dshanpnw on Apr 17, 2024 6:47:29 GMT -5
Welcome from Washington state. I love tumbling clear quartz crystals. As for the burnishing stage in a rotary 3 pound barrel, I run it for about 2 hours with two to three tablespoons of Borax then rinse with warm/hot water. The Lortone 33B is a great tumbler. We would love to see your results epic fail or great success. Thanks for posting.
|
|
|
Post by vegasjames on Apr 17, 2024 9:06:36 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum Ashy.
|
|
rocknewb101
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2022
Posts: 1,330
|
Post by rocknewb101 on Apr 17, 2024 10:35:48 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum from a fellow Aussie (who has resided in the US for the past 35 years). Lots of great info here. I only use my lortone for stage 1 tumbling and then move onto the vibratory tumbler, but when I was using strictly rotary I would only do an ivory soap bath between each stage and only to clean off extra grit/residue. I would run it for an hour - I never noticed that longer than that would do anything - but as you said many people have differing thoughts of what worked for them. I only see you mention polish - assuming you're using grit for stages 1-3? Theres a section in the forum that focuses on tumbling and you'll likely get a ton more tumble advice if you post in there too. Glad to have you here!
|
|
titaniumkid
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since June 2023
Posts: 204
|
Post by titaniumkid on Apr 17, 2024 17:57:49 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum from a fellow Aussie (who has resided in the US for the past 35 years). Lots of great info here. I only use my lortone for stage 1 tumbling and then move onto the vibratory tumbler, but when I was using strictly rotary I would only do an ivory soap bath between each stage and only to clean off extra grit/residue. I would run it for an hour - I never noticed that longer than that would do anything - but as you said many people have differing thoughts of what worked for them. I only see you mention polish - assuming you're using grit for stages 1-3? Theres a section in the forum that focuses on tumbling and you'll likely get a ton more tumble advice if you post in there too. Glad to have you here! This was my experience with washing rocks too. I found no amount of washing helped get polish out of very porous sections of rock (like moss agate from India). I manually scrubbed them to get them fairly decent but I should revisit them with an ultrasonic cleaner, because I think that might do a better job.
ashy, I have a little Lortone 3a. I was tempted to go crazy and buy more tumblers etc, but things got in the way and now I feel pretty happy keeping this a low key hobby that is slow and doesn't tick "productivity" boxes. Your brother's tumbler is great for starting out. Sadly, Lortone is finished but if you want a similar tumbler, Aussie Sapphire sells their own brand that is the same size. I'm not sure how good it is, but it seems decent. Being based in Aus will also hopefully mean good customer service.
|
|
|
Post by jasoninsd on Apr 17, 2024 18:38:37 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum from South Dakota!
|
|
dillonf
fully equipped rock polisher
Hounding and tumbling
Member since February 2022
Posts: 1,595
|
Post by dillonf on Apr 17, 2024 19:03:58 GMT -5
Welcome
|
|
rockbrain
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2022
Posts: 2,543
Member is Online
|
Post by rockbrain on Apr 18, 2024 8:47:44 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum from Central California.
|
|
|
Post by liveoak on Apr 19, 2024 6:24:04 GMT -5
Welcome from NW Florida. Patty
|
|