earthdog
Cave Dweller
Don't eat yellow snow
Member since June 2006
Posts: 2,731
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Post by earthdog on Mar 30, 2007 21:41:48 GMT -5
I hate jaspers! And Jade!I have the crappiest time with jaspers. (is crappiest even a word?) I have tried aluminum oxide, tin oxide, cerium oxide and can't seem to get a shine on them. Every once in a while I get a few jaspers to shine sweetly, but generally not. What am I doing wrong? I roll them all through the steps, 46/70, 220, 500, 1000, sometimes tripoli and the tried all the polishes for not less then 10 days.
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Post by Tweetiepy on Mar 30, 2007 21:46:01 GMT -5
That last pic looks pretty shiney
I'm no expert but my jaspers almost never take a shine - only my leopardskin jasper does - contrary to most saying they can't get a shine on that stuff.
I feel your pain! They're still awesome - what's that spotted white stuff?
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Post by deb193 on Mar 30, 2007 21:49:00 GMT -5
Hey, if you send them to me, I will see what kind of shine I can put on them by 26-May and bring them back to you.
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earthdog
Cave Dweller
Don't eat yellow snow
Member since June 2006
Posts: 2,731
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Post by earthdog on Mar 30, 2007 21:52:37 GMT -5
How do you get a shine on jaspers just tumbling them deb-Dan?
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Post by joe on Mar 30, 2007 23:30:48 GMT -5
Do you add borax to the last three steps? I add 3 tbs. to a 3 lb. barrel and I am convinced it makes a difference.
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Post by stoner on Mar 30, 2007 23:47:36 GMT -5
I never had problems with most jaspers. Some pic jaspers will have some soft areas that won't shine, but for the most part they take a nice shine. I always ran them through a 1000g cycle before polishing them in Tin Oxide. You can just about forget jade polishing in a tumbler.
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yogibear
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2006
Posts: 100
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Post by yogibear on Mar 31, 2007 1:27:17 GMT -5
I can't get Jade to polish in a tumbler and everything that I have read says Jade needs to get warm almost hot enough to melt wax on dop stick to get surface to flow and shine.
yogibear
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Post by krazydiamond on Mar 31, 2007 7:19:29 GMT -5
i can hardly get jade to shine on the grinder much less in the tumbler. some jaspers are tougher than others....especially some of the picture jaspers. those are nice pieces, tho, even if they don't shine as well as some others.
KD
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2007 8:28:07 GMT -5
Earth, I have tried to tumble jade for years and always end up with lousy results. Alice is the only one I know of who was able to make the stuff polish in a tumbler. She sent me her method recently, heres what she wrote:
I tumbled them with other rocks (agates and Jaspers), because your jade was flat. The agates and Jaspers were irregular shaped (like the usual tumbling rough). I'd say in coarse the mix was probably 1/2 Jade & 1/2 something else. Here's a more understandable recipe for a 3 pound capacity rotary tumbler: #1 Coarse grit until happy with the shape (I used 80 grit) #2 120/220 for a week or 2 (peek in from time to time and be sure to add pellets if needed) #3 Put rocks on the side until you have a full barrel, so that no pellets are needed for the next stage (be sure to add rocks which have gone through the 120/220 stage which aren't flat like your jade) #3 600F for 3 weeks (longer wouldn't hurt) peek in from time to time, and add pellets if needed #4 Burnish #5 Tripoli & pellets for a week (longer wouldn't hurt) #6 Burnish #7 2 weeks in AO polish & pellets (I used "Used" AO polish)... longer then 2 weeks wouldn't hurt
Good luck if you try it again
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RockyBlue
fully equipped rock polisher
Go U.K.
Member since June 2006
Posts: 1,719
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Post by RockyBlue on Mar 31, 2007 11:23:54 GMT -5
Hey Earthdog! Just a suggestion try a Borax wash for 24 hrs. then in tripoli,then AO,hope you get a good of a shine like you always do...............Rocky
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Post by connrock on Apr 1, 2007 7:27:11 GMT -5
e-dog, The picture jaspers can give you trouble because the are a tad harder then other jaspers. They need a little longer to pre and polish.
Then a good borax wash.
connrock
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Post by creativeminded on Apr 1, 2007 9:02:22 GMT -5
I had the same problem with my blood jasper when I ran them through the stages and just used cerium oxide. I decided to run them through the stages again only this time I ran them through a mixture of Cerium and Aluminum oxide, in my 3# barrels I use one Tbsp of each. I did send them through a 2 day burnish with borax. They turned out pretty good. Tami
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agatemaggot
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2006
Posts: 2,195
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Post by agatemaggot on Apr 1, 2007 9:48:10 GMT -5
If you would like to borrow me some I'll give em a few laps in the vibro with some seasoned medium.
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
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Post by stefan on Apr 1, 2007 13:16:49 GMT -5
Longer polish cycle- Jaspers seem to really like to run a long time in polish- I run mine 3 weeks in tin- then 24 hours in borax-
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SilverFoxx
starting to shine!
Member since March 2005
Posts: 28
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Post by SilverFoxx on Apr 1, 2007 21:29:12 GMT -5
Hey Earthdog
I'd be happy if I could get mine to look that good. It seems that my stuff starts to break down in the polish stage - like any little pit gets bigger or a fine crack or fissure just explodes open
Silver Foxx
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