Post by rollingstone on Mar 3, 2005 15:18:53 GMT -5
Baking soda... I'm not sure if this would work or not. As Brett said, it is used in toothpaste, so I presume that means it must be softer than teeth, which are Mohs 4. So it shouldn't scratch any kind of stones you would be polishing, but I might be a bit concerned that it would foam up and pop the barrel lid if the water was at all acidic (remember the baking soda and vinegar "volcanoes" of youth). I've never seen it recommended for rock tumbling, and that would make me hesistant to try it, but who knows?
Alice, I've seen 20 Mule Team Borax in "The Real Canadian Superstore", which I think is the same as Loblaws down east... has the President's Choice line of goods, etc. But I don't use Borax. Up until very recently I had the remains of a 6 litre box of ivory snow flakes, squirrelled away from when it used to be available. Lately I've been using shavings from a bar of ivory soap. For a 6 lb. barrel, the old recommendation was 3 Tb of powdered soap. I'm still experimenting, but it seems to me that much less is needed when you use shavings from a bar, like maybe 1 Tb. (the old powdered soap was pretty light and fluffy). If you use a sharp knife to shave a dry bar of soap, it comes off in very fine flakes.
The reason I use soap is that sometimes I end up with a residue of polish on the stones, and the soap seems very good at removing this. Maybe borax or baking soda would too, I've never tried them. You know, when you find something that works you tend to stick with it....
My thoughts anyway.
Alice, I've seen 20 Mule Team Borax in "The Real Canadian Superstore", which I think is the same as Loblaws down east... has the President's Choice line of goods, etc. But I don't use Borax. Up until very recently I had the remains of a 6 litre box of ivory snow flakes, squirrelled away from when it used to be available. Lately I've been using shavings from a bar of ivory soap. For a 6 lb. barrel, the old recommendation was 3 Tb of powdered soap. I'm still experimenting, but it seems to me that much less is needed when you use shavings from a bar, like maybe 1 Tb. (the old powdered soap was pretty light and fluffy). If you use a sharp knife to shave a dry bar of soap, it comes off in very fine flakes.
The reason I use soap is that sometimes I end up with a residue of polish on the stones, and the soap seems very good at removing this. Maybe borax or baking soda would too, I've never tried them. You know, when you find something that works you tend to stick with it....
My thoughts anyway.