kelley
starting to shine!
Member since March 2005
Posts: 27
|
Post by kelley on Mar 15, 2005 18:31:01 GMT -5
We are awaiting our tumbler to arrive in the mail (Lortone). We have mixed agates and jaspers to start out with. Afterwards we would like to tumble Aquamarine, Sodalite, and Brazil Amethyst. Can any of these be tumbled together? Do you have to treat any of them special? We have only a pound of each of the above. The model tumber we are getting it 33B. We know to reserve one tumbler for the polishing stage. Any hints would be much appreciated. Kelley
|
|
SilverFoxx
starting to shine!
Member since March 2005
Posts: 28
|
Post by SilverFoxx on Mar 15, 2005 18:45:55 GMT -5
You have a good workhorse of a tumbler. The directions that came with the 33B work just fine as far as I'm concerned but everyone will tell you that you need lots of patience. Patience means don't peak. You're starting ot with some neat stuff to tumble. Did you buy the rocks or did you find them? What I do is go to building construction sites after the buldozers have leveled everything off and go through piles of dirt and pick up whatever looks interesting.
|
|
JKowalski33
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2004
Posts: 451
|
Post by JKowalski33 on Mar 15, 2005 20:11:55 GMT -5
what I would do is keep the sodalite separate, because it is a bit softer and the jasper/amethyst will give it a dull polish. But being you only have a pound each, you can't really do a full load of pure sodalite..... It wouldn't be terrible to include the sodalite, just not ideal
|
|
kelley
starting to shine!
Member since March 2005
Posts: 27
|
Post by kelley on Mar 15, 2005 21:39:39 GMT -5
What about the Aquamarine? I know it has a hardness of about 7. Can it be tumbled in this grouping?
Thanks again! Kelley
|
|
|
Post by Toad on Mar 15, 2005 22:01:14 GMT -5
What about the Aquamarine? I know it has a hardness of about 7. Can it be tumbled in this grouping? Thanks again! Kelley Actually, aquamarine is 7.5 to 8. Amethyst is 7. They're probably close enough to tumble together. Sodalite is 5.5 to 6, so probably not a good idea to tumble together.
|
|
kelley
starting to shine!
Member since March 2005
Posts: 27
|
Post by kelley on Mar 15, 2005 22:29:34 GMT -5
Thanks! I really appreciate it! Kelley
|
|
|
Post by creativeminded on Mar 15, 2005 22:36:44 GMT -5
You should be able to tumble the Aquamarine, Amethyst, Agates, and Jasper together because they all have a Mohs hardness of 7.0-7.5, however, the sodalite only has a Mohs harness of 5.5 in fact I have been told to not even start them in 60/90 grit because they will grind away fast. Tami
|
|
stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
|
Post by stefan on Mar 16, 2005 11:05:48 GMT -5
The aquamarine is a bit harder than you amethyst and jasper- but they should go ok! The sodalite could go with the amethyst and jasper in the 120/220 and 1000 stage- but watch it carefully (so first we tell you not to peek- then we tell you to watch it carefully!) I would not mix the sodalite and aquamarine- I would also polish the sodalite seperatly from the others- They will beat the crude out of it!
|
|
Duckbean
fully equipped rock polisher
Looking for rocks in all the wrong places
Member since February 2005
Posts: 1,072
|
Post by Duckbean on Mar 16, 2005 23:02:29 GMT -5
What it sounds like to me is you got yourself a real good reason to get more rocks! But who needs a reason anyway. Bob
|
|