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Post by Tweetiepy on Mar 16, 2005 12:32:21 GMT -5
I have both of these tumbling together - the brazilian agate seem pretty smoothed down after a week but the mexican lace (which is part of a mexican mix) is still really rough & bumpy - isn't this stuff the same hardness? Should I remove the brazilians and just chuck in more mexican rough to keep grinding away? I may never get anything out of 60/90.
Anyone know what 80 grit is? Should I go to 60/90 after or straight to 220?
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chassroc
Cave Dweller
Rocks are abundant when you have rocktumblinghobby pals
Member since January 2005
Posts: 3,586
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Post by chassroc on Mar 16, 2005 12:56:25 GMT -5
Tweety, I believe 80 is just a "graded" grit. 80 (somethings) is the size of the grit. For tumbling purposes, I do not believe there is any benefit in using 80 instead of 60/90. I have a small amount of experience with Lace agate and found it has some harder spots; in the end it seems to shine just great with the bumps and all. csroc
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Post by krazydiamond on Mar 16, 2005 13:13:56 GMT -5
i've had some mex lace that had a "chalky" element to it that wore away faster than the agate parts.
i think there is a large variation in mex lace, in variety as well as quality, some is vuggy and colorful with clear material, other stuff is creamy and consistent. but as far as i know, they are relatively the same hardness.
other than the above mentioned differences in material i'd say you can roll the brazilian with the mexican (sounds like a party to me, where's the tequila?)
KD
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Post by Alice on Mar 16, 2005 13:37:01 GMT -5
I would remove the stones I was happy with (smoothness and Shape), then I'd replace them with other rough or pellets. That's only while doing coarse grit. Never put rough in the finer coarse stages.
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Voodoo Rage
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since February 2005
Posts: 127
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Post by Voodoo Rage on Mar 16, 2005 13:53:41 GMT -5
I don't think you are going to get Mexica lace to tumble into a nice round shape. The rock itself has variable hardness. I've had some lace tumbling FOREVER and the more I tumble it, the more imperfections and voids keep opening up. It's sort of like petrified wood, you can expect that your final product is going to have some veins and minor imperfections. It's what adds to the "character". ;D. Here's a photo of lace out of rough after 4 weeks (hopefully the pic works):
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Post by Tweetiepy on Mar 16, 2005 16:29:22 GMT -5
Oh no! Now I'm heartbroken I was hoping to get something kinda smoothlike - so I could wrap it - I might have to borrow my dad's dremel to sand them down then. *falls down pounding fists against floor* Does that mean my big hunk of mexican lace will have the same problem?
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Post by puppie96 on Mar 17, 2005 4:18:32 GMT -5
My MO agate strongly resembles the Mex -- that photo could be one of mine. The natural shapes are often really cool. Is it impossible to wrap a stone that has cavities and such?
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
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Post by stefan on Mar 17, 2005 11:05:08 GMT -5
Tweet don't dispair- Those imperfections are what makes this so fun! And when you do hit that perfect piece -it makes it all worth while! If you are not happy with the lace then hold it back and grind it again! You have to remeber that Quartz has a hardness of 7- but within this range some will shape better (more consistent material) and others will seem harder (which they probably are) just keep working it until YOU are happy! I have some of those Bubblegum agates that cracked open perfectly and cut wonderfully- then there are a few that just don't want to cut or crack open (I smashed one no less than 50 times before I finally took it to the saw- All it did was try to ride up the blade- I still don't know whats in it!) Oh and 60/90 grit is a combo of grit varying in sive from 60 to 90 microns (I think that is the measurement) where as 80 is consistently 80 microns- so they are very similiar in size and either will work for a course- so from 60/90 or 80 you should move to 120/220 (or something close to that)
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stubby
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since April 2004
Posts: 150
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Post by stubby on Mar 17, 2005 11:17:29 GMT -5
Agree with several on lace problems with soft layers, etc. I have had pieces with better composition (darker grey, darker red) that have held up well and rounded out nice and smooth. You may need 20 rocks rolling to get 1 or 2 you can use.
stub
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