jeff u
starting to spend too much on rocks
Rocks rock, man!
Member since March 2009
Posts: 143
|
Post by jeff u on Mar 25, 2009 10:17:37 GMT -5
Just want to get a idea of what people are using. I have used for yeras, and swear by it, a polish called "Holy Cow". It is made by a man named Guy Clark in Tampa. Anyone else used it? I use it in a letaher lap, and I wet the lap with white vinegar instaed of water.
Jeff
|
|
|
Post by Tonyterner on Mar 25, 2009 12:13:57 GMT -5
Never heard of it. Why the vinegar? I use cerium on the stones that it will work and just diamond belts on the others.
|
|
|
Post by Titania on Mar 25, 2009 12:49:05 GMT -5
I do all of my polishing on diamond wheels. I have tried using diamond paste on leather for obsidian, but have yet to find that they come out any better than just using wheels.
|
|
|
Post by johnjsgems on Mar 25, 2009 13:04:22 GMT -5
Never heard of Holy Cow. What kind of polish is it? I thought I was being clever calling mine "OMG 1"and "OMG 2".
|
|
|
Post by johnjsgems on Mar 25, 2009 13:08:55 GMT -5
By the way, if you have really hard water the vinegar would neutralize the alkaline minerals. Distilled water would work also. Some water is so bad you get a hazy film on the rocks. I have heard of people using oxalic acid on their buffs also.
|
|
pebblepup
has rocks in the head
Succor Creek Thunder Egg
Member since July 2008
Posts: 515
|
Post by pebblepup on Mar 25, 2009 13:13:38 GMT -5
For the most part I use cerium oxide but if I have a problem stone I will try aluminum oxide. I have buffing pads setup for each polish, one leather and one felt and swap them as needed.
John
|
|
|
Post by johnjsgems on Mar 25, 2009 13:20:10 GMT -5
I googled Holy Cow. It is apparently an aluminum oxide blend and priced way up like Linde A. I'd try some of the less expensive .3 micron al ox polishes and see if they won't give you the same results. They run $18-$20 per lb. compared to $12/oz. for Holy Cow.
|
|
jeff u
starting to spend too much on rocks
Rocks rock, man!
Member since March 2009
Posts: 143
|
Post by jeff u on Mar 25, 2009 14:57:16 GMT -5
I have tried cerrium and alox and they don't hold a candle to Holy Cow. I just want to add I am not connected to Guy Clark, just love the polish.
I use it with vinegar because it gives me a better polish than plain H2O.
Yes it is expensive, but I find that I don't need to charge my pad as often as with other polishes. Just my 2 cents..I do use the Cerrium and alox when I am at the Society's workshop, but 90% of the time, I come home and use the Holy Cow....
Jeff
|
|
|
Post by johnjsgems on Mar 25, 2009 16:44:06 GMT -5
Anymore you can't say "cerium" or "aluminum" because there are too many variables.
Cerium comes in Standard, Optical, and Super (or French). Aluminum polish is all over the board. You would have to know the micron rating to judge it fairly. Most of the "tumbling polish aluminums are in the 3-4 micron range. They work great in rotary tumblers, sometimes in vibes, as well as cerium on buffs when polishing hard materials. The finer grades of aluminum work better for vibes and buffing. .5 and finer are much better than the tumble grades. .3 and finer work better yet.
|
|
|
Post by bobby1 on Mar 25, 2009 22:16:32 GMT -5
I use plain old Cerium, the tan stuff. I don't know what grade it is. I don't pay a premium price for it so is is probably the Standard??? I haven't found a need for anything else except Rapid Polish on a wood wheel for Nephrite. Bob
|
|
|
Post by johnjsgems on Mar 25, 2009 22:25:17 GMT -5
Rapid Polish is .3 micron aluminum oxide.
|
|
49er
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since February 2008
Posts: 753
|
Post by 49er on Mar 25, 2009 22:43:31 GMT -5
Yep, never heard of it. Use diamond paste for now.
|
|
highplainsdrifter
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2008
Posts: 1,266
|
Post by highplainsdrifter on Mar 26, 2009 8:31:51 GMT -5
I use super cerium and distilled water with good results. I'm going to try this holy cow though. I'll cut two cabs of the same material and polish them on two differnt leather pads with the different polishes and see what I get. Thanks for the tip, HPD
|
|
|
Post by Tony W on Mar 27, 2009 13:38:53 GMT -5
I recently went with Tin Oxide on leather as a final step, and I am finally getting some happy results with my polish. I've been going over all my cabs with it. It even helps the cabs that were fire scalded and coated with melted plastic T
|
|
Banjocreek
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since March 2003
Posts: 1,115
|
Post by Banjocreek on Mar 27, 2009 14:36:54 GMT -5
I have a mixture that I got from "BearCreek" that has worked wonderful for over a year now on just about everything I've tried it on. It is... 10 parts Optical Grade Cerium (99.9%) mixed with 1 part Linde "A". I have to recharge very seldom and it works both wet and dry.
-Mike
|
|