Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,681
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Post by Fossilman on Jul 3, 2011 22:34:49 GMT -5
Hey can a person tumble marbles back to their old shine without destroying them??? Has anyone tumbled them or use some other process........ I have a lead on some old marbles,some are shooters,kind of scratched,but worth the buy..... :drool:
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Steve
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2005
Posts: 506
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Post by Steve on Jul 3, 2011 22:50:53 GMT -5
Well, your first try should be with a vibrating tumbler, with lots of filler. Maybe skip the first step. I've see faceted cat's eyes - they're pretty neat.
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snuffy
Cave Dweller
Member since May 2009
Posts: 4,319
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Post by snuffy on Jul 4, 2011 0:57:31 GMT -5
I'm afraid you might ruin them doing that. I've used them in the past through all the stages as filler and they never polished up,but they were with agates and such, so I cant say with certainty it wouldnt work.Heck,we polish glass and obsidian. Heres a pic of some that were tumbled. If I were to try it,I'd buy a container of the cheap Chinese cat's eyes sold at the dollar stores or Walgreens and put the ones you want to polish in with a full load of cheapies,perhaps 500 grit or finer.My :2cents: Original size and the little bitty cat eyes after they were tumbled. snuffy
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Post by connrock on Jul 4, 2011 6:04:28 GMT -5
I live in the USA and some years ago a guy from the UK contacted me and asked me if I would do a test run on some antique(glass) agates he had in his collection. Some that he sent me were only scratched but some had fairly deep chips out of them and I knew that if I tried to get rid of the deep chips I would only ruin the agates. As these agates were collectors items so I opted to do only the ones that were scratched and they came out very nice. I did them in a Lot-O-Tumbler (a vibe) and used a LOT of ceramic filler. If memory serves me right I started with 400 grit and worked my way up to polish which was Tin Oxide.
connrock
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,681
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Post by Fossilman on Jul 4, 2011 9:16:21 GMT -5
Thanks guys...........
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Post by jakesrocks on Jul 4, 2011 9:27:09 GMT -5
If I can find new belts for it, I have a very small sphere machine that could bring them back to like new condition. The only drawback would be that they would be slightly smaller than their original diameter. On the plus side, there would be no chance of them being ground out of round. I'd start out at 400 grit, then 600 grit, and finally leather covered cups with cerium oxide.
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Post by Jack, lapidaryrough on Jul 4, 2011 9:44:47 GMT -5
Think Moh-Scale, Hardness.
Marbles are 5-5.5
Agates 7 - 7.2
If the load is only marbles, use a rotary tumbler. use 3-F ( 320 - 400 ) Grit.
For two weeks, this grit size well break down fast. In a large tumble, Like 12 Lbs. size our larger. careful not to use to much water. Tooth paste consistency is best.
pre-polish with Tripoli - and add walnut shell that has soaked over night. This well make a light paste on the material and work the polish faster.
The dry cerium oxide for the final polish. with a small amount of water So i don`t over mix this stage, i mix the material, cerium oxide, and a small about of wallet shell in a bowl. add just enough water to wet the cerium to the shell -
this way i see the paste and the consistency of the mix. let it soak with the cerium oxide as this well stick it to the walnut shell better for final stage. add water if you think is need !!!
Pre - 1918 marble have phosphate in them, Back then sheet glass and all glass bottle had a rainbow look to them.
This may cause a lot of gas in the tumbler ( ? ) check daily to re-leave gas build up.
Our add Bean-O / Gas-X. No i really meant BAKING SODA. 3 table spoons in a 12 Lb`er.
this well raise the PH level of the water, in the old Barrels this was to prevent rusting of the barrel!!! Not gas build up.
Jack, in Oregon
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