shadowhound
off to a rocking start
Member since November 2011
Posts: 19
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Post by shadowhound on Nov 27, 2011 18:25:30 GMT -5
since i am a little skint at the moment the cheapest rock tumbler is £65 where ive seeen online i was wondering can i get into this hobby without a rock tumbler ? i wana polish rocks, make things and enjoy the creativeness of this hobby
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Post by susand24224 on Nov 27, 2011 18:52:05 GMT -5
If you want to make and polish things, I'm thinking the cheapest investment to start you toward this goal is a tumbler. You can likely pick up a good used one a lot cheaper, or perhaps build your own. There are instructions here for building your own, as well as on Youtube.
Other, more creative members may have better ideas.
Susan
P.S. And welcome!
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Steve
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2005
Posts: 506
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Post by Steve on Nov 27, 2011 19:57:31 GMT -5
There are lots of rocks that you can polish by hand - soapstone, many softer fossils, amber, copal. Shape with a pocketknife, Use wet sandpaper followed by polish on a wet cloth. You can even use toothpaste as a polish for copal. Looks like you're across the pond, so I don't really know what readily availble. But petoskey (fossilized coral) from Michigan polishes quite nicely by hand.
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shadowhound
off to a rocking start
Member since November 2011
Posts: 19
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Post by shadowhound on Nov 28, 2011 3:47:13 GMT -5
thank you for your help i didn't know you could build your own i think i shall check this out seems like fun
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Post by connrock on Nov 28, 2011 8:33:28 GMT -5
Hi and welcome to the board! There's a man on your side of the pond who has helped and lot of people there and here as well! Hid board name is: Jack(Yorkshire) If this link works you can send him a "Personal message" from it and I am sure he would be more then happy to help you! forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/index.cgi?action=viewprofile&user=jackGood Luck,,,, connrock
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Post by Jack ( Yorkshire) on Nov 28, 2011 17:34:35 GMT -5
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shadowhound
off to a rocking start
Member since November 2011
Posts: 19
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Post by shadowhound on Nov 28, 2011 17:41:05 GMT -5
thanks jack i will have a look though this site now i wish there was a thank you button
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peachfront
fully equipped rock polisher
Stones have begun to speak, because an ear is there to hear them.
Member since August 2010
Posts: 1,745
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Post by peachfront on Dec 1, 2011 23:07:04 GMT -5
Of course. If you can get Amber or Copal, you can polish stones pretty quickly even with wet/dry sandpaper. A lady used to buy a dozen of the Amber pebbles at a time for her store, until I ran out of decent Amber to polish. So it's do-able and sometimes can even make a bit of money to put in the "tools" or "materials" fund to help support your hobby. On another thread, I put how I polished a Petoskey Stone (a type of fossil coral) by hand. What other tools do you have? There are some stones workable with wood carving tools. I once sold a lady a piece of Serpentine and a piece of Soapstone. She came back the next day and gave me two carvings, one of each material, because she had experience with wood working and could actually work them pretty fast. I still stand amazed every time I look at them. I have also experimented with flat lapping on a piece of flat marble cutting board, with wet/dry sandpaper, for polishing small thundereggs. It's slow but it works. You have to have a way to get the thundereggs sawed open though...We have an embarrassing number of saws, it's the rest of the equipment that we're a little shy of.
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
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Post by stefan on Dec 12, 2011 10:04:31 GMT -5
You can also face polish harder rocks. Simply get an old window pain and a little grit and water. Start with a course grit and a flat surfaced rock (best if you can obtain some saw faced specimins) Put down a little (about a teaspoon) of grit, add a little water (a couple drops) and start rubbing in a circular motion (the sound is HORRIBLE at first but will soon die down). Keep hand grinding till your happy. THen move on to the next stage grit (med) Same method. THen fine, grit, prepolish and polish. Make sure to use a new glass for each stage (or at least a new section of a larger pain). If the rock starts to stick a bit add a drop or 2 of water. If the grinding action slows down add a bit more grit. I did a couple Thundeeggs this way and they took about 6 to 8 hours of hand grinding, but they came out real nice. Oh and if you get tired then take a break. TO reactivate the dried out grit just add a bit of water (heck I have even left it for a week at a time).
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
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Post by stefan on Dec 12, 2011 10:05:49 GMT -5
OOOPSSS Gues I should read Peachfronts post first- Yea hand flat lapping- thats what its called.
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