rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
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Post by rollingstone on Jul 31, 2013 14:29:00 GMT -5
It's been awhile since I've posted any new tumbles, but I dusted off my barrels in March, set them to rolling, and finally have something to show for it. Much of this Tiger Eye I had tumbled almost 10 years ago but it came out with bruised edges back then and that bugged me everytime I looked at the tumbled stones. So I took them right back to coarse grind and went long and slow, using pellets in every stage. Finished them with lots of pellets to be gentle on the edges, then ran the polish barrel for 24 days to make up for the slow action in the barrel. I think it was worth it, I'm very happy with the outcome. Some pure blues: Some pure golds: And since the real beauty of Tiger Eye is the chatoyance, and that is hard to show in a single picture, for the next two pics I've photographed the same stone at slightly different angles to show how the play of light and dark bands changes as the stone moves: Thanks for looking! -Don
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jul 31, 2013 14:34:35 GMT -5
That's certainly a batch to be proud of. liquid shine for tiger eye. It sounds like you polished in a rotary barrel. did you just use an aluminum oxide polish or something fancy?
Chuck
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darrad
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2006
Posts: 1,636
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Post by darrad on Jul 31, 2013 16:10:28 GMT -5
Outstanding! Good to see ya rolling again. That's the way Tigers Eye is supposed to turn out.
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carloscinco
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2008
Posts: 1,639
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Post by carloscinco on Jul 31, 2013 17:56:02 GMT -5
Prime Time pieces! Well done.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jul 31, 2013 18:09:14 GMT -5
Wow, those are awesome! I've gone back and looked at your pictures in the thread, "Newbies Some Inspirational Tumbles" many times. You're a pro! It looks like the patience to do 24 days in polish is the sort of thing that sets your rocks apart. When you refer to using pellets, do you mean plastic pellets, rather than ceramic?
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snuffy
Cave Dweller
Member since May 2009
Posts: 4,319
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Post by snuffy on Jul 31, 2013 18:12:46 GMT -5
Don't see any way you could get a better liquid shine on this material! Outstanding!
snuffy
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Post by Bikerrandy on Jul 31, 2013 20:07:44 GMT -5
It's been a really long time since I've seen a batch of tumbled tigereye on here, and that's definitely the best batch of it that I've ever seen!
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Post by Pat on Jul 31, 2013 21:14:59 GMT -5
That's a beautiful batch of shine!
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rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
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Post by rollingstone on Aug 1, 2013 2:05:06 GMT -5
Thanks for the kind words everyone!
Drummond -- yes, those were done in a 6 lb rotary barrel. The polish was Aluminum oxide from the Rock Shed, purchased a few years back.
Juggler -- Thanks! These were done with plastic pellets (about BB-size). Although I'm aware many folks swear by ceramic pellets, I've actually never used them in any of my tumbles.
-Don
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Post by Toad on Aug 1, 2013 3:26:10 GMT -5
I can see why you're happy. Great job.
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Post by Peruano on Aug 1, 2013 7:55:04 GMT -5
Thanks for taking the time to do it, do it right, and to photograph it so its even more evident that its right. Congratualtions. Tom
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riverrock
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since April 2010
Posts: 1,395
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Post by riverrock on Aug 1, 2013 11:03:42 GMT -5
OH MY those are shiny.
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grizman
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since July 2011
Posts: 878
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Post by grizman on Aug 1, 2013 16:02:19 GMT -5
What a great batch of color and polish quality! I see you said that the effort started 10 years ago, but do you by chance remember the source of your gold and blue tiger-eye? Maybe you even know where one would buy some today?
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rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
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Post by rollingstone on Aug 2, 2013 2:04:04 GMT -5
Thanks again everyone!
Grizman, I went back over the rock receipts I've kept from year's previous but I don't have anything that goes back that far, nor can I think where I would have bought that rough ten years ago. It was probably from an online site as opposed to a local rock-shop, but that's as good as I can do... sorry.
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marinedad
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since December 2010
Posts: 813
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Post by marinedad on Aug 2, 2013 9:17:23 GMT -5
WOW! WHAT A NICE BATCH!
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Post by rockpickerforever on Aug 2, 2013 9:20:50 GMT -5
That tiger eye is the cat's meow. I don't think I've ever seen any finer!
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Post by pghram on Aug 2, 2013 12:26:34 GMT -5
Wow, outstanding stones & pictures, wow!
Rich
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