azgnoinc
spending too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 484
|
Post by azgnoinc on Mar 27, 2014 23:13:39 GMT -5
I live a couple miles from a plant that produces titanium dioxide and have pretty easy access to getting my hands on some for free, but being a newbie to tumbling - can I use this for a pre-polish or for a final polish? I plan on tumbling a lot of agate & jasper, so I'm wondering about those specifically and what should my polish cycle run - I'm assuming 10 days or so provided everything else has done it's job well up to that point? Thanks in advance....Gene
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Mar 28, 2014 0:32:18 GMT -5
Well... most titanium dioxide is used in paints or makeup...so it's really fine.. like 1 to 2 microns. Which puts it way into the "polish" stages. Like a 4000 to 6000+ grit or so.. depending on manufacturer. Polish length time is where you are "more then happy with the finish" number of days. Week to two.. check barrel after a week...then every day or two. After a while you might start getting chipped edges..depending on stone size and fill.
|
|
|
Post by johnjsgems on Mar 30, 2014 14:13:37 GMT -5
I've heard it is the polish used in Lortone kits. I tried it with Montana agates and it worked as well as cerium.
|
|
azgnoinc
spending too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 484
|
Post by azgnoinc on Mar 30, 2014 18:45:34 GMT -5
Thank you both Stephen and John, think I'll get some as it's free and give it a shot sometime.
|
|
bruceb
off to a rocking start
Member since August 2013
Posts: 20
|
Post by bruceb on Apr 29, 2014 23:47:22 GMT -5
Sorry to post this a month late but I just saw this post. Titanium dioxide can come as water soluble or Oil soluble. The stuff I use to make candles is the oil soluble so be sure what you have will work in water and not just cake up. Bruce
|
|
|
Post by Rockoonz on May 3, 2014 12:27:02 GMT -5
I just saw it too. TiO2 is used as a white pigment in the rubber and plastics industry, and judging by how hard it is to get off the hands if I don't wear gloves, it could be very difficult to remove from rocks with pits. Possibly a couple drops of dish soap in the water would help.
|
|