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Post by Jugglerguy on Oct 5, 2014 11:34:56 GMT -5
I've often wondered why different polishes are used for tumbling. I do my polish stage in a vibe and I always use aluminum oxide from the Rock Shed. I use it because it's cheap (about $5 a pound) and it works well. The Rock Shed also sells tin oxide for $25 a pound and cerium oxide for $16 a pound. I'm not sure why someone would use these other polishes. Do they work better in rotary tumblers? I've read some things about different polishes working better on other stones, but I haven't had a problem with aluminum oxide on any of the rocks I've tumbled.
So what do you use and why? Does your polish work better, or are you like me and haven't tried anything else?
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
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Post by tkvancil on Oct 5, 2014 15:44:29 GMT -5
First polish I ever used was a micro-alumina from Kingsley. Came with my original tumbler kit. It did a good job in the rotary but I was looking for better. The polish looked great to the naked eye but had a patchy look to it under magnification. I had read about French cerium or Super cerium as being a top notch polish. I bought some, at the time not much more expensive than the micro-alumina. To my eye the alumina did a better job. I posted my frustration with the cerium at the time. An experienced member said to go from 500 to 1000 then add a Tripoli step to get the best out of my cerium. Never tried it. Too many steps.
I now use the Rocksheds AO as recommended by many RTH members. It hasn't failed to polish anything I've run it with, vibe or rotary. For the price I don't think it can be beat.
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Steve
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2005
Posts: 506
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Post by Steve on Oct 5, 2014 16:14:46 GMT -5
For rotary -- titanium dioxide because it works well and is cheaper than most other polishes. The negative is that it is messy and stains shoes, pants white. Used to use cerium oxide until it became so expensive. For vibs -- tin oxide because it works well, is easy to clean up and you don't need much in a vib so it's affordable.
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,341
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Post by quartz on Oct 5, 2014 23:28:13 GMT -5
We polish with Tripoli in our rotary tumblers and have received many a compliment on the polish quality. As to why, it's affordable and works well for us. We go from 220, well cushioned with rubber pieces, straight to polish, cushioned with air soft BB's and leather scraps of about 1" dimension to about 20% of the load. Then a 3-5 day run in a dry laundry soap and water mix of near pancake batter thickness. We tumble mainly the quartz family of minerals, especially pet. wood.
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Post by catmandewe on Oct 6, 2014 0:26:32 GMT -5
I use OMG2 (a special formula developed by John at JSGems). I have used all the other ones and this one does a good job quickly, it saves me time so I really like it.
Tony
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Post by pghram on Oct 6, 2014 13:49:42 GMT -5
When I first got into tumbling back in the Dark Ages, Tin Ox was the standard. I've used it ever since. It works great for me, so I've never had an incentive to change. I capture & re-use, so cost isn't an issue.
Rich
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,159
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Post by jamesp on Oct 6, 2014 14:28:41 GMT -5
Aluminum oxide abrasive may have become popular in the early 80's.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2014 16:16:58 GMT -5
Greetings [jugglerguy] If like most you are doing Glass (Bottle, Sea, Window, Volcanic), Chalcedony (Agates, Flint, Jaspers, Petrified Wood) or Quartz (Agates, Amethyst, Citrine, Hawks Eye, Rock Crystal, Tigers Eye, white Quartz), then the following will all work. Aluminum Oxide, Borax, Cerium Oxide, Tin Oxide, Titainium Dioxide, Zinc Oxide. But in order to polish stones you will need to grind down to at least 400-600 grit before the polish will take effect. I even tried and failed to polish rough Quartz Rock Crystal shards in my vibe for a week with Lortone Aluminum Oxide polish & water or just Borax & water some of the shards had a silk finish on the shard facets, But I also found this with rough shard facets that I had not used yet. But when you stray to non-standard Rocks, Minerals and Gem stones then your common every day polish may not work or at best just a silk finish. See " What Polish?" and " Whats the best polish?" for other rocks. Please check out my Sticky's below. -- Please click images to open larger images in a new Tab, same with everything that is Underlined! I currently have a 3lb Beach (UK), Lortone QT 12/66 (USA) rotaries & 2x Viking Vibrasonic (Diamond Pacific) (USA) virbrating tumblers, with Silicon Carbide grit F80, F220, F600, F1200, with Tin Oxide (1.0 micron) & Aluminum Oxide (1.0 micron & 0.3 micron) polishes. I hail from (The Barony of Seabegs) Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire, U.K, where aliens (15mb) sometimes come for a visit & about 4 miles west from that monstrosity & 7 miles west of this new monstrosity! Sticky's: their contents are resource information 1#: Vendors worldwide (2mb), 2#: How to use the forum, 3#: How to identify rocks & minerals, 4#: Save money on expensive grits & polishes, 5#: Aussie Lapidary Forum: Rock Tumbling Guide!
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