earthdog
Cave Dweller
Don't eat yellow snow
Member since June 2006
Posts: 2,731
|
Post by earthdog on Jan 30, 2016 13:09:23 GMT -5
When you pull rocks out of polish and see some of them didn't shine, how far back to you take them before polishing again? I have a 3lb barrel full of rocks from a few different polish barrels that didn't polish well, I'm thinking about starting them back in 500 then back in 1000 before trying to polish them again.
|
|
rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
|
Post by rollingstone on Jan 30, 2016 13:17:35 GMT -5
Good question. I think if I have a barrel where most of the rocks polished but some didn't, I assume there is something wrong with non-shiny ones and that they will never take a shine so I don't re-run them. In one case though I did have a batch of Tiger Eye that I knew could have turned out shinier so I did re-run the entire batch. That was quite awhile ago so I'm a bit fuzzy on details, but I took them back at least to 120/220, possibly even to 60/90, and the results were much better second-time around. But maybe I could have got away with only taking them back to 500? I don't know, it will be interesting to see other people's experiences. -Don
|
|
rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
|
Post by rollingstone on Jan 30, 2016 13:22:48 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by captbob on Jan 30, 2016 13:34:09 GMT -5
Assuming they were to your liking going into the polish stage, they shouldn't need any shaping (60/90) or even smoothing (120/220) - unless they were damaged in the polish stage (?) - so that would probably leave you with 500 or 1000 unless you have some odd grits in your pantry. 1000 ought to be sufficient to remove the polish on the rocks now.
I kinda figure that 500 is simply to remove any surface scratches left from the 120/220. It sure shouldn't affect the shape any. If those 120/220 marks are already gone, maybe just going back to 1000 will do the trick. Going back to 500 would either require running the 500 longer until it breaks down even finer, or doing both the 500 & 1000. You in a hurry? If not, doing both doesn't really hurt anything.
The rocks are in your hand, no one better to judge how far back to go than the one holding and looking at them. Sorry, I have definite answer - depends on the rocks and the person doing the tumbling.
|
|
|
Post by manofglass on Jan 30, 2016 13:54:01 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by pauls on Jan 30, 2016 16:48:03 GMT -5
If they are Obsidian or Quartz etc. that has badly bruised and frosted then back 220 to remove the damage, if its just a lack of polish, just back to prepolish, or you could just try a different type of polish, try Cerium Oxide or Tin Oxide, Al Oxide. Try a different media or no media until you hit on a combination that works. Also remove any damaged rocks from the mix before doing any of this, it could be that one chipped rock is damaging the polish on slightly softer stones.
Paul
|
|
Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,685
|
Post by Fossilman on Jan 30, 2016 17:20:32 GMT -5
I start over-throwing them back into the starting bucket for tumbling...
|
|