ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Aug 26, 2016 17:45:00 GMT -5
Alright, I decided to document my attempt at tumbling the mahogany obsidian I bought from Tommy . I ended up buying the small tile saw from Harbor Freight, but decided for this first barrel I would try busting the material up by hand. I grabbed a large granite rock, placed the obsidian in a large box and put on as much protection as I could find - jeans, boots, long sleeve, leather gloves and a full face shield (happy to report it all worked - no blood). I felt pretty good about the small amount of "waste". I was able to break a couple of the bigger chunks into smaller slabs. Then I whacked them with a rock chisel. Didn't take much and I had more control than I thought. Grabbed anything that looked big enough. Got a nice mix of sizes. Into the barrel with 10 TB of some 60/90 and water to the bottom of the top layer. All guesses. I'm going to check this tomorrow since I thought I read that obsidian can cause a bit of gas. I'll let this roll for a week and see how things look. I included a few pics of my grit and tumble stash. I'll be adding in some plastic pellets and small ceramic media when this moves to stage 2. This will be fully rotary tumbled. Thanks for all the help everyone has been providing. Here are the pics...
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Post by orrum on Aug 26, 2016 17:53:47 GMT -5
Good job busting it up. U can put even tiny pieces into the barrel because smalls r the secret to good contact with the grit. Put the ceramics or and pellets in now to cushin and also some borax to help make a slurry.
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Post by captbob on Aug 26, 2016 18:06:42 GMT -5
Off to a nice start! I'm assuming those are 6 lb barrels (?) If so, you are going to end up with some pretty small tumbles. Got any extra MO left, throw some bigger pieces in there. I had pretty good results using ceramics in stage two and saving the plastic beads for the later stages. forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/70637/mahogany-obsidianGood luck and keep us updated!
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Aug 26, 2016 18:12:12 GMT -5
The first picture of the box is what's left - so there is plenty! And yes, those are the 6# barrels. There are quite a few pieces that are around 1.5". I tried to make a bunch of sizes. I'm going to fire the saw up and try that method also with the smaller chunks. I can definitely try and keep some pieces even bigger. I was just basing the sizes on all the tumbling rough I've gotten from the Rock Shed - and then threw a bunch of medium and smaller stuff to fill in.
A question on the borax, how much would you add? A couple of tablespoons?
Thanks!
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Post by captbob on Aug 26, 2016 18:34:51 GMT -5
I only used Borax as a final burnish, and I have never measured anything my entire tumbling career, so no help there - others that are more precise than I can surely answer that one.
I have had good results at times doing a borax burnish and no difference at other times. I didn't see any appreciable difference doing a Borax burnish with my obsidian batch. I pulled rocks out of each stage during my tumble run, to keep for reference. The mahogany batch I did was a fun one and a good material to use for different grit progress examples.
You have that whole box left, get some bigger pieces in this load. I'm thinking that, with what you have loaded, you will probably end up with a bunch of rocks about the size of a gum ball, or smaller.
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Tommy
Administrator
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,594
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Post by Tommy on Aug 26, 2016 21:16:36 GMT -5
Everything is great ChicagoDave except that your shop is WAY too neat and organized
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Aug 26, 2016 21:24:07 GMT -5
I live in a small 100 year old Chicago Bungalow. I have to keep everything tidy. The basement also houses all my jerky/sausage/smoker/grilling stuff and a 4'x8' HO train layout in progress.
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dottyt
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2016
Posts: 305
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Post by dottyt on Aug 26, 2016 21:25:05 GMT -5
Nice work bench!!! Good luck with the tumble!
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Post by Garage Rocker on Aug 26, 2016 21:38:10 GMT -5
Look forward to seeing the progress on that batch. Love the organized work space too! Yes, there are others like you out there.
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Sept 25, 2016 13:44:20 GMT -5
Well, it's been a month of running this material. I clean out the barrels once a week, inspect each rock and put the ones not ready back in. Add some new material to make up the difference. After the first week I added some ceramic media in the barrel also (maybe 25%). I also cut some of the obsidian using my tile saw to see what those pieces would look like. They look a little too "square". I like the random look of the stuff I busted with a rock and hammer. I've been adding about 8TB of 60/90 SiC each week with water to the bottom of the top layer of rocks. Today I jumped on the kitty litter bandwagon and threw in 1/2 cup to see how that impacts the slurry. I just added the last of my cut up pieces today. I've been keeping all the "ready for stage 2" obsidian in a jar of water. I dumped them out just to get a picture. Once my Lot-O is back in service, I'll start running these thru their final steps. Thank for looking and have a great day!
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Post by Peruano on Sept 25, 2016 15:28:45 GMT -5
Looking good! What's not to like.
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richardh
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 391
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Post by richardh on Sept 25, 2016 17:21:34 GMT -5
Looking great! Hope that Lot-O is back soon. I can't wait to see how these look when finished.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Sept 25, 2016 17:22:07 GMT -5
Obsidian whips me. Requires organization, neat and clean I suppose. Get start.
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shermandukejewelry
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Retired, learning jewelry design
Member since July 2016
Posts: 93
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Post by shermandukejewelry on Sept 25, 2016 17:22:46 GMT -5
Very nice tumbles.
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Post by orrum on Sept 25, 2016 17:23:33 GMT -5
Lookin good! Watch the bruising in final stages.
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richardh
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 391
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Post by richardh on Sept 25, 2016 17:27:31 GMT -5
Lookin good! Watch the bruising in final stages. Any tips for avoiding bruising?
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Post by orrum on Sept 25, 2016 17:36:07 GMT -5
I use half ceramics for obsidian and borax both in the Loto.
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cardiobill
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since March 2012
Posts: 879
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Post by cardiobill on Sept 25, 2016 21:45:10 GMT -5
Looking great!!
Bill
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dottyt
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2016
Posts: 305
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Post by dottyt on Sept 25, 2016 22:52:19 GMT -5
That is looking hot! I mean that literally. The mahogany streaks look like little flames. I also hope your Lot-O is back again soon!
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Oct 1, 2016 16:59:21 GMT -5
I would like to thank whichever user started the kitty litter slurry experiment. I've been fighting with getting the slurry the right consistency, but it always ended up very runny. I added 1/2 cup of cheap clay litter and this is what my slurry looked like after a week. There was only a tiny amount of the 46/70 grit still not fully broken down, but I'm guessing it was because all of the rocks were mostly smooth to begin with (my other barrel of mixed rock had a similar slurry, but all the grit was broken down in it). Just waiting for the last few flaws to grind away. I might finish them by hand using the edge of my tile saw.
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