richardh
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 391
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Post by richardh on Sept 15, 2016 14:43:56 GMT -5
After a few months I finally have a more or less finished batch. After a couple of batches with less than pleasing results I finally feel like I am getting close to the sort of results I am after. All of these rocks but one are what I believe to be red jasper that I found around the Houston, TX area. One of them is a red jasper/hematite rock that I purchased raw somewhere and polished with the other red rocks you see here. Early on I was having lots of trouble and it was suggested that my rocks were not of similar hardness and that was causing the issue. For that reason I decided to run nothing but red jasper. As you can see there are still some little pits and scratches. I am thinking about bringing them back to the 120-220 grit stage to hopefully get rid of those imperfections. Anyway, here’s what I came up with.
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stonedape
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2016
Posts: 116
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Post by stonedape on Sept 15, 2016 14:48:34 GMT -5
After a few months I finally have a more or less finished batch. After a couple of batches with less than pleasing results I finally feel like I am getting close to the sort of results I am after. All of these rocks but one are what I believe to be red jasper that I found around the Houston, TX area. One of them is a red jasper/hematite rock that I purchased raw somewhere and polished with the other red rocks you see here. Early on I was having lots of trouble and it was suggested that my rocks were not of similar hardness and that was causing the issue. For that reason I decided to run nothing but red jasper. As you can see there are still some little pits and scratches. I am thinking about bringing them back to the 120-220 grit stage to hopefully get rid of those imperfections. Anyway, here’s what I came up with. I really like the one that is half grey and half red. Looks really good! I'm in the middle of my first batch. I hope I get a little shine on mine!
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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 15, 2016 14:50:27 GMT -5
Thanks, that one is the one I purchased. It seemed to emit a bunch of rust as I was polishing it.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Sept 15, 2016 16:26:58 GMT -5
Those turned out great! Congratulations.
If they have cracks that go around the rock (like the big one on the top of the first picture), they are probably too deep to ever remove. If you want to get rid of those without tumbling away the entire rock, break them with a hammer and chisel along the crack. Personally, I wouldn't rerun any of those, but just make improvements in your next batch.
Nice tumble!
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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 15, 2016 17:09:27 GMT -5
Those look good, congrats! Goodness knows I am not one to give this advice as I am always running sub-par material myself, but I think you discovered one of the main "secrets." Good material gives good results and so-so material gives so-so results.
What works best is flawless hard material (7's). The problem is that if you are buying good material (lots of colors and patterns + the above) it is not going to be geared to the tumbling crowd and if you buy stuff geared to cabbers it is going to be expensive. The best exception I have found is Tiger Iron. It looks spectacular and being plentiful it is not expensive. It tumbles great! If there is a Club that does field trips around you, join that then maybe you can find what to look for locally and start exchanging with people.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2016 17:11:34 GMT -5
Badass!
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Post by MrMike on Sept 15, 2016 18:06:55 GMT -5
Looks great, well done
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Post by Garage Rocker on Sept 15, 2016 18:29:25 GMT -5
Nice job richardh, now you're off and running! I agree with Rob, leave these be and move on to something else.
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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 15, 2016 20:49:51 GMT -5
Your photos look nice too, good background with the stones artistically arranged and very clear with no blurriness. I suspect you may have a keen artistic sense, which is a very good thing, but it can make you overly critical. Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing your second batch! Try Tiger Iron and agates without a lot of deep holes or cracks and even if they are not the fancy type, they will shine up nice!
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napoleonrags
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2015
Posts: 474
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Post by napoleonrags on Sept 15, 2016 21:34:56 GMT -5
Nice pics.
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Post by txrockhunter on Sept 15, 2016 22:29:37 GMT -5
Assuming some of those are San Jacintos? Great job on them!
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Post by paulshiroma on Sept 15, 2016 22:55:40 GMT -5
Nicely Done!
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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 15, 2016 22:58:28 GMT -5
Assuming some of those are San Jacintos? Great job on them! Yes several of them are thanks to you!
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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 16, 2016 7:59:24 GMT -5
Your photos look nice too, good background with the stones artistically arranged and very clear with no blurriness. I suspect you may have a keen artistic sense, which is a very good thing, but it can make you overly critical. Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing your second batch! Try Tiger Iron and agates without a lot of deep holes or cracks and even if they are not the fancy type, they will shine up nice! Thanks for your very encouraging posts. I definitely have an idea in my mind about how I want the rocks to come out so I probably am a bit overly picky. I am getting closer to my goal so that is encouraging. The first few times I tried to polish nothing came out shiny then only one or two rocks from the batch. This time they all did. I hadn't heard of tiger iron before you mentioned it here and I think I might have gotten a piece in a bag of tumble mix that I got with my tumbler. It was actually my first shiny rock ever. I will look for it and try to take a photo. I will also try to find some rough tiger iron to run. Thanks again!
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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 16, 2016 11:48:41 GMT -5
I hadn't heard of tiger iron before you mentioned it here and I think I might have gotten a piece in a bag of tumble mix that I got with my tumbler. It was actually my first shiny rock ever. I will look for it and try to take a photo. I will also try to find some rough tiger iron to run. I have had real problems getting rough from the internet. Sometimes what you get looks nothing like the photos and rocks are expensive to ship back. People will (usually) be more careful with expensive material, but with inexpensive stuff not so much. I got my Tiger Iron from the Rock Shed and it was great!
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Post by mohs on Sept 16, 2016 13:18:12 GMT -5
red hots!
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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 16, 2016 22:10:36 GMT -5
These look good and I love the fact that you collected them yourself. Onto the next batch with the knowledge learned from this one!
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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 17, 2016 9:11:46 GMT -5
These look good and I love the fact that you collected them yourself. Onto the next batch with the knowledge learned from this one! Thanks, it was a lot of fun searching for them but now my eyes are programmed to look for red rocks. I need to reprogram them to find agates.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,688
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Post by Fossilman on Sept 17, 2016 9:15:51 GMT -5
Nicely run batch!!!
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