lancemountain
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 214
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Post by lancemountain on Jun 23, 2017 18:21:34 GMT -5
Hello!
I have a lortone 33b tumbler. I have always done one single specimen per tumble. Problem is I have a whole pile of small brecciated jasper pieces and a pile of larger kambaba pieces.
Do you think it would be ok to mix the two?
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Post by gmitch067 on Jun 24, 2017 0:16:26 GMT -5
Kambaba Jasper holds up well in a tumble with other types of Jasper (using a QT-66 - 6 lb barrel). Both are 6.5-7 Mohs hardness, and I have had good results using Tin Oxide as a polish. The problems relating to size difference and obtaining an even shine across both types of Jaspers were minimal - both took a lustrous shine. I Did note the Brecciated Jasper suffered a little more size reduction after 3 weeks in the 80 grit stage (more than the expected 30%). All things considered, I was very pleased with the final shine, and the smaller Brecciated Jaspers were beautiful. I did not get the desired reaction from the kids though... They happily ran off with all of the Brecciated Jaspers, but only took a few of the Kambaba Jaspers... something about them looking like a bunch of dried dead frogs... Oh well...
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Post by coloradocliff on Jun 24, 2017 15:54:48 GMT -5
Always have trouble getting a shine on my dead frogs. Glenn. Tin oxide huh? How long in a vibe to get them really shiny? gmitch067
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Post by gmitch067 on Jun 24, 2017 17:44:04 GMT -5
My first attempt at Kambaba Jasper was in a QT-66 tumbler along with the Brecciated Jasper and a small amount of Yellow jasper; 3-wks in 80 grit (clean and grit change every 7 days); 1-wk in 220 grit; 1-wk in 600 grit; 1-wk in 1200 SiC, and 1-wk in Tin Oxide polish. All Jaspers... all came out with a good polish - hard finish - not like Randy's beautiful liquid like luster. No pictures... sorry. Note: When I started tumbling Jaspers (around Feb), I used Cerium Oxide - receiving mixed results in the quality of the shine. I ended up dropping back to re-do the load from 600 grit and 1200 grit, but then finishing up with the Tin Oxide. I was so happy with the results at that time that I have been using Tin Oxide on all of my jaspers. I have been wondering how Aluminum Oxide would work on Jaspers, but have not tried that yet... Any inputs from the peanut gallery???In my second experience with Kambaba Jasper, I combined it 50/50 with some Serape Jasper (both good quality material from The Rock Shed). I ran both separately in QT-66 6lb barrels for 1-wk in 80 grit to knock off any sharp edges; I then transferred (combined) both loads to a UV-10 vibe to run 2+2-days at 220 grit; 2-days 600 grit; 3-days 1200 grit (I got side tracked with personal business); 4-hrs burnish in 1TBS Ivory shaving and 2TBS borax plus 1TBS Tin Oxide (using what Randy said was a good pre-polish); 3-days in Tin Oxide; 3-hrs final burnish. The Kambaba Jaspers came out better when tumbling (Drat!), but still I thought looked nice coming out of the UV-10. Serape Jasper
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Post by gmitch067 on Jun 24, 2017 18:08:53 GMT -5
Side Note on Frogs and Kambaba Jasper... I was doing an acrylic paint study of a water lily. The photo I was using as a guide (taken from the internet) happened to have a frog sitting atop a lily pad in the lower right quadrant. I was considering replacing the frog with a picture of a Kambaba Jasper with a cartoon voice bubble saying "Kambaba... Kambaba... Kambaba" instead of the traditional "Ribbit... Ribbit... Ribbit" Oh well... So much for thinking...
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Post by coloradocliff on Jun 24, 2017 20:07:18 GMT -5
gmitch067Wasn't getting much shine on my kambaba using Ao polish. Then ChicagoDave put me onto borax in all stages to act as a carrier for the grits and polish.RAn 1/4 the grits and was great. His stuff is the best. Garage Rocker and morerocks confirmed. All three awesome tumblers. Worked wonders but mine still could use a bit of a pep talk. Other jaspers depending on the kind seem pretty good. Nice and shiny and I'm a jasper lover of all kinds. Am going to try your Tin oxide polish and see. Thanks for the awesome pictures and the advice. Ribbet on water lilies.. You got better weed than we have. heheheheh Cliff
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Post by gmitch067 on Jun 24, 2017 22:34:21 GMT -5
How much borax do you add per stage? I will give that a try. Thank you!
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Post by coloradocliff on Jun 25, 2017 0:39:59 GMT -5
How much borax do you add per stage? I will give that a try. Thank you! Chicago Dave Standard "recipe" 46/70 SiC in my QT-66. Weekly clean outs. Pulled rocks when ready. 2 tablespoons 120/220 SiC for 2 days in Lot-O 1/2 teaspoon 500 AO + 1 tablespoon Borax for 2 days in Lot-O 1/2 teaspoon 1000 AO + 1 tablespoon Borax for 2 days in Lot-O 1/2 teaspoon Polish + 1 tablespoon Borax for 2 days in Lot-O 2 tablespoons Borax as a final burnish for 5 hours in Lot-O
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Post by gmitch067 on Jun 25, 2017 2:12:43 GMT -5
Thank you Coloradocliff.
Even though your recipe is geared toward a Lot-O, I can easily adapt it for use in my UV-10 and my available grit selections.
It seems that there are many different burnishing techniques, and I note that you do not combine a detergent (shaved Ivory or Dawn) with the Borax - You find it unnecessary?
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Post by coloradocliff on Jun 25, 2017 2:19:09 GMT -5
Thank you Coloradocliff. Even though your recipe is geared toward a Lot-O, I can easily adapt it for use in my UV-10 and my available grit selections. It seems that there are many different burnishing techniques, and I note that you do not combine a detergent (shaved Ivory or Dawn) with the Borax - You find it unnecessary? This was DAve's recipe. I'm extra picky so after the soap burnish I burnish with soft towel. morerockspleaz a very good tumble artist says any kind of soap. I tried pricey foaming ones and didn't see much difference. Seems the important part is the borax forming a film on the rocks being tumbled and thus being a better carrier of the grits/polish.
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Jun 25, 2017 13:09:26 GMT -5
Thank you Coloradocliff. Even though your recipe is geared toward a Lot-O, I can easily adapt it for use in my UV-10 and my available grit selections. It seems that there are many different burnishing techniques, and I note that you do not combine a detergent (shaved Ivory or Dawn) with the Borax - You find it unnecessary? I only add a squirt of liquid Dawn when I'm getting ready to switch grits (and let this run for about 15 minutes). I do that so it pre-cleans the rocks and I don't have to use as much water. The recipe shown is used by many tumblers here. I don't bother tinkering around with it anymore. I follow it each time and get the same results over and over.
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SirRoxalot
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 790
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Post by SirRoxalot on Jun 27, 2017 10:22:59 GMT -5
I have been wondering how Aluminum Oxide would work on Jaspers, but have not tried that yet... Any inputs from the peanut gallery???AlO is the only polish I use, tumbling and cabbing. Haven't done Kambaba, but it gives a superb shine to everything else, from various jaspers to sodalite, amethyst, garnet, all the usual suspects. It isn't particularly speedy; achieving a fine polish in a couple days in a vibe is nonsense in my experience. Much talk of burnishing and borax. I'm unconvinced that either are necessary. A polish is a polish; the word burnish is improperly used by tumblers. You can burnish nice soft metals but you can't really burnish stones, other than soapstone or whatnot.
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Post by gmitch067 on Jun 27, 2017 15:27:39 GMT -5
For me, running a burnishing load in my UV-10 vibe after polish has not shown an appreciable increase in the shine. I HAVE noted that it does do a very good job of getting rid of excess polish trapped in the stone's cracks and clevises... that had remained even after hitting each stone with a soft bristle toothbrush. Everybody seems to have their own recipe for burnishing... and some of them have led me to very messy results.
These past weeks have seen me struggle through a few 5-6 Mohs loads that have resulted in a percentage of rocks in the same load not taking a shine at all. In one instance I loaded my UV-10 with Green, Canary Yellow, and Girisol Opals. The Greens did not take any polish with Cerium Oxide while the others were fine. the Green Opals felt spongy and retained a lot of polish across their surface and the rest contained trapped polish that could not be removed except by the burnishing run. (Note: I bagged the green opals and are saving them for a redo with another polish later... along with about 2 lbs of Chrysoprase which suffered the same problem in another batch - and which also felt spongy)
Sooo... All in all, I have seen the need for the burnishing cycle. It helped me to separate the good from the bad enough that I did not trash the full loads where only a few did not polish.
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