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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Oct 15, 2017 18:55:27 GMT -5
Five years ago I came here to RTH because I was trying to tumble my self collected pudding stones. Hard to believe I have been messing with them non stop all this time and still have not found the results I am after. They undercut horribly as soon as they hit 1000 in a wet tumble. Dry tumbling the 500, 1000 and polish stage leaves them very smooth to the touch with minimal undercutting but stops at a satin sheen. I guess it comes down to personal preference. Do you prefer a more flawless smooth rock or a pitted shiny rock? Each of these piles were picked up on separate walks on our gravel road. The top ones were found last weekend and went into a tumbler today. The left ones just came out of the dry loto and the right ones just came out of the wet loto. Wet closeup Dry closeup Thanks for looking Chuck
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Post by Jugglerguy on Oct 15, 2017 19:07:12 GMT -5
Have you decided which you like better?
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Oct 15, 2017 19:12:21 GMT -5
Have you decided which you like better? Neither. I want the look and feel of the dry with the shine of the wet. Until then I remain unsatisfied. If it weren't for the fact that they sell so well I would have stopped tumbling them long ago. Chuck
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Post by Jugglerguy on Oct 15, 2017 19:14:00 GMT -5
Have you decided which you like better? Neither. I want the look and feel of the dry with the shine of the wet. Until then I remain unsatisfied. If it weren't for the fact that they sell so well I would have stopped tumbling them long ago. Chuck That pretty much sums up my feelings about them.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Oct 15, 2017 19:22:00 GMT -5
Neither. I want the look and feel of the dry with the shine of the wet. Until then I remain unsatisfied. If it weren't for the fact that they sell so well I would have stopped tumbling them long ago. Chuck That pretty much sums up my feelings about them. It would not bother me so much if it were any other type of rock but this is my signature rock. Most other rocks seem effortless in comparison. I have tumbled and sold hundreds of pounds of them and have only kept under 3 pounds that have met my standards. The general customer base could care less about the quality and 99% would not know what undercutting even means. Chuck
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Post by fantastic5 on Oct 15, 2017 20:02:12 GMT -5
Without actually holding the stones in my hand, I prefer the shiny pitted stones. Of course you could always send me samples of each and I could give you a more in depth opinion.
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Post by wigglinrocks on Oct 15, 2017 20:38:57 GMT -5
I really prefer flawless shiny rocks , but since that wasn't one of the choices , I would pick the shiny pitted ones . Satin finish sort of looks half done , but also agree the pits are the pits .
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Post by captbob on Oct 15, 2017 23:30:13 GMT -5
I'm with wigglin' - flawless shiny rocks please. I'm going to add pudding stone to my shopping list and give them a try. Nothing on eBay worth having right now, but I'll make a note and keep an eye out. I'll get back to ya in a year!
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Oct 16, 2017 5:34:25 GMT -5
I'm with wigglin' - flawless shiny rocks please. I'm going to add pudding stone to my shopping list and give them a try. Nothing on eBay worth having right now, but I'll make a note and keep an eye out. I'll get back to ya in a year! Good luck! Over the years I have probably tried a dozen different recipes and polishes in rotary, vibe and sonic tumblers. Chuck
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Oct 16, 2017 9:49:29 GMT -5
Doubt seriously a dry tumble will ever compare to a wet tumble. 100% coverage of wet slurry is hard to beat. With a dry tumble the rocks can still crash each other and create micro frosting which ruins wet shines. No gaurentee with a dry tumble direct rock to rock contact will ever be achieved. At least a wet slurry is always there, or a higher chance of protection. Not the best analogy because speed is involved, but liquid can hydroplane a mack truck, it has powerful forces between surfaces.
So far the shiniest rock on my farm is a half a dozen obsidians Chuck sent me. I got mad at them and used them for sling shot ammo - just kidding.
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illusionist
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2017
Posts: 137
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Post by illusionist on Oct 16, 2017 10:32:18 GMT -5
I would give the win to the shiny pitted. I just bought one measley pudding stone from Prospector's Paradise in the Keweenaw because I've never found one yet. I just threw it in the tumbler last week. I'm glad I have a baseline of what my expectations should be.
Yours look great!
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Deleted
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Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2017 10:37:36 GMT -5
Seems like dry is either too short or too long of a run.
Either went too far and ruined a quickly made polish or hadn't yet made the polish.
What media in dry?
Corn cob?
Pine shavings?
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Oct 16, 2017 10:46:15 GMT -5
Seems like dry is either too short or too long of a run. Either went too far and ruined a quickly made polish or hadn't yet made the polish. What media in dry? Corn cob? Pine shavings? Corn cob and time makes no difference. Have tried all variations including one week per stage in the loto. Have also tried dry in the adjustable speed mini-sonic at different speeds for a variety of times. Chuck
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2017 11:01:43 GMT -5
Seems like dry is either too short or too long of a run. Either went too far and ruined a quickly made polish or hadn't yet made the polish. What media in dry? Corn cob? Pine shavings? Corn cob and time makes no difference. Have tried all variations including one week per stage in the loto. Have also tried dry in the adjustable speed mini-sonic at different speeds for a variety of times. Chuck Perhaps pine shavings will be more aggressive. Holding the polish tighter and not breaking down. Just a thought. I want you to win!
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Oct 16, 2017 11:31:55 GMT -5
I've tried a bunch of dry medias. Don't think you will get past the rock to rock contact that you will experience in dry situation. Not 5 minutes after turning the vibe on to any of them I see the rocks bumping into each other. Not good. No thanks. Not that I am the master, but wet(slurry) sure nuff gets em shinier in my experience.
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Post by captbob on Oct 16, 2017 11:41:08 GMT -5
I'm not a vibe guy, so I may be wrong here -
It would seem to me that with dry tumbling in a vibe, that the vibrations would shake the polish out of the media being used as filler. What is to carry it throughout the load and not just get sifted to the bottom of the bowl?
Would dampening the media (corncob, walnut shell, whatever) allow the polish to stick to it better and therefore keep the polish in play?
I can see using corncob to cushion the load, but is there a happy sweet spot somewhere between dry and wet? Would that make a difference?
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Oct 16, 2017 11:42:46 GMT -5
I say screened kaolin to 3-5 microns for a wet slurry in the vibe. Or lime in similar size. Silica removed by process. Costs.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Oct 16, 2017 11:44:09 GMT -5
I'm not a vibe guy, so I may be wrong here - It would seem to me that with dry tumbling in a vibe, that the vibrations would shake the polish out of the media being used as filler. What is to carry it throughout the load and not just get sifted to the bottom of the bowl? Would dampening the media (corncob, walnut shell, whatever) allow the polish to stick to it better and therefore keep the polish in play? I can see using corncob to cushion the load, but is there a happy sweet spot somewhere between dry and wet? Would that make a difference? My exp. The polish imbeds in the organic media. Can be re-used many times. Things get sticky and start separating when you add moisture. Again, my exp.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Oct 16, 2017 12:09:01 GMT -5
I've tried a bunch of dry medias. Don't think you will get past the rock to rock contact that you will experience in dry situation. Not 5 minutes after turning the vibe on to any of them I see the rocks bumping into each other. Not good. No thanks. Not that I am the master, but wet(slurry) sure nuff gets em shinier in my experience. Shiny is very easy to obtain in a wet tumble. It is the undercutting to deal with when wet tumbled. You are from the land of granite. Have you found a way to tumble granite that is as flawless as cabbing it? I honestly think the pudding stone undercuts even worse then our Lake Huron beach granite. The matrix is quartzite. Chuck
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Oct 16, 2017 12:14:37 GMT -5
I've tried a bunch of dry medias. Don't think you will get past the rock to rock contact that you will experience in dry situation. Not 5 minutes after turning the vibe on to any of them I see the rocks bumping into each other. Not good. No thanks. Not that I am the master, but wet(slurry) sure nuff gets em shinier in my experience. Shiny is very easy to obtain in a wet tumble. It is the undercutting to deal with when wet tumbled. You are from the land of granite. Have you found a way to tumble granite that is as flawless as cabbing it? I honestly think the pudding stone undercuts even worse then our Lake Huron beach granite. The matrix is quartzite. Chuck Yes, no luck with granite. It is the Mohs 6 felspar that undercuts in this granite. Never tumbled granite that ended up like cabbed granite without under cut felspar. I figured that quartzite is harder than felspar though.
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