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Post by HankRocks on Feb 10, 2018 20:24:07 GMT -5
Finally getting some of the San Jacinto's polished I collected with txrockhunter several weeks ago. A couple of pictures and a link to an album; (strange the insert image was not co-operating) here's the link to the album; The large rock is not San Jacinto and not sure where it came from, 1lb 3oz. Most of the non-pet. wood seem to be an odd mixture of Jasp-agate. I tumbled all of these in my 3 step process and I am pleased with the results. www.flickr.com/photos/67823965@N02/albums/72157690336046652
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Post by amygdule on Feb 10, 2018 22:16:20 GMT -5
Nice looking batch. Hope you don't mind if I post a pic. [img style="max-width:50%;" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4670/25321574427_219ae8e741_h.jpg"]
[img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4619/25321577297_18fa99be15_h.jpg" style="max-width:50%;"]
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Feb 10, 2018 22:50:08 GMT -5
Plenty of shine on those. Good looking batch. Thanks for sharing.
Chuck
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Post by Garage Rocker on Feb 10, 2018 23:09:15 GMT -5
San Jacinto's are always fun to tumble. And look at. Nice batch! Really like that big one too.
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fishnpinball
Cave Dweller
So much to learn, so little time
Member since March 2017
Posts: 1,491
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Post by fishnpinball on Feb 10, 2018 23:36:19 GMT -5
Nice batch.
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Post by MsAli on Feb 11, 2018 0:11:11 GMT -5
Gorgeous!!
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Feb 11, 2018 5:33:00 GMT -5
All those fine agates and woods form Texas tumbleland. Nice to live in the bowels of the country where all the agates washed down to and pre-tumbled to shape. Cowboy hats off to ya Henry if you polished the big un in the rotary. And if you polished it with the large tumbles shown. I always had to use little tumbles to finish polish a big rock. I bought a $7 gram scale. Big rocks get tumbled with (media) rocks weighing less than 20 grams. I had problems polishing rocks much bigger than this one you polished even using vibe. Fill that barrel with a 1 pounder and the rest 20 gram and under rocks, fill to 80%, add SiC 30 and watch the batch shrink in days. Had to add rocks to keep 80% constantly.
Even on the Rio it is difficult to find a 1 pound agate without defects. 8 ounces all day long, 1 pound few and far. Must be the conditions that rounded them on their journey. Well done.
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Post by fernwood on Feb 11, 2018 5:54:03 GMT -5
All are very nice. The large one is great.
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Post by HankRocks on Feb 11, 2018 7:12:57 GMT -5
jamesp, The picture does not show all the rocks that were in the batch. There were some smaller rocks, maybe a pound or so of pea gravel and just a bit larger. There were also another 15 or so 2 to 4 oz rocks in the mix with 3 to 4 pounds of in between stuff. Keeping a good thick slurry through the coarse stage, the 80AO stage, both in the Rotary, and polish stage in the Vibe helped a lot. That and almost all were river rocks so the grinding and polishing was smoother and even. That and maybe keeping the loads at 80 to 85% Fill. It allows for tumbling the bigger Rock(s) without near as much damage. Only putting one in each run that is more than say 7 or 8 oz. The intermediate stage for 8 days in the Rotary with 80AO using saved 80AO slurry from previous runs is what seems to be the key to producing the high polish for me. That polish is now taking 72 hours in the Vibe where it used to be 100 hours and more and not quite the high polish. Many thanks to the staff down at the Atlanta Skunkworks for that idea. The Preform, Slab and Botryoidal runs are using a lot more pea gravel, maybe 3 to 4 pounds as both the flat surfaces and the bubbly surfaces need more contact points during the process. In addition the 80AO stage and the polish stage are going for an extra 2 to 3 days or so in each as the pea gravel method is slower at finishing. Do need to make a trip and pickup some nice river rounded Rio's, 1 to 2 pound maybe even a 3 pounder. I do have a 5 pounder that I have been hesitant to tumble but might give it a go soon.
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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 Feb 14, 2018 14:16:47 GMT -5
Brilliant shine!
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