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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Nov 4, 2018 16:51:40 GMT -5
Not my favorite part of the hobby but it has to be done. I think I ended up with about 60 pounds of new tumbles. Some of this is questionable material so it may not all survive the whole tumbling process. If I do not see potential after a few weeks some may get tossed. I do not fuss with chisels when breaking up this quantity. From start to clean up this was about a two hour project using just a sledge hammer. Some of the rough I started with. 20 pouds of picture jasper not shown. Mixed rocks Picture jaspers Mixed rocks Montana agates Montana agates Scraps Thanks for looking Chuck
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Post by beefjello on Nov 4, 2018 18:07:35 GMT -5
Nice.. looks like you have some extraordinary Montana tumbles in your future!
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Tommy
Administrator
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,664
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Post by Tommy on Nov 4, 2018 18:14:33 GMT -5
That's awesome! What size are you generally shooting for Chuck?
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Nov 4, 2018 18:20:27 GMT -5
That's awesome! What size are you generally shooting for Chuck? Thanks Tommy- I prefer 1" to 2" pieces. Not much control with a big hammer but it usually works out fine. Chuck
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Post by MsAli on Nov 4, 2018 18:33:46 GMT -5
Good work out The Montana looks amazing!
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Nov 4, 2018 19:43:46 GMT -5
Good work out The Montana looks amazing! Good upper body workout after starting the day running a 5K race. Tomorrow is going to hurt. I am sure a few people will shutter at the thought of busting up all of that Montana agate. The tumblers need to eat too though and that box of Montana has sat for over two years thinking I would cut them. Chuck
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Post by HankRocks on Nov 4, 2018 20:11:00 GMT -5
Good work out The Montana looks amazing! Good upper body workout after starting the day running a 5K race. Tomorrow is going to hurt. I am sure a few people will shutter at the thought of busting up all of that Montana agate. The tumblers need to eat too though and that box of Montana has sat for over two years thinking I would cut them. Chuck Ordinarily I would shudder at the thought of breaking up Montana Agate. Knowing that they will be turned into "Drummond Island Rocks" Tumbles, well it's a far far better place than they have ever known....apologies to Charles Dickens.
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Tommy
Administrator
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,664
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Post by Tommy on Nov 4, 2018 20:26:48 GMT -5
I prefer 1" to 2" pieces. Not much control with a big hammer but it usually works out fine. OK don't laugh - this is a legitimate question bouncing around my brain. When you say 2" - would a person such as yourself who tumbles it typically want that to be flat to wedge shaped 2" length as opposed to a 2" square block of rock? I'm always wondering what to do when I'm breaking up rocks and I end up with a 2" square block. Seems to me like a horrible size for tumbling. I mean lets say it doesn't lose much girth in the process, what would someone do with a smooth and shiny block of rock? lol I've got a fair amount of tumbling rough piled up that I've been slowly breaking up and a lot of it looks too big - plus I've got probably a few hundred pounds of so-so agate and jasper that is too good to throw in landfill garbage and not good enough to sell as cutting/cabbing material. Call me weird but I actually kind of enjoy the process of breaking it up.
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Post by MsAli on Nov 4, 2018 20:55:28 GMT -5
Good work out The Montana looks amazing! Good upper body workout after starting the day running a 5K race. Tomorrow is going to hurt. I am sure a few people will shutter at the thought of busting up all of that Montana agate. The tumblers need to eat too though and that box of Montana has sat for over two years thinking I would cut them. Chuck 5k race? I hate running ( which could be why I'm chunky.) I always think they could have irises in them, even though I have not found one yet I know they will look amazing when you are done with them
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Nov 5, 2018 7:37:59 GMT -5
I prefer 1" to 2" pieces. Not much control with a big hammer but it usually works out fine. OK don't laugh - this is a legitimate question bouncing around my brain. When you say 2" - would a person such as yourself who tumbles it typically want that to be flat to wedge shaped 2" length as opposed to a 2" square block of rock? I'm always wondering what to do when I'm breaking up rocks and I end up with a 2" square block. Seems to me like a horrible size for tumbling. I mean lets say it doesn't lose much girth in the process, what would someone do with a smooth and shiny block of rock? lol I've got a fair amount of tumbling rough piled up that I've been slowly breaking up and a lot of it looks too big - plus I've got probably a few hundred pounds of so-so agate and jasper that is too good to throw in landfill garbage and not good enough to sell as cutting/cabbing material. Call me weird but I actually kind of enjoy the process of breaking it up. I just mean 2" max in one direction is ideal. Most of the time the hammer method produces very random shapes. The only time I get a blocky result is when I break up thick slabs. There are some pink tumbles in this mix that came from a 1.25" thick slab. Chuck
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Post by fernwood on Nov 5, 2018 7:43:35 GMT -5
Some great looking tumbles. Can't wait to see how they turn out. Tommy a smooth and shiny block of rock makes an excellent display prop for a ring or bracelet.
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Post by HankRocks on Nov 5, 2018 8:12:39 GMT -5
Not my favorite part of the hobby but it has to be done. I think I ended up with about 60 pounds of new tumbles. Some of this is questionable material so it may not all survive the whole tumbling process. If I do not see potential after a few weeks some may get tossed. I do not fuss with chisels when breaking up this quantity. From start to clean up this was about a two hour project using just a sledge hammer. Do you have a surface you place the rocks on when breaking? I broke a few on the concrete, but it seems too violent plus it ends up damaging the concrete surface. "Honey I think we should leave that potted plant right were it is", Putting them on the dirt ends up burying pieces. I tried building a "pillow" using playground sand but did not have the correct pillow case. Was going to try burlap, or one of the nylon mesh produce bags. Thanks
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Nov 5, 2018 8:21:42 GMT -5
I build a quick enclosure to contain all the pieces and I break the rocks on a 1" thick steel plate that is sitting on my garage floor. Extremely noisy and fairly dangerous.
Chuck
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Nov 5, 2018 8:28:45 GMT -5
Not my favorite part of the hobby but it has to be done. I think I ended up with about 60 pounds of new tumbles. Some of this is questionable material so it may not all survive the whole tumbling process. If I do not see potential after a few weeks some may get tossed. I do not fuss with chisels when breaking up this quantity. From start to clean up this was about a two hour project using just a sledge hammer. Do you have a surface you place the rocks on when breaking? I broke a few on the concrete, but it seems too violent plus it ends up damaging the concrete surface. "Honey I think we should leave that potted plant right were it is", Putting them on the dirt ends up burying pieces. I tried building a "pillow" using playground sand but did not have the correct pillow case. Was going to try burlap, or one of the nylon mesh produce bags. Thanks These are some old pictures that show a little more. I was using a piece of aluminum when these pictures were taken but that has since busted in half and was replaced with steel. The aluminum was less noisy due to being softer. Chuck
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Post by aDave on Nov 5, 2018 13:40:08 GMT -5
Great work Chuck Drummond Island Rocks. While I like the randomness of broken rocks, I still haven't gotten the guts up to simply smash away. I guess my biggest concern would be adding additional fractures from something not as precise as using a saw. Do you find those potential extra fractures to be an issue? Certainly, breaking up 60# of rocks would not take as much time as sawing that amount. And, you get the benefit of obtaining smalls to help with your loading. Just curious. Thanks.
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Post by fantastic5 on Nov 5, 2018 13:48:30 GMT -5
I've gotta admit that I did shudder at the thought of all that potential being sledge hammered to bits (okay, tumble bits, but still bits). But then I thought, well this is Chuck, so it's got to be okay.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Nov 5, 2018 13:51:49 GMT -5
Great work Chuck Drummond Island Rocks. While I like the randomness of broken rocks, I still haven't gotten the guts up to simply smash away. I guess my biggest concern would be adding additional fractures from something not as precise as using a saw. Do you find those potential extra fractures to be an issue? Certainly, breaking up 60# of rocks would not take as much time as sawing that amount. And, you get the benefit of obtaining smalls to help with your loading. Just curious. Thanks. I like the random shapes that come with the hammer method vs sawing. I do not stress out about possibly losing a few pieces due to fractures when busting up 50-100 pounds of rocks. This method certainly is not for everyone but it has kept my tumblers running on the cheap. Chuck
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jimaz
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2018
Posts: 461
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Post by jimaz on Nov 5, 2018 13:56:49 GMT -5
Do you clean up the sharp points prior to tumbling, or let the rough tumble take care of them? I’ve gotten a lot of those in some of the rocks I’ve used a small sledge on. A nipper has come in handy on some of the sharper points (don’t have a saw).
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Nov 5, 2018 14:04:46 GMT -5
Do you clean up the sharp points prior to tumbling, or let the rough tumble take care of them? I’ve gotten a lot of those in some of the rocks I’ve used a small sledge on. A nipper has come in handy on some of the sharper points (don’t have a saw). No clean up. Too much labor involved for this quantity. Straight into the tumblers they go. The sharpest edges are the first things to get ground away in stage one anyway. The only hand work I do on my tumbles comes right near the very end of stage one. Nice rocks that are close to done but still have a bad spot or two will go to the grinder. Chuck
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Post by aDave on Nov 5, 2018 14:59:08 GMT -5
The only hand work I do on my tumbles comes right near the very end of stage one. Nice rocks that are close to done but still have a bad spot or two will go to the grinder. Chuck Regular old benchtop grinder with a SiC grinding wheel? Never even thought of that if that's what you're using. Sometimes I miss the obvious. Sure would seem to be alot easier than breaking out the tile saw. Just would have to use a respirator.
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