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Post by miket on Mar 25, 2019 14:31:20 GMT -5
Finally finished some mahogany obsidian. I'm pleased with the polish but just about every one developed some cracks between the coarse stage and the end. I used plenty of ceramics. If anyone has any tips please let me know. I might just start it all over again. Forgive the pics, no sun here today so it's office lights. The batch and some singles...
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Post by manofglass on Mar 25, 2019 16:51:25 GMT -5
Nice shine
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jasperfanatic
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2019
Posts: 456
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Post by jasperfanatic on Mar 25, 2019 18:22:56 GMT -5
I feel you! It's frustrating, isn't it!? They're sooo close to done and then just a little knock/imperfection on almost every dang one. I'm still trying to figure out a process to reliably produce few/zero cracks, chips, etc. Been working at it for months and still haven't "completed" a batch. I've been mostly following tntmom's recipe and am now trying to figure out best tumblers. jamesp is the real expert, and had some great suggestions. One of us is bound to find the golden ticket!
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mossyrockhound
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2011
Posts: 1,278
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Post by mossyrockhound on Mar 25, 2019 18:57:45 GMT -5
Looks good Mike! Obsidian is a tricky stone to tumble - lots of do's and don'ts depending on the type of tumbler you have.
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Post by miket on Mar 25, 2019 19:50:27 GMT -5
I feel you! It's frustrating, isn't it!? They're sooo close to done and then just a little knock/imperfection on almost every dang one. I'm still trying to figure out a process to reliably produce few/zero cracks, chips, etc. Been working at it for months and still haven't "completed" a batch. I've been mostly following tntmom's recipe and am now trying to figure out best tumblers. jamesp is the real expert, and had some great suggestions. One of us is bound to find the golden ticket! Hopefully! I saw one site that talked about using corn syrup in the tumbler to slow it down some. Who knows. If you figure it out let me know
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Post by miket on Mar 25, 2019 19:52:05 GMT -5
Looks good Mike! Obsidian is a tricky stone to tumble - lots of do's and don'ts depending on the type of tumbler you have. Thanks! Rotary, 33b. I think I discovered more don'ts than do's. 😀
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NevadaBill
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2019
Posts: 1,332
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Post by NevadaBill on Mar 26, 2019 8:54:08 GMT -5
Those are beautiful rocks. And you did a great job shaping and polishing them too!
I'd be proud to show those off any day. They all look a lot better than what I have been able to produce so far.
As a side note, it is my understanding that Obsidian is generally considered a problem rock, and is more difficult to work with. So in that respect, even more congratulations are in order!
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Post by arghvark on Mar 26, 2019 9:14:06 GMT -5
I think they look great! I only did one batch fully in rotary. As mentioned by others, thickeners might help. Also, might try plastic pellets in later stages instead of ceramics.
The Lot-O (once idiots like me get it set up correctly) does seem to result in far fewer defects.
You can also use a spray bottle (huge pita, less effective, but low cost) or something like a waterpik to get residual polish out of defects. Makes them much less visible.
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Post by miket on Mar 26, 2019 9:28:06 GMT -5
Those are beautiful rocks. And you did a great job shaping and polishing them too! I'd be proud to show those off any day. They all look a lot better than what I have been able to produce so far. As a side note, it is my understanding that Obsidian is generally considered a problem rock, and is more difficult to work with. So in that respect, even more congratulations are in order! Thank you, sir. I have some more Snowflake Obsidian that I got from manofglass that I'm going to try sometime soon, hopefully. It doesn't play well with my tile saw, not sure if it's because my blade is dull or what.
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Post by miket on Mar 26, 2019 9:31:01 GMT -5
I think they look great! I only did one batch fully in rotary. As mentioned by others, thickeners might help. Also, might try plastic pellets in later stages instead of ceramics. The Lot-O (once idiots like me get it set up correctly) does seem to result in far fewer defects. You can also use a spray bottle (huge pita, less effective, but low cost) or something like a waterpik to get residual polish out of defects. Makes them much less visible. Thanks Eric. It's so funny, with the exception of two or three that had small pits, the rest were PERFECT after the coarse stage. I still have about half of what you sent to try again. Maybe I'll take your suggestion and try plastics in those later stages.
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Post by arghvark on Mar 27, 2019 7:39:38 GMT -5
Thanks Eric. It's so funny, with the exception of two or three that had small pits, the rest were PERFECT after the coarse stage. I still have about half of what you sent to try again. Maybe I'll take your suggestion and try plastics in those later stages. I saw the same thing. Seems to happen quite a bit less in a vibe, but still happens. I just set those aside to grind out the defects and repolish. Plastics should help in the rotary.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,666
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Post by Fossilman on Mar 27, 2019 9:46:58 GMT -5
If you did them in a rotary only, that is a nice job!!! Most start in a rotary than finish in a Vibe... My last rotary tumble with Obsidian took over two months in a rotary... One month in just the polish stage... Nice job!
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Post by nowyo on Mar 27, 2019 15:23:31 GMT -5
I haven't done obsidian in quite a while, need to do some more when I get some other stuff caught up. Did it all in rotary. I've never used ceramics at all. For the obsidian I used plastic pellets in every stage after coarse. Those look nice.
Russ
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harrym
having dreams about rocks
NH - The Granite State
Member since January 2019
Posts: 59
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Post by harrym on Mar 28, 2019 7:58:18 GMT -5
Gorgeous color on those stones - well done!
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Post by miket on Mar 28, 2019 9:45:32 GMT -5
If you did them in a rotary only, that is a nice job!!! Most start in a rotary than finish in a Vibe... My last rotary tumble with Obsidian took over two months in a rotary... One month in just the polish stage... Nice job! Thank you, sir! Yeah it took me that long in the rotary as well, no vibe yet. I think mine were actually only in the polish stage for a little over a week. Thanks again!
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Post by miket on Mar 28, 2019 9:46:30 GMT -5
I haven't done obsidian in quite a while, need to do some more when I get some other stuff caught up. Did it all in rotary. I've never used ceramics at all. For the obsidian I used plastic pellets in every stage after coarse. Those look nice. Russ Thanks Russ. I think I'm going to try plastic next time and see if it helps protect them a bit more. Mike
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Post by miket on Mar 28, 2019 9:47:02 GMT -5
Gorgeous color on those stones - well done! Thank you. I love the color, too.
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Post by Rockindad on Mar 28, 2019 20:50:57 GMT -5
Those look great Mike. Couple your results with the fact that it is you first time doing obsidian and it was all rotary and it is even more impressive. Just think where you will be a year or two from now.
Al
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,124
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Post by RWA3006 on Mar 28, 2019 22:34:20 GMT -5
The other day I was interrogating a pair of old timers who owned a lapidary shop for 30 years. They won a number of tumbling contests in the local rock club and I've seen a lot of obsidian they tumbled that looks really nice. Their secret? ... newspaper. They would add enough newspaper to make a pulpy slurry that would hold the grit, yet cushion the stones. They used rotary machines for the first two cycles then went to a vibrating machine for pre-polish and polish.
I have to question newspaper for the polish stage because it is somewhat abrasive and might prevent a mirror polish, but I can't argue with the results I saw. Denzil and Elaine Hammer, owners of Artistic Jewelry of Fruit Heights, Utah are my pals and they retired a couple years ago.
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Post by miket on Mar 29, 2019 9:35:23 GMT -5
Those look great Mike. Couple your results with the fact that it is you first time doing obsidian and it was all rotary and it is even more impressive. Just think where you will be a year or two from now. Al Thank you, sir! I'm trying to learn but still making mistakes of course. I had a cab that I dremeled with some obsidian that I decided to put into the my qt66 with my agates and jasper that I've collected. It was a perfect oval shape when I put it in. Yesterday I checked it and lets just say I had some repairs to do on the edges and leave it at that. It was funny, though, I put the snowflake heart that I made into my 33b and it came out just fine. I think the bigger barrel size on the 66 was just too much for it to handle. I won't make that mistake again!
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