peachfront
fully equipped rock polisher
Stones have begun to speak, because an ear is there to hear them.
Member since August 2010
Posts: 1,745
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Post by peachfront on Jul 2, 2019 18:43:25 GMT -5
Was this project ever completed? I haven't started mine yet, but I will have a tumbler free next week.
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Post by Rockindad on Jul 7, 2019 12:52:34 GMT -5
Was this project ever completed? I haven't started mine yet, but I will have a tumbler free next week. Curious also. Spent some time (way too much) this weekend doing some shaping/grinding on some before they ever hit the tumbler. First was initial shaping on the edge of a tile saw blade then fine tuning on a 100 grit SC wet belt. Looking at these when they are wet and grinding is underway there is little doubt how these will turn out. The pits and cracks are endless, as soon as one or ten are ground out more appear, with pieces breaking off regularly despite the lightest touch. While I am not discounting that there may be better material to be had that may be more solid, from what I see with my material and the pictures in this thread (along with a whole lot of research on its physical properties) tumbling to a high degree of success will be very difficult. Lots of other ways the beauty of this material can be brought out that are less violent than tumbling. Not saying it cannot be done (and I hope someone here knocks it out of the park) but I am not too excited about mine. If we did not just have a three pound barrel open up I do not know if we would even bother. Al
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MommaGem
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2019
Posts: 312
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Post by MommaGem on Jul 8, 2019 9:58:11 GMT -5
Was this project ever completed? I haven't started mine yet, but I will have a tumbler free next week. I have some that should be out of polish by the end of the week Mine are definitely not flawless, but they are looking pretty good
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peachfront
fully equipped rock polisher
Stones have begun to speak, because an ear is there to hear them.
Member since August 2010
Posts: 1,745
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Post by peachfront on Jul 8, 2019 22:07:24 GMT -5
OK, anxious to see everybody's results. I ended up starting a load of Montana agates in the tumbler that just came open because I haven't yet done the shaping I wanted to do on my labradorite... it's next on the list, though.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Jul 10, 2019 5:43:30 GMT -5
Was this project ever completed? I haven't started mine yet, but I will have a tumbler free next week. Curious also. Spent some time (way too much) this weekend doing some shaping/grinding on some before they ever hit the tumbler. First was initial shaping on the edge of a tile saw blade then fine tuning on a 100 grit SC wet belt. Looking at these when they are wet and grinding is underway there is little doubt how these will turn out. The pits and cracks are endless, as soon as one or ten are ground out more appear, with pieces breaking off regularly despite the lightest touch. While I am not discounting that there may be better material to be had that may be more solid, from what I see with my material and the pictures in this thread (along with a whole lot of research on its physical properties) tumbling to a high degree of success will be very difficult. Lots of other ways the beauty of this material can be brought out that are less violent than tumbling. Not saying it cannot be done (and I hope someone here knocks it out of the park) but I am not too excited about mine. If we did not just have a three pound barrel open up I do not know if we would even bother. Al High grade labrodolite may be the answer to success. "The pits and cracks are endless" was my experience too. If you have access to a pink granite quarry or crushed pink granite gravel you may have success picking the best pink felspar chunks and tumbling them. Maybe. Madagascar has fine Labro but the best seems to be sold to the carving and cab trade. IMO time best spent with easy tumbling materials, labro is certainly not one of them. Imaginary list of 100 better tumbling materials: " " " " " " etc. Life is short.
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Post by Rockindad on Jul 10, 2019 11:07:52 GMT -5
Curious also. Spent some time (way too much) this weekend doing some shaping/grinding on some before they ever hit the tumbler. First was initial shaping on the edge of a tile saw blade then fine tuning on a 100 grit SC wet belt. Looking at these when they are wet and grinding is underway there is little doubt how these will turn out. The pits and cracks are endless, as soon as one or ten are ground out more appear, with pieces breaking off regularly despite the lightest touch. While I am not discounting that there may be better material to be had that may be more solid, from what I see with my material and the pictures in this thread (along with a whole lot of research on its physical properties) tumbling to a high degree of success will be very difficult. Lots of other ways the beauty of this material can be brought out that are less violent than tumbling. Not saying it cannot be done (and I hope someone here knocks it out of the park) but I am not too excited about mine. If we did not just have a three pound barrel open up I do not know if we would even bother. Al High grade labrodolite may be the answer to success. "The pits and cracks are endless" was my experience too. If you have access to a pink granite quarry or crushed pink granite gravel you may have success picking the best pink felspar chunks and tumbling them. Maybe. Madagascar has fine Labro but the best seems to be sold to the carving and cab trade. IMO time best spent with easy tumbling materials, labro is certainly not one of them. Imaginary list of 100 better tumbling materials: " " " " " " etc. Life is short. While we do like to run some softer and more difficult materials (in part for the challenge) I wouldn't want to do it exclusively. I completely understand the mindset of those that do not want to deal with them and stick with agates, jaspers, etc. Even taking into account grinding/shaping, vibe tumblers, etc. there is still a significant time investment, and as you noted, we only have so much of it. Al
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Jul 10, 2019 20:11:52 GMT -5
Let's hope some one has success with the Labro Rockindad. My bad for being negative.
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Post by Rockindad on Jul 11, 2019 4:54:03 GMT -5
Let's hope some one has success with the Labro Rockindad . My bad for being negative. I didn't take it as you being negative at all James. As you noted it looks like our experience with this material is very similar. I highly doubt we will take this past the first or second stage from what we have seen so far. It took me some time to come to the realization that not every stone could be saved and that sometimes you have to cut your losses (or the rock). Much too much effort can be spent on things that are just not meant to be in tumbling. Al
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Jul 11, 2019 18:22:23 GMT -5
Let's hope some one has success with the Labro Rockindad . My bad for being negative. I didn't take it as you being negative at all James. As you noted it looks like our experience with this material is very similar. I highly doubt we will take this past the first or second stage from what we have seen so far. It took me some time to come to the realization that not every stone could be saved and that sometimes you have to cut your losses (or the rock). Much too much effort can be spent on things that are just not meant to be in tumbling. Al It is so frustrating to spend so many resources tumbling some rocks Rockindad. Tumbling is mechanically so different than using abrasive wheels.
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peachfront
fully equipped rock polisher
Stones have begun to speak, because an ear is there to hear them.
Member since August 2010
Posts: 1,745
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Post by peachfront on Jul 13, 2019 8:45:06 GMT -5
It's no biggie. I want honest opinions & insights. My material is not from Madagascar, it was from an older estate. If I've already got the best out of it, I can dump the rest and move on. But if there is a way to create more value with some of my remaining pieces, I'd like to give it a whirl. I previously only got a good polish on it in the vibe, and I've not run a vibe for 20 years...
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Jul 15, 2019 7:21:03 GMT -5
It's no biggie. I want honest opinions & insights. My material is not from Madagascar, it was from an older estate. If I've already got the best out of it, I can dump the rest and move on. But if there is a way to create more value with some of my remaining pieces, I'd like to give it a whirl. I previously only got a good polish on it in the vibe, and I've not run a vibe for 20 years... Another source of success is looking at Google images. The Labro pictured there shows a fair amount of abberations. An RTH member located(stonemaster499) in Madagascar mines and tumbles rocks as a business. He mined a lot of Labro. They used wheels and made hearts and figurines out of it. He could tumble some tricky rocks using leading edge China made tumbling vibes and rotaries(they exist and are large industrial machines). If I remember right he used(a vacuum maybe) a chemical filler/sealer(epoxy ?) after coarse grind and then proceeded to complete stage 2-3-4. I believe he gave up tumbling it and apatite. The Labro was lucrative being cabbed and carved.
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Post by fernwood on Jul 15, 2019 7:37:08 GMT -5
Very interesting. I was wondering if there would be a way to stabilize prior to tumbling. Kind of how some Turquoise is stabilized.
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MommaGem
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2019
Posts: 312
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Post by MommaGem on Jul 15, 2019 10:52:46 GMT -5
Just to follow up on this, I took my Labradorite out after 3 weeks of polishing and it looked... okay. I'm going to set it in time-out and take it back to 120/220 grit when I feel up to it.
It's definitely a very finicky, flaky stone; however, I really, really like polished Labradorite, so I'll keep at it, just not today....
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peachfront
fully equipped rock polisher
Stones have begun to speak, because an ear is there to hear them.
Member since August 2010
Posts: 1,745
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Post by peachfront on Jul 15, 2019 14:21:03 GMT -5
So a possible suggestion is to do the stabilization treatment after I'm finished with the 60/90 run? And start after that with 110/220, then 500, then 1000, then polish?
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Post by fernwood on Jul 18, 2019 3:21:40 GMT -5
So a possible suggestion is to do the stabilization treatment after I'm finished with the 60/90 run? And start after that with 110/220, then 500, then 1000, then polish? I don't know. Just posed the question to see if it was possible. Would be an interesting experiment.
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majormojo
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2021
Posts: 1
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Post by majormojo on Sept 22, 2021 23:16:14 GMT -5
Just pulled my labradorite out after final polish and it looks amazing…..until it dries. Then it just looks all white and cloudy. I’m running it again in beeswax pellets instead of plastic or ceramic filler and no polish at all. I’m hoping that will either be soft enough to buff them or maybe even give them a shiny thin coat of wax. Just an idea I had because I make salves and lip balms and noticed how similar the plastic pellets and beeswax pellets look. It’s a shot in the dark but if it works I’ll post again with pictures.
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afterburnt
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since June 2021
Posts: 152
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Post by afterburnt on Sept 23, 2021 13:22:02 GMT -5
I had decent luck using the "sugar" method in the vibe, stages 2-5. Not spectacular results but decent.
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Post by Bob on Oct 6, 2021 16:27:20 GMT -5
Boy can I relate to the original post as this has happened to me over and over. Labradorite looking good coming out of 1,000 or 1,200 but then in polish a read setback. Have been trying off and on for several years and frustration just grows. With other feldspars, not near this terrible luck.
I've got a new piece about grapefruit size starting. This time, after prepolish, I'm going to try something different for polish to see what happens. Maybe sawdust or walnut shells or something like that. If it too fails, think I'm going to give up and just keep a few pieces with the satiny look after 1,200.
What's so dang annoying is if there is a setback in polish due to damage, it takes a long time to redo and get back where it was.
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