Benathema
has rocks in the head
God chased me down and made sure I knew He was real June 20, 2022. I've been on a Divine Mission.
Member since November 2019
Posts: 703
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Post by Benathema on Nov 23, 2019 1:42:39 GMT -5
Hi All,
I've been reading this forum for some time and decided I'd better make an account.
I grew up in WA, lived in FL for 10 years, and then made my way to Colorado. I've hounded as a kid but that kind of went on pause when I moved to FL since there wasn't much for rocks. When I found myself right up against the Rockies it's like the rockhounding gene was turned back on. Nearly immediately I picked up a 33B tumbler and started to have some fun with self collected rocks. After some trial, lots of error, and not entirely being satisfied with the output, I added a 3x1.5B and ran both for nearly a year. Then I got greedy. I wanted more, I wanted bigger, I wanted to push the boundaries of what is possible to do in a tumbler, well beyond manufacturers suggested 'best practices'. I added a QT66 to my arsenal and immediately experienced culture shock at the shear amount of work I added to my weekly clean outs. Still not quite satisfied I added a QT12, retired the 33B and 3x1.5B for now, and switched one of the 6 lb barrels over to dry polishing. As it stands I am tumbling a 3.7 lb chunk of quartz I found in the 12 lb barrel.
I hope to share pictures of what I've done the past year and whatever updates I have along the way!
set barrel='rough' while rocks -le smooth do tumble $barrel & sleep 604800 done
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Post by RocksInNJ on Nov 23, 2019 1:47:38 GMT -5
Welcome from New Jersey. Looking forward to seeing your finds and finished polishes.
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Benathema
has rocks in the head
God chased me down and made sure I knew He was real June 20, 2022. I've been on a Divine Mission.
Member since November 2019
Posts: 703
|
Post by Benathema on Nov 23, 2019 2:38:06 GMT -5
A few examples I had on hand of different materials. Also testing the whole posting photos thing Softer stones, and arguably a bigger chunk of pegmatite done in a 3 lb barrel. Chunks of quartz and smokey quartz I found in the hills. Maybe not the best showcase since this stuff liked to fracture and chip a lot. More recent results from a 6 lb barrel. The big one was the target. That took 7.5 weeks of rough grinding before I decided to push it along as is. These actually came out tonight. I had done the normal wet rotary polish with them, wasn't satisfied, then tried a week of the dry rotary polishing step. They are much improved and I think I'll be doing this step with future soft rocks. I love the colors, but the material is so temperamental. Anywho, that's a bit of what I do.
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Post by MsAli on Nov 23, 2019 6:57:28 GMT -5
Welcome from Minnesota and thanks for sharing
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Nov 23, 2019 10:14:42 GMT -5
Welcome from Northern Arizona!
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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 23, 2019 10:45:06 GMT -5
Welcome from southern Arizona.
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Post by TheRock on Nov 23, 2019 10:50:34 GMT -5
Welcome from SW/Michigan Thanks for the Pics ~Duke
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stonemon
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2017
Posts: 1,024
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Post by stonemon on Nov 23, 2019 11:24:49 GMT -5
Welcome from western Oregon!
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Post by greig on Nov 23, 2019 11:30:20 GMT -5
Loved hearing the progress of purchases due to not being satisfied. I too have many toys/tools/precision instruments of polishing technology. LOL
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Post by As I in does tries! on Nov 28, 2019 0:13:49 GMT -5
Greetings and welcome from Scotland on the other side of the pond!
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napoleonrags
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2015
Posts: 474
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Post by napoleonrags on Dec 1, 2019 18:18:31 GMT -5
Welcome,
Colorado is a wonderful place for rock heads. I'm from Greeley.
Gather no moss, Colin
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Post by RocksInNJ on Dec 1, 2019 21:09:31 GMT -5
Great polish on those soft stones. That’s a tough one to pull off. What did you use for the dry polish?
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