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Post by platypusofdeath on Aug 21, 2022 10:45:46 GMT -5
Hi all! I’m 10 days into stage 4 of my first ever batch of rocks, and I’m unsure if I’m ready for burnishing! I’m tumbling some Lewisian gneiss, and using the National Geographic grit set. Unfortunately, I learned after I had already started with this grit that the Nat Geo polish is not ideal. My rocks are extremely smooth, but hazy. My tumbler manual (I’m using a Harbor Freight tumbler) said rocks that are ready for burnishing will have a “slight haze.” I’m not sure if what I’ve got is “slight” or not—maybe I’m overthinking it! Below is a picture of a dry rock with a swipe of water on it to show the difference between wet and dry. Do you think I’m ready to burnish, or do I need to get some better polish and repeat step 4? Thank you!!
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stonemon
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2017
Posts: 1,024
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Post by stonemon on Aug 21, 2022 11:18:40 GMT -5
Welcome to he forum.. The experts will be along to guide you soon!
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Aug 21, 2022 12:26:56 GMT -5
If you have a Hazy Shine then a burnish will not help you At the most, a burnish will only make a noticeable difference it will not bring a shine out of the haze
You will need a better polish to get the shine
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Post by perkins17 on Aug 21, 2022 12:40:04 GMT -5
Hey there, welcome to the forum! Congratulations on your first tumble. I'm going to start by saying that unfortunately the polish that national geographic gives is not going to give you any shine. I highly recommend purchasing a grit gut from the website "the rockshed". They sell quality polish that'll have your rocks shiny really soon. Good luck, I hope this helps.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2022 13:44:15 GMT -5
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Post by Starguy on Aug 21, 2022 14:42:03 GMT -5
Hey platypusofdeath If the piece you’re showing is schist, I would say that you got about as good of a polish as possible. That being said, I think the rock looks good. It’s very nicely shaped. The shaping side of rock tumbling is overlooked. It usually takes longer than all of the subsequent stages. welcome to the forum.
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Post by susand24224 on Aug 21, 2022 15:11:36 GMT -5
Hi! I've never used Nat. Geo.'s stuff so can't comment there. But the haze stuff--I think not! The purpose of burnishing is to clean off the tiny little bits of polish, etc. that have gotten stuck in miniscule fissures in the rock; burnishing doesn't really polish, although your rocks may shine a bit more afterward due to removal of foreign material. A word on polishing--just like 60/90 or whatever your first stage is, the rock is done when it is done. When I used a rotary for all stages, some rocks (I'm thinking obsidian here) would take three weeks or more to polish to where I wanted them. This was with Rockshed polish. Other rocks a week was enough. I haven't used Rockshed polish in a long time; I now use Rapid Polish which is more refined than Rockshed's. I would stick with Rockshed polish in a rotary, though, since Rapid Polish and similar ones are much more expensive. In a 3 lb. vibratory tumbler, I use about 1/6th the amount of polish I would use in a rotary, so it would get very expensive very quickly in a rotary! Rockshed polish is good--it just takes longer. BTW, soft rocks often take longer than harder ones.
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Post by platypusofdeath on Aug 21, 2022 16:39:40 GMT -5
Thank you for the quick responses! Y’all are awesome! I have ordered the Rock Shed grit and will give it another go. Hopefully that will help!
This was very informative already, and I am looking forward to learning more here!
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Post by platypusofdeath on Aug 21, 2022 16:43:53 GMT -5
Hey platypusofdeath If the piece you’re showing is schist, I would say that you got about as good of a polish as possible. I’ve seen some polished versions of this gneiss, and while they’re not agate-shiny, they get a nice little luster on them, like a jasper.
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Post by jasoninsd on Aug 21, 2022 17:55:42 GMT -5
Thank you for the quick responses! Y’all are awesome! I have ordered the Rock Shed grit and will give it another go. Hopefully that will help! This was very informative already, and I am looking forward to learning more here! Welcome to the forum from South Dakota...just around the corner from The Rock Shed! You're definitely going to be a LOT happier with the results you're going to get with TRS's grit and polish!
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Aug 21, 2022 18:06:26 GMT -5
Thank you for the quick responses! Y’all are awesome! I have ordered the Rock Shed grit and will give it another go. Hopefully that will help! This was very informative already, and I am looking forward to learning more here!
When you get your Good Polish from the Rock Shed You should not totally rerun your batch of rocks Just simply doing a Polish Run should do the trick using the Rock Shed Polish
The best Polish that Nat Geo has is considered Prepolish around here
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Post by vegasjames on Aug 21, 2022 18:28:47 GMT -5
Welcome from Southern Nevada.
Vibe tumblers do a great job of putting a high shine on many rocks. This is why some cabbers run their cabachons through a vibe tumbler after they finish the cab to get a higher shine on them.
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dshanpnw
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since December 2020
Posts: 897
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Post by dshanpnw on Aug 22, 2022 19:46:30 GMT -5
welcome to the forum from Washington state (petrified wood is our state gem). You have a cool rock, but it might be really tough to polish. I guess it could be done, but it might not get super shiny. Since it is already pretty rounded and smooth, if you run it in 220 for a week in a rotary tumbler, do a washout between grits, then one week in 500 grit, then one week in 1000 grit, then polish for one week, I think you will see something of a shine. The only reason I suggesting this is because I started out by tumbling granite which does not shine very good, but a dull shine instead. I really do think the National Geographic grits and polish are not be the best. I'd just nip that iffy stuff in the bud and buy what others are recommending. My tip for beginners, don't be disappointed if your first batch doesn't meet your expectations. Thanks for asking the great question.
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waterboysh
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2021
Posts: 369
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Post by waterboysh on Aug 23, 2022 10:58:01 GMT -5
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Post by pauls on Aug 23, 2022 18:31:25 GMT -5
Just for your information, when you get your new grit kit from the Rockshed you probably don't need to go right back to first stage, take your rocks back to about third stage and go from there.
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Post by platypusofdeath on Aug 26, 2022 19:10:52 GMT -5
Grit arrived; I’ve started polish round part deux! Wish me luck! I’ll report back in a week.
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Post by platypusofdeath on Sept 2, 2022 19:11:38 GMT -5
OH MY GOODNESS OH MY GOODNESS. They’re everything I hoped they could be!! Here they are DRY. I’m hooked on this rock shed stuff now. Y'all are the best.
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