ingawh
starting to spend too much on rocks
The rock wants to shine, I just help it get there
Member since February 2011
Posts: 194
|
Post by ingawh on Feb 14, 2015 21:55:21 GMT -5
Jugglerguy considering what the vibe is and does I think you had a successful experiment. Thanks for the food for thought Rob. ingawh .... Gee Mo Nee Christmas that's some shiny obsidian !!!! Do you know if the Metamucil works in the rough tumble? I used to sometimes used Metamucil in the courser grinds, but I no longer do. For one thing, it's organic and so you'll want to put a Tbs. of bleach in with it to stop it from creating gas from organic processes. It can go bad. I now would rather use small media to cushion, if needed. I like to do at least two course grinds on each batch (both with 25 SiC) but the first one has very little cushioning media. This gives me better shaping. Anything not ready to move on gets another course grind, but this time, I may had more cushioning. That said, I'm not the expert on rounding and shaping. I sometimes get thin edges and not as much rounding as I'd like. What do others do about that? I also like to let the tumblers run until the course grit has all broken down. That's what lets me go straight from course to my final step in the vibe.
|
|
ingawh
starting to spend too much on rocks
The rock wants to shine, I just help it get there
Member since February 2011
Posts: 194
|
Post by ingawh on Feb 14, 2015 20:05:38 GMT -5
I've never been able to get a shine on obsidian with the ceramic media. The highly polished little round agates are doing a lot of the polishing, I expect. I get it at Petco. There's some jasper and other stuff in it. I weed out the tiny stuff and bits of junk, but there are also pieces of chert and jasper that work well as media on harder stones. I throw it all in at the course grind, then sort out the best stuff for use with obsidian, and use the rest with harder rock. It's more work and sorting than the ceramic stuff, but it's pretty in its own right, lasts longer than the ceramic stuff, is cheaper, and besides, I love to sort rocks!
|
|
ingawh
starting to spend too much on rocks
The rock wants to shine, I just help it get there
Member since February 2011
Posts: 194
|
Post by ingawh on Feb 14, 2015 19:40:54 GMT -5
Hi CaptBob. That is correct. Just 1/4 tsp of 500 Aluminum Oxide and a whole bunch of little polished agates in the with obsidian. The agates help break down the AO into a polish, and within 48 hours, you see the shine I get. (24 hours for harder rocks.) The balance of my slurry is a tiny bit of water, 5-6 pumps of liquid hand soap and a 1/4 tsp of Metamucil as a thickener. Totally serious.
|
|
ingawh
starting to spend too much on rocks
The rock wants to shine, I just help it get there
Member since February 2011
Posts: 194
|
Post by ingawh on Feb 14, 2015 19:31:44 GMT -5
|
|
ingawh
starting to spend too much on rocks
The rock wants to shine, I just help it get there
Member since February 2011
Posts: 194
|
Post by ingawh on Feb 14, 2015 19:15:49 GMT -5
Yes, I've got a bunch of ceramic media, but I haven't used it for ages. Much prefer my little agates.
|
|
ingawh
starting to spend too much on rocks
The rock wants to shine, I just help it get there
Member since February 2011
Posts: 194
|
Post by ingawh on Feb 14, 2015 19:07:26 GMT -5
I'm going to try again to attach a photo. I took this batch out since posting earlier today - fresh out of the Lot-O-Tumbler. I photographed them with the agates/quartz to show how much media I use for cushioning and polishing. I'm getting of topic of this thread - is that a no-no?
|
|
ingawh
starting to spend too much on rocks
The rock wants to shine, I just help it get there
Member since February 2011
Posts: 194
|
Post by ingawh on Feb 14, 2015 18:13:43 GMT -5
Thanks so much for the help and advice with photos! And thank you for the kind words. I definitely do not follow the instructions that came with the Lot-O-Tumbler, but after a lot of experimenting, I arrived as something that works for me. Anything with a Mohs around 7 takes about 24 hrs. The obsidian goes for closer to 48. I never recharge the Lot-O, just let the 500 AO break down over time. It does the job of a pre-polish, then becomes my polish. The other thing I do, especially for obsidian is use small, round polished quartz and agates as media. I buy big bags of the large-gauge rounded aquarium gravel to get these. Without them, the obsidian never gets that liquid glow.
|
|
ingawh
starting to spend too much on rocks
The rock wants to shine, I just help it get there
Member since February 2011
Posts: 194
|
Post by ingawh on Feb 14, 2015 17:05:48 GMT -5
Hello Jugglerguy, I'm kind of relieved you gave up. I tried using my Lot-O-Tumbler on raw rough, and found the only time I liked it was on petrified wood when I wanted to retain as much of the appearance of real wood as possible. I've recently done a lot of obsidian in my Lot-O-Tumbler use the trash heaps from flint-knappers and have really loved the results, but I'm having a hard time getting a photo to post. Hope this comes through. I really like the Lot-O-Tumbler for this because it is so gentle when I need it to be. I usually only do two grits stages - 25 Silicone Carbide in rotary for shaping, and 500 Aluminum Oxide in Lot-O, which takes it all the way to polished. If the photo of the obsidian doesn't come through, can someone help me learn how to do it? Thanks! www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10205030946548901&set=a.1574246871642.2081311.1099661315&type=1&theater
|
|