tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
|
Post by tkvancil on Nov 21, 2018 12:09:47 GMT -5
Nice stuff ... #12 is the one I find most intriguing ... looks like a brewing storm. Really nice pics too ... I need a better camera.
|
|
tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
|
Post by tkvancil on Nov 14, 2018 11:33:24 GMT -5
Very nice rocks, too many nice ones to pick a fave.
Glad you found these and shared. Quite the show!
As a side ... Where do you get your rough?
|
|
tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
|
Post by tkvancil on Nov 10, 2018 16:41:53 GMT -5
Nice bunch-o-rocks miket. Some really interesting patterns in those agates. Well done. Some of the white in the cracks could be polish but could be frosting. I have noticed when a fracture runs roughly parallel to the surface the edge of the crack can frost. It can look like polish. With a good magnifier you can usually tell the difference. Some of your pieces could have gone longer in first stage to get rid of flaws. Go too deep however and possibly lose a feature. It's a balancing act. Most importantly if you like the way it looks it's all good.
|
|
tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
|
Post by tkvancil on Nov 10, 2018 14:53:24 GMT -5
Really like the way your wood turned out. Well done.
|
|
tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
|
Post by tkvancil on Nov 10, 2018 14:36:06 GMT -5
Great for a first batch p40whk !!! I'm with the others who singled out that Bahia, it's really cool. As to removing flaws, what has been said already is spot on. I always say ... "If you don't like it coming out of coarse grind your probably not going to like it polished. As for the Sodalite not shining as well as the others .... It is one of "those rocks". One of those stones that by it's make up is difficult to get a good shine on. In the case of Sodalite it has 6 planes of cleavage with loose bonding between layers. We see these as tiny cracks when they are tumbled smooth. These cracks break up the surface giving the appearance of a lesser shine. Looked at under magnification the spaces between cracks are probably just as shiny as your other rocks. One thing I do to lessen this is to use a finer grit for the fist stage. I have observed that coarser grits dig in to these cracks more aggressively than finer grits. I start many rocks in 220 grit, Sodalite, most feldspars and sometimes obsidian. The 220 will shape and round but will take more cleanouts to get desired shape. These were done starting with 220 and took about twice as long to rough out. Which for me meant 8 to 10 weeks as opposed to 3 to 5 weeks with coarse grit. IMG_3494 by Ken Vancil, on Flickr Not perfect but pretty good.
|
|
tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
|
Post by tkvancil on Nov 10, 2018 13:40:42 GMT -5
They all look great. Way better than my first attempt, nicely done. Really liking how the wood came out.
|
|
tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
|
Post by tkvancil on Nov 10, 2018 13:36:31 GMT -5
I can tell by the silver sheen in your pics that you nailed the shine. Very nice. Two thumbs up!
As to getting them more rounded my first thought would be use 80 grit or even 120/220 for the coarse grind. They will both round obsidian & tears but remove less material.
|
|
tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
|
Post by tkvancil on Nov 3, 2018 16:45:52 GMT -5
Really like that Montana, #4.
#14 may be Missouri Lace you say. Think I got a couple pieces of that from the auction here. Cool rock.
Very nice job as always,
|
|
tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
|
Post by tkvancil on Nov 2, 2018 12:12:14 GMT -5
Fernwood Helped Me Confirm The ID of the "Wonderstone" banded material.......Chert......Not a popular tumbling stone but it will shine......!
The other material seems to be of the Chalcedony variety and a few pieces of Gneiss and Dolomite.......all should tumble well together. Chert is about the only stone commonly found here in Illinois that will readily polish. The grey/white stuff is kind of plain even if banded. I am lucky enough that some I find has crinoid fossils included, real cool stuff. Sponge spicules can also be found. One area in LaSalle county has rare pieces that have small amounts of red and blue against a brown/yellow background, also pretty cool. Once brought home over 30 pounds of the stuff and after breaking it up was left with about 3 pounds of keepers. You are correct it will shine nicely....
|
|
tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
|
Post by tkvancil on Nov 2, 2018 12:04:08 GMT -5
Very nice.
|
|
tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
|
Post by tkvancil on Nov 1, 2018 10:44:59 GMT -5
I second all the looking goods. Nice job!
|
|
tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
|
Post by tkvancil on Oct 31, 2018 15:59:52 GMT -5
tkvancil - The 3rd & last pictures look like the dendritic agate we find here in Cedar City, UT. Any idea who you bought that stuff from? Lynn Those are from drocknut. As far as I know she collects most of her own. They may be from Utah.
|
|
tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
|
Post by tkvancil on Oct 31, 2018 10:05:39 GMT -5
These rocks all were purchased from the buy and sell section of the board. Bulk of them would be from the approximately 35# of tumbling rough I bought from drocknut . I also bought Jaspers, Moss Agate, and Petwood from her, all pretty nice. A little of the Petwood is here but most of the rest isn't sized yet. Didn't get as much saw time this year as I'd hoped. Anyway on to the pics. This group would be some of the "plainer" pieces. Still colorful and took a nice shine. IMG_4765 by Ken Vancil, on Flickr Some Montana and other Agates. IMG_4742 by Ken Vancil, on Flickr Dendrites in most. These look much better in person. IMG_4743 by Ken Vancil, on Flickr Agates of various type. IMG_4748 by Ken Vancil, on Flickr Colorful mix of Agates and Jaspers. IMG_4751 by Ken Vancil, on Flickr Petwood. Some I left a little rough so it would look like wood. IMG_4757 by Ken Vancil, on Flickr IMG_4758 by Ken Vancil, on Flickr Zoom in on my faves from previous pic. IMG_4762 by Ken Vancil, on Flickr Procrastination group. Rio Grande from Sabre52 I sliced a couple years ago but just got around to cleaning up saw nubs and tumbling. One piece from Donnie's Rocky Treasures 's Rocky Treasures maybe 4 years ago, bottom right. IMG_4754 by Ken Vancil, on Flickr Took some solo shots, one that I like the rock and pic. More here if you care to look ... flic.kr/s/aHskHb6A82IMG_4785 by Ken Vancil, on Flickr Thanks for looking and keep on rollin' them stones.
|
|
tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
|
Post by tkvancil on Oct 21, 2018 19:11:13 GMT -5
Very nice !!!
|
|
tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
|
Post by tkvancil on Oct 10, 2018 9:02:57 GMT -5
I find it odd that you are having this experience. When I first started using my Thumlers UV18 I ran the polish for 7 days because the instructions said to do so. These days 48 to 72 hours is run length, after that to my eye they don't get any "shinier". Never experienced the negatives you describe however with longer run time.
|
|
tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
|
Post by tkvancil on Oct 10, 2018 8:47:53 GMT -5
Took a look at the album, nice rocks. Those all form Nebraska?
I'm like Chuck, once they come out of rough there is no more decision making.
I do still inspect but that is to check for any new chips/cracks, and also to be sure any voids I may left in the rocks are clean.
|
|
tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
|
Post by tkvancil on Oct 8, 2018 8:52:47 GMT -5
There was a point in time when I'd try to tumble or break out crystal vugs. No longer, as I see them as an interesting part of the rock. They are not too hard to clean and cause no harm down the line. I like the way they look, your examples are very nice.
|
|
tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
|
Post by tkvancil on Oct 8, 2018 8:45:04 GMT -5
I am partial to #1 and #3 but they are all pretty cool. Thumbs up on the video.
|
|
tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
|
Post by tkvancil on Oct 4, 2018 9:57:52 GMT -5
aliengreensoul My experiences adding borax to a rotary during coarse grind were all negative. It can thicken the slurry to the point of being over thick which can damage your rocks. Many people do use it saying it mitigates gas build up which I have found to be a non-issue with everything except man made glass. As to adding soap to a coarse tumble, been there done that too. For me it created a large volume of foam. The foam trapped and suspended most of the grit keeping the grit off the rocks and not letting it do its job. Plastic pellets can be used with any stage but you really don't want them in the first, coarse grit step. They are meant to slow down the action and provide cushion for the rocks. In first stage you want the most action you can get. When I used to do all stages rotary I used them from 220 to polish but gave up on them. I could get the same cushioning effect by filling the barrel to about 80/85% therefore finishing more per batch. I would suggest as a new tumbler you stick to the basics. Water and grit per instructions with no additives. Keep notes and adjust from there. Once you have a handle on what works for you then it's time to experiment with other things.
|
|
tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
|
Post by tkvancil on Oct 4, 2018 9:23:10 GMT -5
That is pretty incredible. The Lot-O sure seems efficient at breaking down grits.
|
|