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Post by pebblesky on Aug 24, 2024 20:14:05 GMT -5
 Wow. And the colors of the ones on the plate look so great but don't take a great polish. Darn!  I had some of the ones you sent me disapear like the last one. They should be finished up in a couple days and I will post pics. I hope you would have better execution and luck than mine. I will still keep trying, but before I crack down a proper soft tumble process, I will stick to staying in stage 2 for 7 days which so far yields the best results for the soft rocks and is more hassle free. |
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Post by pebblesky on Aug 24, 2024 20:45:09 GMT -5
Nguni jasper. Some did fine, although not super shiny or very fine:  Some others became miserable. Even the not so sharp edges got significantly frosted.  I can at least tell by the eyes before tumbling which materials are more "coarse", and would not easily make great tumbles. These materials still look all fine after stage 2 so I will also try 7-day stage 2 next time. |
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Post by jasoninsd on Aug 29, 2024 21:35:06 GMT -5
pebblesky - I started "liking" all the posts I was playing catch-up on...but then realized I was probably overloading you with notifications! LOL Suffice it to say, I loved every one of the picture updates! Big thanks for sharing the pics and info!!
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Post by pebblesky on Aug 31, 2024 20:52:28 GMT -5
 Cherry Creek Jasper really has lovely colors. This is one piece shown wet after stage 1. If only I could achieve a slightly decent polish... |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2024 8:17:11 GMT -5
Cherry Creek Jasper really has lovely colors. This is one piece shown wet after stage 1. If only I could achieve a slightly decent polish... Those look great. Lots of character. |
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Post by pebblesky on Sept 9, 2024 17:00:09 GMT -5
Another batch done today. This batch mainly consists of the normal hard rocks, and I finished at stage 3 with 500 AO because the rocks are shiny enough for me. For the same subject, I can't tell with my eyes that the left and right (one of them had a proper 4-stage process and the other is from this batch) have different levels of shines:  One of my favorite tumbles in this batch. Stormy ocean. I tumbled this rock for too long, trying to get rid of the deep holes at the bottom side but gave up at some point of time.   More pictures to come... |
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Post by chris1956 on Sept 9, 2024 17:40:38 GMT -5
That stormy ocean is spectacular! Did you use a core drill bit for the holes? What size if I may ask?
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Post by pebblesky on Sept 9, 2024 18:19:36 GMT -5
That stormy ocean is spectacular! Did you use a core drill bit for the holes? What size if I may ask? I only tried to tumble these holes out before realizing they were really deep. I should have cut these areas out if I am motivated. Since these holes are on the rim of the rock, I decided to let go. |
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Post by pebblesky on Sept 9, 2024 18:21:15 GMT -5
 Here are the deep holes, where the red arrows point to. I also feel the whole inner layer might be porous, and the holes might come up one after another. |
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Post by pebblesky on Sept 9, 2024 23:50:26 GMT -5
A group picture of all the Gobi Desert Jaspers in this batch  Among them, some are from the "high grade" box which are more colorful and more translucent than the average, including this piece:  Apparently "high grade" doesn't mean less fracturedðŸ˜. These are my most expensive tumbling material to date (in terms of how much they cost instead of the market value). The fractures don't seem super shallow so I decided to move on. Several small pieces. About the size of a quarter.  |
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hplcman
spending too much on rocks
Looking forward to my Friday Night Barrel Clean out!
Member since August 2022
Posts: 497
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Post by hplcman on Sept 10, 2024 12:22:24 GMT -5
Those Gobi Jaspers are something else. The variety is pretty impressive!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2024 8:32:30 GMT -5
Beautiful rocks!
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Post by chris1956 on Sept 11, 2024 8:54:51 GMT -5
Those are really nice!
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Post by pebblesky on Sept 12, 2024 23:47:58 GMT -5
This one should also be Gobi Desert Jasper from Inner Mongolia but I am not sure. Gobi Desert is pretty large.  This is from Randy's slab box as a preform. I tumbled it in stage 1 for a week then polished it. The texture looks grainy but it is very glossy.  I have a few Swazi Agates with the tube structures. This is the first one polished.   A banded agate stick. The parallax effect is very visible when I rotate it.  |
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Post by pebblesky on Sept 13, 2024 0:28:04 GMT -5
A semi-translucent milky quartz with black inclusions. It is from the other side of the Gobi Desert. Easy to polish. Not many chips or fractures. I actually can not decide whether these quartz are more delicious before or after tumble.  I though this one was Montana Moss Agate but it also has golden "hairs". Maybe it is Sagenite instead? Some black and golden hairs are soft and undercut but still I think it is a pretty cool piece.  Indonesian fossil corals.  Indonesian Petrified Palm Root. This one is probably from Tony's tumble box that I bought long long ago.  |
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Post by pebblesky on Sept 13, 2024 0:55:56 GMT -5
I find the red jaspers very charming, especially the brecciated ones. The bright red stands out in the whole batch.  I only tumbled a few Gobi Agates in this batch. I wanted to keep their original shape as much as possible but they still took more than one week in stage 1. Really love the left one. It looks like the head of an ostrich.  |
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Post by pebblesky on Oct 6, 2024 14:36:36 GMT -5
Still experimenting on some tricky rocks. I used to do one week stage 2 for the plum blossom jade which yield better results than a full polishing cycle (comparison forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/post/1335424/thread). This time I tried two weeks in stage 2. I don't think it performed better than one week stage 2 (but better than the full polishing cycle), and it takes more time. I will stick to one week stage 2 going forward.   |
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Post by chris1956 on Oct 6, 2024 17:30:38 GMT -5
Those are great! Especially like the Swazi agate with the tubes!! And the Montana Moss Agate!! And the stick agate!
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Post by jasoninsd on Oct 6, 2024 20:50:44 GMT -5
I had to play "catch up" on your thread!  This one in particular is a standout for me!! |
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Post by whalecottagedesigns on Oct 6, 2024 21:42:08 GMT -5
Wowzers! Your tumbles are really grand! My favourites amongst the last ones is the banded agate which is incredible and the stormy ocean which is amazing!
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I had some of the ones you sent me disapear like the last one. They should be finished up in a couple days and I will post pics. 
... to the New Guys from The ChatBox V.2 Crew