vance71975
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since September 2022
Posts: 760
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Post by vance71975 on Sept 5, 2022 23:05:45 GMT -5
So I ordered some Banded Amethyst,Mexican Lace Agate and Zebra Jasper and I was wondering if anyone had any advice on tumbling these three? My tumbler when it gets here will be a Tumble-Bee with the 4lb barrel. I have grit in 80,220,500 All SiC, and 1000 AO along with the rock shed AO polish at about 8000 grit coming as well. I do plan to pratice on common rocks I have picked up before these to learn the roll and speed of the machine, but I was just wonder if there is any thing special I need to know about these rocks or the tumbler I got? Thanks in Advance
Vance
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waterboysh
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2021
Posts: 386
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Post by waterboysh on Sept 6, 2022 8:33:43 GMT -5
In my experience, Zebra Jasper is softer than Mexican Lace Agate. They're both a 7, but all that means is they can scratch feldspar and topaz can scratch them. Since the scale is not linear there can be quite a bit of variation within the same hardness level. So your Jebra Jasper will probably come out of coarse faster than the other two. Mexican Lace Agate is very hard. It will take a while to shape, but you'll get an amazing shine on it.
Also, I have had really bad luck tumbling any type of quartz with non-quartz. Quartz will fracture more easily even though they are the same hardness. The ability to resist fracture is called toughness and quartz is just not as tough. When I tumble quartz in the coarse stage, I add about 10% media. I use aquarium gravel for this. It just helps cushion things a bit. It'll slow the shaping down some, but 10% media is fairly low and won't slow things down to much. So I personally would not tumble the amethyst with the other two, but other people might say otherwise.
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vance71975
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since September 2022
Posts: 760
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Post by vance71975 on Sept 6, 2022 8:36:39 GMT -5
In my experience, Zebra Jasper is softer than Mexican Lace Agate. They're both a 7, but all that means is they can scratch feldspar and topaz can scratch them. Since the scale is not linear there can be quite a bit of variation within the same hardness level. So your Jebra Jasper will probably come out of coarse faster than the other two. Mexican Lace Agate is very hard. It will take a while to shape, but you'll get an amazing shine on it. Also, I have had really bad luck tumbling any type of quartz with non-quartz. Quartz will fracture more easily even though they are the same hardness. The ability to resist fracture is called toughness and quartz is just not as tough. When I tumble quartz in the coarse stage, I add about 10% media. I use aquarium gravel for this. It just helps cushion things a bit. It'll slow the shaping down some, but 10% media is fairly low and won't slow things down to much. So I personally would not tumble the amethyst with the other two, but other people might say otherwise. Thanks man appricate the input! I actually grabbed a Bag full of Pebble sized rocks on my last rockhounding trip for just that purpose to fill out and pad my tumble, but I also have ceramic Media on the way as well.
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,113
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Post by stefan on Sept 6, 2022 17:51:27 GMT -5
Banded Amethyst and Crazy lace should be ok together. Depending on the quality of the Amethyst it may come out great or it may chip and fracture and be a total let down. THe Crazy lace will more than thrill as it always takes a wonderful shine. The zebra Jasper can be iffy at best. I tried it once and was so frustrated that it just didn't want to shine and was full of cracks, fractures and undercutting.
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