Batch of flint, rut. quartz, and agates

Awesome thanks Ashley!

eccman
Thanks Ian!

markb
They got banged up a bit, and probably could have been in the rotary longer. I will do the next batch all agates.

Thats cool! How are they working?

ericabelle
Thank you Erica! the agates were gambiri and coyamito agates. I’m not the best at ids but I would guess that one was a coyamito. Starguy Brent might be able to confirm the id.

Looking forward to seeing your agates!

ashley
ericabelle

I was running a 220 Sic batch in the vibe with a mix of 6.5-7 mohs rocks, plus a couple raggedy agates. They looked like beach agates that were full of pits and had a bit of host material left on them in the pits. I stopped the run 6 hours short of 48 hours and all the rocks seemed to shape up pretty well. Several of them were redos that I had previously taken to polish, but didn’t like their end condition they were in because I had left some rough areas and scratches. So I put them back into the 220 run to shape them up better another time around. Some of the agates were also redos, but a couple of the medium sized ones had just run through the rotary and we’re due for a 220 run. They came out shaped a bit better than I’ve seen in the past, and although they still had their pits several seemed to be lessened, or perhaps widened out a bit. There is still a slight trace of what I assume is host material in the pits, but not as bad as before and I will most likely pass them on to the next stage.

In the run I also mixed in about 1/3 of 3/8 x 5/8” sized ceramic pieces ( previously used several times before) and some mini ceramics. The minis were getting too small to use and we’re floating around on the top of the rocks in the vibe bowl, so I mixed in the marbles because I didn’t have any more larger ceramics. These marbles are the kind you get from Michael’s that are flat on the bottom, not traditional round marbles. I bought three batches of them at a garage sale this summer for $1 apiece. The marbles came out about the same size, but were scuffed up to a matte finish as would be expected. However, they all held up and no chipping was observed. I have some in a rotary tumble that I’m doing too, but won’t see the results of those until Sunday.

I don’t have proof that a marble will provide a “softer” tumble than the small gravel rocks I typically use, but that was my theory.. The 220 run in the vibe may not cause such damage, but I didn’t want to take a chance. Usually when I get a batch to the pre-polish and polish stages, I’m relying on the smaller rocks in the run to fill between the medium sized and larger ones, rather than using small gravel rocks. I also add in about 1/3 ceramics to these two last stages.


If you decide to try marbles, the good news is they are pretty cheap if you shop around. I looked on the web and found you could get 50 marbles at Hobby Lobby for $2.99, or 160 at Amazon for $11.90 and other places for good prices, including Etsy, Amazon, and other retail outlets.

Another kind of glass piece that I bought at the summer garage sales was one shaped like a boomerang. I haven’t thrown them into a tumble yet, but would think they would do just fine.

Another test for the future Perhaps.

markb. 😎

markb
That’s a cool experiment your running! Do we get to see the pictures soon?!

I agree they may be easier to use over sharp ceramics, and you don’t have to prepare them to use.  Now the question is how long will they last and hold their size in comparison to my larger ceramics.  That may take a while to figure out.

I think they must be the rounded colored glass that people use as vase filler. Is that what they are, markb ?

Yes.  Ses my response with pics to ashley.