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Post by liveoak on Dec 17, 2022 11:03:01 GMT -5
I've had ongoing tumbler woes- and finally got a batch all the way through polish. I think the shine on them is stupendous (better than a lot of my cabs - obviously have to work on fixing that). BUT some of the rocks seem to have ingested polish ? I used all Rockshed grit through AO polish, 24 hour Borax run between each & at the end. Anyway to eliminate this now ? Anyway to eliminate in the future? Thanks for any help & tips - I'm new at the tumbling. Group Shot & a couple of my favorites. The fishy is the best ! But here's an example of the polish in the pores. Thanks for looking & any advise appreciated, Patty
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Post by Son Of Beach on Dec 17, 2022 11:25:01 GMT -5
I use a combo of an old toothbrush and a set of dental picks from Harbor Freight. That and my sprayer on my sink. Best to catch it when it's still wet and the grit doesn't have a chance to dry out.
Sometimes the porous areas just have to be worked thru as well, part of the grind I guess.
Good locking first tumbles Patty 👌
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afterburnt
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since June 2021
Posts: 152
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Post by afterburnt on Dec 17, 2022 11:41:10 GMT -5
I would suggest running them in stage one longer to remove the pits and cracks. I have also heard that letting the rocks dry between stages allows the grit to set up like concrete.
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ataraktos
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2020
Posts: 140
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Post by ataraktos on Dec 17, 2022 12:55:41 GMT -5
as others have said, i try not to let them dry out between stages. i also try to grind out all the spots but that's not always possible (or desirable - say, if a rock is in danger of losing too much mass to grind out a spot), so between stages, I try to hit those spots with a toothbrush, under running water. and as i'm accumulating rocks to move on to stage two, i keep them in a little bucket of water.
but now, you could try soaking them for a while (like a day or two) and seeing if you can then brush any of the polish out? if you have a dental waterpick, that might help? and if you're really committed/determined, you could try an ultrasonic cleaner but beware, i've heard rocks can break in those. i've tried a few rocks in one and never had a rock break but i certainly haven't used it very much.
good luck and happy tumbling!
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Post by liveoak on Dec 17, 2022 13:01:41 GMT -5
I'm glad to hear it's not unusual.
It would have been just my luck for it to be !
But I think afterburnt might have gotten it- drying out between stages. That's exactly what happened, as I had my polishing tumbler die with 1 barrel with 500 & 1 with AO polish, and they have sat for a couple of months.
Thank you for the current idea ataraktosSoak them I shall for a couple of days & see if it will clean out with a little help from me, of course.
Thank you all,
Patty
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afterburnt
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since June 2021
Posts: 152
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Post by afterburnt on Dec 17, 2022 15:46:21 GMT -5
I use an ultrasonic between stages and have never had a problem with rocks breaking. It seems to clean out the residue pretty good, I rarely need to do anything else to move them on to the next stage. If there is a deep vug I will hit it with a Water Pick.
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markb
Cave Dweller
Member since May 2022
Posts: 472
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Post by markb on Dec 17, 2022 17:19:28 GMT -5
liveoak Nice tumble, Patty. 🙂 You’ll have to decide whether you are going for a more natural look, or if you want them as smooth as possible. If you want them ultra smooth, you’ll need to rerun them in stage 1 over and over to get rid of any rough areas or blemishes. In each run I do a mixture of both, because with some rocks I’ll never be able to achieve a smooth surface due to a variety of things like deep pits, folds, softer material, etc. For those with a more natural look, I agree with the others that a tooth brush, pick and squirt bottle will come in handy to scrub out grit and polish left behind. When I do each stage clean out, I rinse the rocks from the slurry, then do a 1 hour Borax run. I don’t see much of a difference when doing the Borax run longer. After I rinse off the Borax, I put all the rocks wet in a tub of water to decide whether to repeat a stage, move them on, or remove them all together. Some rocks are so full of blemishes one has to ask if it is worth doing them. It’s important to remember that garbage in is garbage out when finding rocks to tumble. It’s a learning process that takes time to figure out why some will tumble up great and others won’t. Occasionally I will take a rougher rock through all stages even though I don’t have high hopes for it, because I want to see what will happen to it. When I have rocks with areas that can collect grit, I store them in a container filled with water, until I have enough to rerun them together so nothing hardens in the cracks. Only completely smooth rocks can be stored dry before the next Stage run. It’s all about trial and error in the end. Hope this helps. 😎
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dshanpnw
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2020
Posts: 1,071
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Post by dshanpnw on Dec 17, 2022 20:34:29 GMT -5
Happy birthday Patty! I like the variety you have there. Very good first tumble. Polish is hard to remove. Thanks for sharing.
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Post by liveoak on Dec 18, 2022 7:13:47 GMT -5
Thanks markb, it does help, and yup, I certainly found out that there's a bit more to tumbling than meets the eye at first . Thanks for your tips, they are helpful moving forward.
I'm thinking with this batch, it was mostly sitting dry for a couple of months that did the damage.
So the second half of the batch I think I'm just going to throw back in the coarse for a couple of days to clean out any residue & then move them along.
Soaking this batch sounds good & all, and I think I'll try the worst of them, but I'm not holding out for perfection. OTOH there are a couple of nice pieces that are actually a shape, that do look nice that might be nice wrapped.
So not a total loss by any means.
And I learned something
Thanks for your help,
Patty
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Post by liveoak on Dec 18, 2022 7:19:10 GMT -5
Happy birthday Patty! I like the variety you have there. Very good first tumble. Polish is hard to remove. Thanks for sharing. Thank you A day off from working with an excuse that it's my birthday is hard to beat
For my first tumble I purchased a mixed batch of rocks that are supposed to be all similar mohs hardness.
I thought it was great that the Rock Shed sold that, it took a lot of guessing out of starting.
On the most part they actually were similar, just a few became small aquarium gravel .
And I think your right, I doubt that soaking them now after the concrete is dry, hardened & even polished, is probably the road to madness.
But I might try a couple of them.
Patty
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Post by liveoak on Dec 18, 2022 7:20:59 GMT -5
I use an ultrasonic between stages and have never had a problem with rocks breaking. It seems to clean out the residue pretty good, I rarely need to do anything else to move them on to the next stage. If there is a deep vug I will hit it with a Water Pick. I like that idea - I'll have to keep an eye out for one.
Anyone specific that works for rocks ?
Guess I'll need to start researching that .
Patty
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dshanpnw
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2020
Posts: 1,071
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Post by dshanpnw on Dec 18, 2022 10:32:34 GMT -5
Happy birthday Patty! I like the variety you have there. Very good first tumble. Polish is hard to remove. Thanks for sharing. Thank you A day off from working with an excuse that it's my birthday is hard to beat
For my first tumble I purchased a mixed batch of rocks that are supposed to be all similar mohs hardness.
I thought it was great that the Rock Shed sold that, it took a lot of guessing out of starting.
On the most part they actually were similar, just a few became small aquarium gravel .
And I think your right, I doubt that soaking them now after the concrete is dry, hardened & even polished, is probably the road to madness.
But I might try a couple of them.
Patty
That is a really good mix of rocks from the RS. I see petrified wood, agate, jaspers, and they are good ones too. I know you can get your rocks to look much better as markb suggests, by leaving them in stage one until you are happy with them, unless of course, you are happy with them as they are now. But I think you'll be really surprised at how big of a difference getting the pits out and rounding them better will make.
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Post by liveoak on Dec 18, 2022 10:56:35 GMT -5
I might try just leaving them longer in stage 1 this next time,
although I do like them more natural than all rounded, but would depend on the rock I supose.
Guess I need to give a little more time to deciding what to do with what , as markb suggested.
Truth be told, tumbling is just a side note, I'm definitely a cabber, so grinding rocks before tumbling,
as I've read some people do isn't something I'm interested in (or at least not at this point). I'll try stage 1 longer - sounds like a plan.
Thanks,
Patty
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dshanpnw
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2020
Posts: 1,071
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Post by dshanpnw on Dec 18, 2022 11:12:48 GMT -5
I might try just leaving them longer in stage 1 this next time,
although I do like them more natural than all rounded, but would depend on the rock I supose.
Guess I need to give a little more time to deciding what to do with what , as markb suggested.
Truth be told, tumbling is just a side note, I'm definitely a cabber, so grinding rocks before tumbling,
as I've read some people do isn't something I'm interested in (or at least not at this point). I'll try stage 1 longer - sounds like a plan.
Thanks,
Patty
I'll have to look up your cabs in the creating cabochons board. Tumbling does have its merits when the rock can't be cabbed. Grinding does take off a lot of time required in stage one and unwanted bits of the rocks, but nature is natural and there's nothing wrong with that.
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afterburnt
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since June 2021
Posts: 152
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Post by afterburnt on Dec 18, 2022 14:35:05 GMT -5
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markb
Cave Dweller
Member since May 2022
Posts: 472
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Post by markb on Dec 18, 2022 15:24:08 GMT -5
liveoakPatty, one more thing I forgot to mention. Unless I’m super in love with any rock that has many blemishes, which I never have been yet, if they just aren’t shaping up they might just get tossed into my “Nopes” basket. After the basket is full, I toss them into a rocky area of my lawn, where they can remain to live freely. 😉 By the way, Happy “belated” Birthday! 🎂 🎈 🧁 🎁 🐊 🌴 ☀️
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Post by liveoak on Dec 18, 2022 16:03:13 GMT -5
liveoak Patty, one more thing I forgot to mention. Unless I’m super in love with any rock that has many blemishes, which I never have been yet, if they just aren’t shaping up they might just get tossed into my “Nopes” basket. After the basket is full, I toss them into a rocky area of my lawn, where they can remain to live freely. 😉 By the way, Happy “belated” Birthday! 🎂 🎈 🧁 🎁 🐊 🌴 ☀️ Thanks Mark, good to know.
I have a cab bin like that, so they wouldn't be lonely
Thanks for the nice wishes,
Patty
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ataraktos
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2020
Posts: 140
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Post by ataraktos on Dec 20, 2022 12:39:50 GMT -5
wow, that's a big one! about how many pounds of rocks can it clean at once? and the plastic jars, i guess, don't "impede" the "sound waves" (or however these work). admittedly i would probably use mine more, but it's tiny. i might have to splurge on this one. i hate the wash cycles, LOL.
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afterburnt
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since June 2021
Posts: 152
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Post by afterburnt on Dec 20, 2022 14:27:07 GMT -5
wow, that's a big one! about how many pounds of rocks can it clean at once? and the plastic jars, i guess, don't "impede" the "sound waves" (or however these work). admittedly i would probably use mine more, but it's tiny. i might have to splurge on this one. i hate the wash cycles, LOL. I don't know how much it holds, I just eyeball it with enough rocks to fill a TV-5. I add some dishwashing detergent at the end of the cycle then rinse thoroughly. Then I put them in the ultra-sonic with some more dishwashing detergent with the heat on and run it for 10 minutes and rinse again. Then another 5 minutes with plain water to see if they need more time. Clean looking rocks typically cloud the water up removing the residue that is not obvious. "Laziness is the mother of invention."
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