stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,113
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Post by stefan on Jan 29, 2023 10:38:21 GMT -5
This is the first batch out of the MT-4 I ran from 120/220 thru the burnish stage. It was fast (started Jan.13th) but there were a few things I wasn't happy with. Med grit is a waste of time in this tumbler. Everything I tried (more water, less water, more rock, less rock, more ceramic, less ceramic, more vibe, less vibe, thinner slurry, thicker slurry) still let me down. After 5 days running I called it quits and moved on to 500. This is where things got a lot better. 5 days in 500 had a dull matte finish. 3 days in prepolish say a shine on the rocks. 2 days in AO and they were done.I did a soap rinse between each stage and a borax burnish. I discovered I really hate picking out ceramics when all is said and done. I also think people use WAY too much grit. I only used 2 teaspoons of 500 and pre polish, and 1 teaspoon of AO. I also realized I had WAY too many smalls in this batch and the current batch has a better mix (just doing the polish now as I have 3 or 4 loads ready for polish right now) The whole lot. (a lot of Lake Superior Agates) Bahia Agate, Burro Creek, and some random unknowns (grey chert is from my driveway) LSA, some Ocean jasper, and more random unknowns As an experiment i tried a Chalcedony Rose. Super pumped at how this turned out. I will be doing a lot more of these as the shine is amazing yet the shape remains! Again my pictures are pretty meh. I have a new phone and really need to spend some time learning how to best use the camera (a Pixel 6)
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