christianswest
having dreams about rocks
Member since June 2023
Posts: 54
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Post by christianswest on Feb 10, 2024 12:41:39 GMT -5
I am close to being caught up on tumbling the rocks I found this summer and now it's time to experiment a bit. I have some small slabs of blue forest petrified wood and some other petrified wood that I've slabbed. I am satisfied with their shape and they measure 1.5" to 2" in diameter. I have rotary tumblers and a mini-sonic tumbler. After looking through the achieves, I got some aquarium gravel and also have cheremic pellets. Here are my questions. 1. Would you even tumble them at all or would you use the wet disc pads and go through the step grades? 2. Would you advise using the rotary or the vibe? 3. Since I am happy with the shape, would you skip Stage 1? 4. Do you slab one at a time or can you do multiple mini- slabs? if so, considering the size of the slabs, how many would you do at a time?
A lot of questions here, but I would appreciate any advice that you can provide! THANK YOU in advance!
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Post by aDave on Feb 10, 2024 13:14:07 GMT -5
I am close to being caught up on tumbling the rocks I found this summer and now it's time to experiment a bit. I have some small slabs of blue forest petrified wood and some other petrified wood that I've slabbed. I am satisfied with their shape and they measure 1.5" to 2" in diameter. I have rotary tumblers and a mini-sonic tumbler. After looking through the achieves, I got some aquarium gravel and also have cheremic pellets. Here are my questions. 1. Would you even tumble them at all or would you use the wet disc pads and go through the step grades? 2. Would you advise using the rotary or the vibe? 3. Since I am happy with the shape, would you skip Stage 1? 4. Do you slab one at a time or can you do multiple mini- slabs? if so, considering the size of the slabs, how many would you do at a time? A lot of questions here, but I would appreciate any advice that you can provide! THANK YOU in advance! I've not (personally) tumbled cabs, but plenty of folks here have. Here are Forum search results for "tumbling cabs." There are a fair amount of threads in the results, so you might get the answers to your questions and maybe even more helpful information. Even so, I'll quickly hit your questions, though my tumbling has always involved rough rock and not cut slabs/cabs. 1 & 2: If it were me, a vibe tumbler would be my tool of choice over the rotary. Because of the way the rotaries work, there's too much risk of breakage when compared to a vibe. Also, shaping appears to be more uniform and consistent. 3. Are you referring to stage 1 (coarse grind) in a rotary? If so, it's not needed, you'll lose too much material, and (reshaping) is not what you are looking for. Go with a vibe and start with 120/220 grit. This grit will still soften edges and do some smoothing for you. You can then finish things off as you normally would with different stages. 4. Not having done cabs before, I'm thinking you can do multiple cabs, and you might want to see what a 50/50 mix of cabs to ceramics or other filler. That's just a guess on the ratio. Here's the search results: www.google.com/search?q=tumbling+cabs&sitesearch=forum.rocktumblinghobby.com#ip=1
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christianswest
having dreams about rocks
Member since June 2023
Posts: 54
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Post by christianswest on Feb 10, 2024 13:44:18 GMT -5
I Thanks. This is the type of advice I was hoping for!
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Post by velodromed on Feb 11, 2024 13:45:13 GMT -5
I am close to being caught up on tumbling the rocks I found this summer and now it's time to experiment a bit. I have some small slabs of blue forest petrified wood and some other petrified wood that I've slabbed. I am satisfied with their shape and they measure 1.5" to 2" in diameter. I have rotary tumblers and a mini-sonic tumbler. After looking through the achieves, I got some aquarium gravel and also have cheremic pellets. Here are my questions. 1. Would you even tumble them at all or would you use the wet disc pads and go through the step grades? 2. Would you advise using the rotary or the vibe? 3. Since I am happy with the shape, would you skip Stage 1? 4. Do you slab one at a time or can you do multiple mini- slabs? if so, considering the size of the slabs, how many would you do at a time? A lot of questions here, but I would appreciate any advice that you can provide! THANK YOU in advance! I did a lot of mini petrified wood slabs a year ago. Probably around 5 pounds or so from all self collected petrified wood from Texas. I experimented quite a bit with the best way to polish them so here goes… -I tried many different widths I found that 4-6mm or so worked well. -Choose the pieces wisely. The ones that have lots of cracks and soft spots will not hold together. I would always cut an inch or so off and look at it closely before proceeding with that piece. -I found that the rotary Tumblr worked really well. I would use a 3 pound barrel running at 25 to 30 RPM. I would load it 60% with mini slabs and another 25% with small to medium small aquarium agate so the barrel was 80-85% full or so. I would water about 2” below the top. - I only use one level tablespoon (** EDIT per pound barrel size)of grit per barrel (60/90 or 46/70) and I also add a heaping tablespoon of dried slurry or similar. -every 7 days I Check on the slabs, recharge the grit (I keep using using the same slurry unless it smells) add any additional slabs or filler as needed. Some of the little slabs would take a month or two to do, others would take six months or more in course. -I’ve done steps 2-polishing both in a rotary and a vibratory, and have gotten good results from both.
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Post by velodromed on Feb 11, 2024 13:54:36 GMT -5
I’ll get better pictures later but here’s a couple I have in my phone. The first four are actually a prairie agate that I sliced, the second is of some petrified wood mini slabs back when I was working on them. I’ll post pictures of more of them polished later.
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ashley
Cave Dweller
Member since February 2023
Posts: 915
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Post by ashley on Feb 11, 2024 13:57:59 GMT -5
Unless they are very tiny slabs, skip the minisonic as they will not move right in there. The minisonic only works well for smaller rocks and smaller loads. When I do slabs I throw them in with a load of rocks, about 75% rocks and 25% slabs and run as usual. You can skip the first stage as long as they are mostly smooth or just do half or less of the time in stage one.
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Post by Starguy on Feb 11, 2024 15:35:32 GMT -5
I tumble small slabs all the time. They sometimes stick to the inside of the barrel but it doesn’t seem to hurt them. I usually mix them with some rounder more pebble-like stones.
i’m strictly rotary.
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christianswest
having dreams about rocks
Member since June 2023
Posts: 54
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Post by christianswest on Feb 11, 2024 16:30:27 GMT -5
I am close to being caught up on tumbling the rocks I found this summer and now it's time to experiment a bit. I have some small slabs of blue forest petrified wood and some other petrified wood that I've slabbed. I am satisfied with their shape and they measure 1.5" to 2" in diameter. I have rotary tumblers and a mini-sonic tumbler. After looking through the achieves, I got some aquarium gravel and also have cheremic pellets. Here are my questions. 1. Would you even tumble them at all or would you use the wet disc pads and go through the step grades? 2. Would you advise using the rotary or the vibe? 3. Since I am happy with the shape, would you skip Stage 1? 4. Do you slab one at a time or can you do multiple mini- slabs? if so, considering the size of the slabs, how many would you do at a time? A lot of questions here, but I would appreciate any advice that you can provide! THANK YOU in advance! I did a lot of mini petrified wood slabs a year ago. Probably around 5 pounds or so from all self collected petrified wood from Texas. I experimented quite a bit with the best way to polish them so here goes… -I tried many different widths I found that 4-6mm or so worked well. -Choose the pieces wisely. The ones that have lots of cracks and soft spots will not hold together. I would always cut an inch or so off and look at it closely before proceeding with that piece. -I found that the rotary Tumblr worked really well. I would use a 3 pound barrel running at 25 to 30 RPM. I would load it 60% with mini slabs and another 25% with small to medium small aquarium agate so the barrel was 80-85% full or so. I would water about 2” below the top. - I only use one level tablespoon of grit per barrel (60/90 or 46/70) and I also adid a heaping tablespoon of dried slurry or similar. -every 7 days I Check on the slabs, recharge the grit (I keep using using the same slurry unless it smells) add any additional slabs or filler as needed. Some of the little slabs would take a month or two to do, others would take six months or more in course. -I’ve done steps 2-polishing both in a rotary and a vibratory, and have gotten good results from both. Thanks a lot for the advice. I will start some this next week and follow your recipe. My guess is that you use dried slurry or similar as a thickener?
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Post by HankRocks on Feb 11, 2024 16:52:06 GMT -5
I am close to being caught up on tumbling the rocks I found this summer and now it's time to experiment a bit. I have some small slabs of blue forest petrified wood and some other petrified wood that I've slabbed. I am satisfied with their shape and they measure 1.5" to 2" in diameter. I have rotary tumblers and a mini-sonic tumbler. After looking through the achieves, I got some aquarium gravel and also have cheremic pellets. Here are my questions. 1. Would you even tumble them at all or would you use the wet disc pads and go through the step grades? 2. Would you advise using the rotary or the vibe? 3. Since I am happy with the shape, would you skip Stage 1? 4. Do you slab one at a time or can you do multiple mini- slabs? if so, considering the size of the slabs, how many would you do at a time? A lot of questions here, but I would appreciate any advice that you can provide! THANK YOU in advance! I have tumbled both shaped Pendant stones and small slices of agate, maybe a 100 or so in the batch. I save all of the small pieces trimmed off when cutting the pendant stones out and add previously tumbled pea gravel. For the coarse(first) stage I use 80 SiC instead of my normal 46-70 or 35-60 as the breakdown of the grit is slow with all low-mass rocks in the batch and so many flat sides. Also use a bit less grit than a normal 1st stage and a day or two longer than normal. These runs are in a Model B Rotary for all the stages except polish which moves to the UV-18 Vibe. Also tumble large slabs maybe 25 to 35 3 to 6 inch wide pieces. Same mix of trim saw pieces and Pea Gravel to fill gaps. These stay in the rotary through the polish stage as they are two big for good movement in the UV-18 Vibe. IMG_5904 by Findrocks, on Flickr It just dawned on me today that I can try running a batch of large end cuts. Some are as thick as 1/2 to 5/8 of an inch at the thickest and 3 to 5 inches in length. They may beat each other up so I added extra small scraps. I am curious to see how they work out.
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chris1956
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2022
Posts: 1,291
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Post by chris1956 on Feb 11, 2024 18:57:00 GMT -5
If you are just starting off you might check out Rob's (Michigan Rocks) Jugglerguy videos on Christmas ornaments and crosses. Most of what he does and what I do is probably in the 4 to 6 mm thickness and maybe smaller than what you are attempting. I agree with most of what has already been said. Here are a couple thoughts for my two cents worth. 1. Start with 220 unless you arn't seeing enough wear with 220. 2. Use Lot-O if possible. I don't think most thin slabs woudl survive the rotary. I have used a Lot-O for all mine except one Christmas ornament that I have in a mini-sonic right now (hasn't broken yet). 3. Thin stuff may break. Just have to experiment. I have done several thin slabs maybe 2 to 3 inches long (3 mm thick) and some survived and some cracked. I also experimented with thin (2 to 3 mm thick) guitar picks. Most of those survived the Lot-O. 4. Sometimes the edges get wonky on larger thin slabs. I think other stuff hits the edge straight on and causes mini fractures that then don't polish well. I think a lot of this depends on the material. 5. Check them in the vib often to see how much the edges are wearing. 6. You will have to experiment with how many you can do. Flat surfaces tend to stick together and can really get cemented together if you don't catch it in time. I have had to stop and break them apart with a knife to get going again. Good luck. Chris
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Post by velodromed on Feb 11, 2024 22:06:40 GMT -5
I did a lot of mini petrified wood slabs a year ago. Probably around 5 pounds or so from all self collected petrified wood from Texas. I experimented quite a bit with the best way to polish them so here goes… -I tried many different widths I found that 4-6mm or so worked well. -Choose the pieces wisely. The ones that have lots of cracks and soft spots will not hold together. I would always cut an inch or so off and look at it closely before proceeding with that piece. -I found that the rotary Tumblr worked really well. I would use a 3 pound barrel running at 25 to 30 RPM. I would load it 60% with mini slabs and another 25% with small to medium small aquarium agate so the barrel was 80-85% full or so. I would water about 2” below the top. - I only use one level tablespoon of grit per barrel (60/90 or 46/70) and I also adid a heaping tablespoon of dried slurry or similar. -every 7 days I Check on the slabs, recharge the grit (I keep using using the same slurry unless it smells) add any additional slabs or filler as needed. Some of the little slabs would take a month or two to do, others would take six months or more in course. -I’ve done steps 2-polishing both in a rotary and a vibratory, and have gotten good results from both. Thanks a lot for the advice. I will start some this next week and follow your recipe. My guess is that you use dried slurry or similar as a thickener? Yup. I like to use 2/3rd tbs borax during AO vibe runs. During stage 2-3 SiC I use dried slurry from previous vibe runs. In my rotaries I use dried slurry if needed, but since I usually only do course runs in those, I tend to recycle the existing slurry continuously (unless it smells bad). I don’t like it super thick. Just moderately so.
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Post by orrum on Feb 12, 2024 9:22:53 GMT -5
Really good thread folks. Thsnx for the info
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rocknewb101
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2022
Posts: 1,334
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Post by rocknewb101 on Feb 12, 2024 15:35:24 GMT -5
If you are just starting off you might check out Rob's (Michigan Rocks) Jugglerguy videos on Christmas ornaments and crosses. Most of what he does and what I do is probably in the 4 to 6 mm thickness and maybe smaller than what you are attempting. I agree with most of what has already been said. Here are a couple thoughts for my two cents worth. 1. Start with 220 unless you arn't seeing enough wear with 220. 2. Use Lot-O if possible. I don't think most thin slabs woudl survive the rotary. I have used a Lot-O for all mine except one Christmas ornament that I have in a mini-sonic right now (hasn't broken yet). 3. Thin stuff may break. Just have to experiment. I have done several thin slabs maybe 2 to 3 inches long (3 mm thick) and some survived and some cracked. I also experimented with thin (2 to 3 mm thick) guitar picks. Most of those survived the Lot-O. 4. Sometimes the edges get wonky on larger thin slabs. I think other stuff hits the edge straight on and causes mini fractures that then don't polish well. I think a lot of this depends on the material. 5. Check them in the vib often to see how much the edges are wearing. 6. You will have to experiment with how many you can do. Flat surfaces tend to stick together and can really get cemented together if you don't catch it in time. I have had to stop and break them apart with a knife to get going again. Good luck. Chris I was looking for your #6 comment - and was going to mention if I didn't see it already. I remember Rob saying something on one of his videos with the crosses that he made where the flat surfaces will sometimes stick together, not allowing for a good contact polish. Glad to see it here
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Post by velodromed on Feb 12, 2024 16:04:06 GMT -5
I did a lot of mini petrified wood slabs a year ago. Probably around 5 pounds or so from all self collected petrified wood from Texas. I experimented quite a bit with the best way to polish them so here goes… -I tried many different widths I found that 4-6mm or so worked well. -Choose the pieces wisely. The ones that have lots of cracks and soft spots will not hold together. I would always cut an inch or so off and look at it closely before proceeding with that piece. -I found that the rotary Tumblr worked really well. I would use a 3 pound barrel running at 25 to 30 RPM. I would load it 60% with mini slabs and another 25% with small to medium small aquarium agate so the barrel was 80-85% full or so. I would water about 2” below the top. - I only use one level tablespoon of grit per barrel (60/90 or 46/70) and I also adid a heaping tablespoon of dried slurry or similar. -every 7 days I Check on the slabs, recharge the grit (I keep using using the same slurry unless it smells) add any additional slabs or filler as needed. Some of the little slabs would take a month or two to do, others would take six months or more in course. -I’ve done steps 2-polishing both in a rotary and a vibratory, and have gotten good results from both. Thanks a lot for the advice. I will start some this next week and follow your recipe. My guess is that you use dried slurry or similar as a thickener? Ugh, I just realized I made a mistake. In my initial response I said I use one level tablespoon per barrel size. I meant 1 level tablespoon per pound of barrel size. So with a 3 pound barrel I’d use 3 level tablespoons. I’m a bit thrifty on the amount of grit used because I have never found that more grit equals better grinding. Interestingly enough, I’ve found the opposite occurs. If I use a lot of extra grit it seems to impede grinding.
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Post by Mel on Feb 16, 2024 12:23:15 GMT -5
I am close to being caught up on tumbling the rocks I found this summer and now it's time to experiment a bit. I have some small slabs of blue forest petrified wood and some other petrified wood that I've slabbed. I am satisfied with their shape and they measure 1.5" to 2" in diameter. I have rotary tumblers and a mini-sonic tumbler. After looking through the achieves, I got some aquarium gravel and also have cheremic pellets. Here are my questions. 1. Would you even tumble them at all or would you use the wet disc pads and go through the step grades? 2. Would you advise using the rotary or the vibe? 3. Since I am happy with the shape, would you skip Stage 1? 4. Do you slab one at a time or can you do multiple mini- slabs? if so, considering the size of the slabs, how many would you do at a time? A lot of questions here, but I would appreciate any advice that you can provide! THANK YOU in advance! If it's not extremely valuable material, I'd tumble it! I really, really love tumbling slab cut offs. They make excellent unique pendants with very little work on my part. I do all my bigger slabs on my flat laps but those rarely make it into cabs. I'd do the rotary to get your edges smooth/rounded and then to the vibe (IF they're small enough to move around easily). Start at 220, keep the barrel of the rotary about 80% full and see what happens. I find media helps with slabs if you don't have quite enough but I've done 6 & 12 pound loads of just slabs too. I'll only do 60/80 grit if the edges are super sharp/rough. Also you may find this article from 1967 quite useful; looks like 220 actually does more grinding than 60/90 if you use around 1 tbsp. per pound of material.
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