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Post by Pat on Jun 26, 2024 21:17:16 GMT -5
Nice work!you have inspired me. I think I will make rock ornaments —- circles! Thanks!
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Post by liveoak on Jun 27, 2024 8:20:54 GMT -5
OK Chris, I think I remember that you use a vibe tumbler for polishing.
Sadly I don't have one- but grinding - you using a dremel ?
I will make these turtles - any insight appreciated.
Patty
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Post by chris1956 on Jun 27, 2024 17:21:42 GMT -5
OMG Chris, I LOVE the turtle  Well, I'm officially stealing the idea from you !
Thanks,
Patty
Thanks. Good idea to steal. Nice work!you have inspired me. I think I will make rock ornaments —- circles! Thanks! Thanks. Check out some of Michigan Rocks videos. He has a lot of ideas. OK Chris, I think I remember that you use a vibe tumbler for polishing.
Sadly I don't have one- but grinding - you using a dremel ?
I will make these turtles - any insight appreciated.
Patty
I do use a vibratory tumbler to polish the ornaments. You won't always get all the hard to get to spots like between the head and front legs but close enough for me and I think what people focus on is the top which will be polished. You could do it with a dremel. You can get small bits in the standard grits up to 3000 I think (Kingsley North) but sounds like a lot of work. If you have a cabber, I would be tempted to try polishing on that for the top and bottom and maybe do a quick polish or grind with the dremel on the sides. ?? |
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Post by jasoninsd on Jun 27, 2024 17:31:55 GMT -5
Chris...thanks for sharing some X-mas feelings in the middle of the year! I love all those ornaments!!  |
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Post by chris1956 on Jun 27, 2024 17:46:00 GMT -5
Chris...thanks for sharing some X-mas feelings in the middle of the year! I love all those ornaments!! My sister-in-law wants to do a craft show this fall so it forced me to get going early. I missed your snoopy post for some reason. That is pretty funny! Everytime I look at the red tongues sticking out I laugh. LOL! |
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rockbrain
Cave Dweller 
Member since January 2022
Posts: 3,176
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Post by rockbrain on Jun 28, 2024 9:02:41 GMT -5
A Petoskey turtle shell could look pretty amazing.
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Post by chris1956 on Jun 28, 2024 9:52:04 GMT -5
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Post by chris1956 on Jun 28, 2024 10:05:25 GMT -5
OK Chris, I think I remember that you use a vibe tumbler for polishing.
Sadly I don't have one- but grinding - you using a dremel ?
I will make these turtles - any insight appreciated.
Patty
I just noticed, if you look at the side of the turtle body on hte second photo, you can see a few vertical lines that are unpolished saw marks. That tends to happen when you tumble them in the vibratory tumbler. Most of the time I don't do anything with these because typically you are looking from the top and don't see them. I think if you focus on the top body polish that will be the important thing. And the shell of course. |
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Post by liveoak on Jun 28, 2024 10:24:04 GMT -5
Thanks for the tip Chris
Have to give it a try.
Patty
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Post by chris1956 on Jun 28, 2024 15:38:03 GMT -5
OK Chris, I think I remember that you use a vibe tumbler for polishing.
Sadly I don't have one- but grinding - you using a dremel ?
I will make these turtles - any insight appreciated.
Patty
I was thinking, when I was answering the tribeunited question in the other thread that it might be possible to polish the ornaments/turtles in a rotary tumbler. First, when I do this in the vibratory I start with 220 grit because you don't want to wear them down too much. I would start with that in the rotary also. Then, I was thinking that you could overload the rotary with ceramic or maybe plastic media (much more than you normally would) to cushion the ornaments. It might be worth a shot with an ornament or two to see what happens. I don't know how long you would go in the rotary. In the vibratory, I usually don't go more than 2 days with 220 grit. Maybe try it for 3 or 4 days and see what it looks like. Might take some experimentation. If you wanted to, you could just try some slab scraps to see length of time required to smooth them and how well they hold up. |
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Post by liveoak on Jun 28, 2024 15:52:14 GMT -5
I'd agree, Chris, that's worth a try. Especially if you want to make them in any bulk. I'm going to cut one on the band saw this weekend, I happen to have a 3lber empty. I'll report back.
Thanks - Patty
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dshanpnw
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2020
Posts: 1,160
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Post by dshanpnw on Jun 28, 2024 17:30:51 GMT -5
Christmas is only 6 months away and you have a lot done. Great use of white quartz for the snowmen. I'd leave the blue quartz as is too. They are all very nice and Christmassy. Thanks for sharing.
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Post by chris1956 on Jul 22, 2024 20:57:41 GMT -5
Here are a few from the last batch that I had a chance this past week to put together. I made all of these into magnets. The rest will probably be made into ornaments. Snowmen. The body is white quartz from here in Missouri (found here on our property). The blue hats and the one scarf are blue quartz (probably quartzite) from the Rock Shed. The green/pinkish scarf is unakite from Michigan. The eyes are peridot (not as dark as I had hoped). Noses are garnets and the buttons are amethyst. I purchaced the small stones online.  Christmas stockings. Tops are white quartz from Missouri. Green is unakite from Michigan. The red stones I am not sure about. One is maybe quartzite and other maybe some sort of jasper (both from Michigan).  Turtles. Clockwise from left with closeups to follow. Unknown greenish rock body from Michigan with unakite shell. Unakite body with Petoskey stone shell. Brown jasper (Missouri) with the infamous slag/obsidian shell (Missouri). Blue quartz body with Jason jasoninsd prairie agate shell. Unakite body with blue quartz shell. All the unakite is from Michigan.       Thanks for taking a look Chris |
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Post by tribeunited on Jul 22, 2024 22:06:05 GMT -5
This is so cool chris1956. I've been wondering about this lately - Have you ever worked with bloodstone? It's got the right colors for christmas. |
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Post by chris1956 on Jul 22, 2024 22:24:09 GMT -5
This is so cool chris1956 . I've been wondering about this lately - Have you ever worked with bloodstone? It's got the right colors for christmas. No, but that is a great idea. |
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python
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2024
Posts: 292
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Post by python on Jul 22, 2024 22:46:01 GMT -5
Awesome work!
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titaniumkid
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2023
Posts: 501
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Post by titaniumkid on Jul 22, 2024 23:07:53 GMT -5
They all look amazing. The turtles are especially cute.
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Post by pebblesky on Jul 22, 2024 23:59:30 GMT -5
These look so cool! I am wondering if gingerbread man or holiday cookie will be doable...
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Post by Starguy on Jul 23, 2024 1:23:35 GMT -5
These look so cool! I am wondering if gingerbread man or holiday cookie will be doable... Just don’t take a bite. Those are all so cool. |
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Post by liveoak on Jul 23, 2024 6:28:50 GMT -5
Love the new turtles, Chris !
I tried your idea with my 3 lb rotary in an attempt to make some. I did 4 days with 120/220, and it seemed to work out pretty good.
Although, I did round over the top edge with a diamond bur to hopefully give them a head start in the right direction.
They are in polish now, so hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll have something to show.
Thanks for the inspiration ! Patty
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