Warzy Raptor
starting to shine!
microcrystalline silicates my beloved <3
Member since April 2024
Posts: 36
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Post by Warzy Raptor on Oct 8, 2024 9:13:33 GMT -5
I have a batch of Chrysocolla I’m working on right now, my first venture into really soft stone; some is in quartz and some seems to be the mineral on its own. I rotary tumbled it all up to 1500 and it’s just about ready for polish, but I’m trying to weigh which method would be best (as well as which type of polish).
Right now I’m leaning towards doing a dry polish run in the vibratory tumbler with corn cob media - I did that with the most pain in the rear labradorite batch and it worked very well. Normally I use Rock Shed’s AO polish, which *chef’s kiss* absolutely amazing stuff on all the quartz, jasper, harder stones in general AND that labradorite.
BUT I also picked up cerium oxide polish from them, which I’ve read is better for soft stone. Any of you have any experience with this stuff that you can lend me? Will it also work on polishing the pieces that are in quartz? Or should I separate them and do the quartzy pieces in AO and the softer pieces in the cerium oxide?
Thanks for any pointers, got two days until the vibratory is freed up!
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Warzy Raptor
starting to shine!
microcrystalline silicates my beloved <3
Member since April 2024
Posts: 36
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Post by Warzy Raptor on Oct 12, 2024 11:34:59 GMT -5
Ok, I have an update: 48 hours in dry corn cob with cerium oxide polish in the vibratory, they’re starting to get a satin sheen (the quartz more than the softer ones). I’m gonna run them for another 48 and see if there’s any progress on the luster, and then I may experiment with some of the quartzier pieces and a few softer pieces in a 48 hour Aluminum oxide dry polish and see if there’s a difference!
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Warzy Raptor
starting to shine!
microcrystalline silicates my beloved <3
Member since April 2024
Posts: 36
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Post by Warzy Raptor on Oct 15, 2024 10:49:01 GMT -5
Update #2: I ran them for another 24 hours in the dry Cerium polish and I can’t say it made a really noticeable difference. I WAS tempted to let them run for a few more days, but I wanted to free up the vibratory tumbler for some other stones I want to polish and wire wrap ahead of winter Craft Fair season.
THEN I had a stroke a brilliance: I have ZAM compound and so, so many buffing wheels for my rotary tool. I’ve done three of the softer material pieces with the ZAM so far and goodness they took on a fabulous luster! I’ll come back again with photos once I finish the batch!
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AzRockGeek
has rocks in the head
Member since September 2016
Posts: 703
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Post by AzRockGeek on Oct 15, 2024 11:16:12 GMT -5
Update #2: I ran them for another 24 hours in the dry Cerium polish and I can’t say it made a really noticeable difference. I WAS tempted to let them run for a few more days, but I wanted to free up the vibratory tumbler for some other stones I want to polish and wire wrap ahead of winter Craft Fair season. THEN I had a stroke a brilliance: I have ZAM compound and so, so many buffing wheels for my rotary tool. I’ve done three of the softer material pieces with the ZAM so far and goodness they took on a fabulous luster! I’ll come back again with photos once I finish the batch! I use Zam on a buffing wheel as well to polish all the softer stones. |
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Warzy Raptor
starting to shine!
microcrystalline silicates my beloved <3
Member since April 2024
Posts: 36
Member is Online
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Post by Warzy Raptor on Oct 15, 2024 12:23:53 GMT -5
Update #2: I ran them for another 24 hours in the dry Cerium polish and I can’t say it made a really noticeable difference. I WAS tempted to let them run for a few more days, but I wanted to free up the vibratory tumbler for some other stones I want to polish and wire wrap ahead of winter Craft Fair season. THEN I had a stroke a brilliance: I have ZAM compound and so, so many buffing wheels for my rotary tool. I’ve done three of the softer material pieces with the ZAM so far and goodness they took on a fabulous luster! I’ll come back again with photos once I finish the batch! I use Zam on a buffing wheel as well to polish all the softer stones. Holy cow ZAM is “the GOAT” as the kids say (Greatest Of All Time); I wish I had access to our standing buffer wheel right now but my rotary did an AMAZING job polishing them with it. Got another half the batch to go! |
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mdjunkie
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since November 2023
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Post by mdjunkie on Oct 15, 2024 13:53:14 GMT -5
I'm actually pretty interested in how it turns out with the Zam. I have some soft stuff that I'll be putting into a dry polish as soon as the mini is freed up and I've had a bit of trouble with some of them before.
Mike
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Warzy Raptor
starting to shine!
microcrystalline silicates my beloved <3
Member since April 2024
Posts: 36
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Post by Warzy Raptor on Oct 15, 2024 14:49:19 GMT -5
The wait is over! I could have probably gone a little more with the Zam, but I think the bigger difference would have come from re-rolling them in 220 and 500 grit (which I just do not have the patience for right now, I’m happy with how they look!) The more quartz ones I decided that I’m going to re-roll from the start since they’re still big enough that I can get better shaping with them, so these are just the soft ones. The metals in them took a RIDICULOUS polish with the Zam, really loving the look! Method: -rotary 60/90 SC x2 days -rotary 220 SC x4 days -rotary 500 AO x4 days -rotary 1500 AO x4 days -vibratory cerium oxide & corn cob dry polish x3 days (could have gone longer maybe?) -Zam polish & tiny buffer wheel -Final rub-down with a glass cleaning microfiber cloth         |
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mdjunkie
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since November 2023
Posts: 81
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Post by mdjunkie on Oct 15, 2024 17:26:42 GMT -5
Very nice! I really like the faint crisscross pattern that you can see on a couple of those.
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lapidary1234
spending too much on rocks
"If you like rocks you can't be all bad!!" ~ old timer quote
Member since October 2021
Posts: 293
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Post by lapidary1234 on Oct 17, 2024 23:12:11 GMT -5
You're on top of it! I was gonna say that zam is typically used on softer stones (especially turquoise/malachite/chrysocolla). The dilemma i had with that recommendation was how to get it into a rock tumbler.
Since you have a rotary tool you were able to get it done! They look great!
Your results just reinforce how I really need to get myself a stick of zam. I've had good results with my cabbing machine using submicron ao on malachite and turquoise but I know what you're saying about tumbled stones ending up with more of a "satin" finish as opposed to "sheen" or "gloss"
Now you've got me wondering what would be best in a tumbler for softer stuff like chrysocolla or howlite. I wonder what is used on fluorite (hardness 5)?
Diamond pacific? Makes a dry tumbling product (maybe called vibra-dry unsure). I've read you need to put over 1lb of it in a 4lb barrels (basically fill barrel up with product). It is expensive but is also supposed to be reusable.
maybe it's time consuming, but the results speak for themselves!
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