wades
starting to spend too much on rocks
Gottfried Reiche (1667-1734)
Member since February 2006
Posts: 202
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Post by wades on Mar 1, 2006 12:31:50 GMT -5
I've been tumbling some assorted agates for about a month in 60/90, dumping the barrel over a colander/funnel arrangement into a milk jug and rinsing the rocks to inspect them. When I put them back in the barrel I use fresh water and grit.
I notice that the slurry is about the consistency of whole milk (well, somewhat more viscous than that) at the end of a week. The grit seems to be totally broken down.
When people here talk about "recharging" every x days, does that mean changing the water as well as the grit? Or do you just lift the rocks out and rinse them off to check them, and return them to the old slurry with fresh grit?
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offbeat
no posts
Member since May 2010
Posts: 0
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Post by offbeat on Mar 1, 2006 21:34:27 GMT -5
Fresh water and fresh grit will do the trick, wades! I give my rocks a good rinse too, that way I get to look at them and see how they are doing. Good luck,
Bill
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Post by snowdog on Mar 1, 2006 23:17:32 GMT -5
the slurry is what mainly carries the grit so if you do leave it, it will mix the grit faster when you put in new but new water and new grit will also make it's own slurry in a couple of days too--so could do it either way -- the first couple of weeks you may want to just leave it and wash a few rocks off --then as they get smoother and you want to check them all then wash and start fresh
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Post by texasrockhound on Mar 2, 2006 14:58:13 GMT -5
You know...now I'm curious as to how many RTH members replace the water when they recharge and how many just add more grit. I've been replacing the water with fresh but am thinking it might be better to just add more grit...
Should we start a survey/vote?
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earthdog
Cave Dweller 
Don't eat yellow snow
Member since June 2006
Posts: 2,731
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Post by earthdog on Mar 2, 2006 15:21:18 GMT -5
I rinse, put fresh water/grit in.
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inflight22
has rocks in the head
Member since January 2006
Posts: 710
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Post by inflight22 on Mar 2, 2006 18:16:07 GMT -5
So far, I've been rinsing and putting in fresh water and grit. In my 60/90. This is because I'm inspecting the rocks, and by the time I I'm done, there isn't much slurry left. But last time I recharged my 120/220, I just inspected a couple of rocks and added more grit.
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Post by snowdog on Mar 2, 2006 18:56:51 GMT -5
guess I would have to be listed as a 50/50 person ---I usually don't take all my rocks out of any stage --but the way i do it is to sit my barrel on the edge of a tub and let the water run in the barrel and spill into the tub --when the tub is almost full I quit and pour off the excess water --however much slurry is left in the bottom of the barrel gets left in --that way there is some slurry to start the new grit while still cleaning out some of the stone dust slurry---only the real fine slurry will wash out
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Post by Original Admin on Mar 3, 2006 12:48:21 GMT -5
I change my water every time I change the grit - at 80 thats every 4 days with a well balanced range of stone sizes in the barrel - and longer (say 10 days) if the rocks are all large and theres less off them,
I do this because I like to see ALL of them and how they are coming along. As time progresses - often i remove a couple of stones which have had enough at 80 - and let the rest continue.
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