Roan
has rocks in the head
Member since January 2008
Posts: 600
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Post by Roan on Jan 30, 2008 11:37:44 GMT -5
Thought I would start with an unusual subject just to brighten a few days My name is Eileen and I'm new to this whole thingy. My daughter, who is 11, absolutely loves crystals so I bought her (and me!) a Lortone for Christmas. My first batch came out really crappy 'cause we had no patience, but it's all good and makes for a better second batch. Hrm, that's about it --- Eileen
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adrian65
Cave Dweller
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
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Post by adrian65 on Jan 30, 2008 12:46:11 GMT -5
Hello and welcome, Eileen!
Patience is the most important thing in tumbling. One week is the minimum for each stage, but by the time you'll find useful to keep them tumbling about two weeks each stage. You'll see it's worth.
Lortone is a good brand, but they put a lousy Aluminium Oxide polish together with the tumbler. I didn't manage to polish using it. I use cerium oxide now, but i understand that Al O from other sources is very good, too.
Also a very important aspect is washing the barrel thoroughly between stages, and the rocks too.
I don't have much experience in tumbling either, but wait for some other opinions, I'm sure the masters in tumbling will give you much better advices than I did.
Adrian
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Post by Titania on Jan 30, 2008 14:42:27 GMT -5
Welcome, Eileen! This is a great place filled with lots of knowledgeable people. I have a Lortone, too...I really like mine. I agree with Adrian, 2 weeks at each stage after 60/90 grit and "however long it takes in 60/90" grit.
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Post by catmandewe on Jan 30, 2008 23:26:47 GMT -5
Spleenless yogurt really is the best kind.
Welcome..............Tony
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Roan
has rocks in the head
Member since January 2008
Posts: 600
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Post by Roan on Jan 31, 2008 15:32:41 GMT -5
Spleenless yogurt really is the best kind. Welcome..............Tony Heh Thanks for the welcome, Tony. Eileen
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Roan
has rocks in the head
Member since January 2008
Posts: 600
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Post by Roan on Jan 31, 2008 15:35:54 GMT -5
Welcome, Eileen! This is a great place filled with lots of knowledgeable people. I have a Lortone, too...I really like mine. Cool! Thank I made a decent purchase Actually, I did a lot of reading here and on various sites on the internet before I decided to buy my Lortone from The Rock Shed. Great store! Okay, will do. What about using 46/70 grit for the first week on really rough stones? I don't preshape mine as I really don't have a safe means to do so. Currently my studio is part of my fish room and I have to be very careful that nothing flies around and hits my fish tanks. Roan
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Roan
has rocks in the head
Member since January 2008
Posts: 600
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Post by Roan on Jan 31, 2008 15:46:56 GMT -5
Hello and welcome, Eileen! Patience is the most important thing in tumbling. One week is the minimum for each stage, but by the time you'll find useful to keep them tumbling about two weeks each stage. You'll see it's worth. I'm doing some white quartz right now and I can see what you mean. After one week in the rough grit it was really obvious that the stones needed more grit and to tumble for another week at least. The first batch I did was from a large 18# serpentine rock I bought off eBay. Absolutely gorgeous! TONS of yellow and blackish-green, but that was a problem. Most of the yellow wore off during the tumbling process and the black, which I assume are pyrites, are raised, pitted and icky I wanted to use extremely small pieces of this rock to make leaves for my wire tree sculptures. Sigh. Any advice on this serpentine? Hrm. Figures, I bought a few extra pounds of Al O (Al2 O3, correct?) when I purchased the tumbler. Okay, I just bought some cerium oxide, CeO2, from The Rock Shed and I'll give that a go. Maybe I can use the Al O as a prepolish or something? I have been tumbling for a few hours with soap to make sure everything is squeaky clean, but from what I've read here thus far, I need to take it further and do a day with borax. Yours was great! Thanks Adrian! Eileen
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Post by Cher on Jan 31, 2008 22:36:10 GMT -5
Welcome Eileen and daughter. There's lots of good info in the members photos, you just have to go back to about 2005 in the posts to find it. Lots of great pics with recipes.
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Roan
has rocks in the head
Member since January 2008
Posts: 600
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Post by Roan on Jan 31, 2008 23:55:23 GMT -5
Welcome Eileen and daughter. There's lots of good info in the members photos, you just have to go back to about 2005 in the posts to find it. Lots of great pics with recipes. Thanks, Cher! Goodness, you have a lot of stars beside your name Eileen
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adrian65
Cave Dweller
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,777
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Post by adrian65 on Feb 1, 2008 0:12:35 GMT -5
Eileen, I'm glad you found my advices useful. From what you tell, you tumbled some stones having areas with different hardness. Those are very difficult to polish, try starting with some agates or jaspers. They have constant hardness and take a good polish. Also keep in mind to make a good asortment of rock sizes, from very small to larger. The small ones help a lot in polishing the bigger ones.
Adrian
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Roan
has rocks in the head
Member since January 2008
Posts: 600
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Post by Roan on Feb 1, 2008 6:39:56 GMT -5
Eileen, I'm glad you found my advices useful. From what you tell, you tumbled some stones having areas with different hardness. Those are very difficult to polish, try starting with some agates or jaspers. They have constant hardness and take a good polish. Also keep in mind to make a good asortment of rock sizes, from very small to larger. The small ones help a lot in polishing the bigger ones. Adrian Okay, so it wasn't just me The auction said that the serpentine was "excellent for cabbing" -- wish I had the means to do so 'cause it really is a gorgeous rock. 's'all good, though, even when they don't come out very well, it's still pretty cool. I do have a nice hunk of what I am 99% sure is zebra jasper that I snagged from my LPS (local pet shop). Most of it I've already used for trees. I might try to tumble the rest. They also have hunks of rose and peach quartz and white mica -- all labeled as just "quartz". Also a great source of pet wood, but the stuff has a lot of metals in it, so not so good for tumbling. Amazing what you can find in a pet shop! Tumbling different sizes: I did something right Again, thanks for the advice, Eileen
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Post by Titania on Feb 1, 2008 8:38:15 GMT -5
Currently my studio is part of my fish room and I have to be very careful that nothing flies around and hits my fish tanks. Roan Fish room? Tell me more!!! I'm also a "fish person". Currently, I've got 13 tanks up and running, I've got several more that are empty at the moment.
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Roan
has rocks in the head
Member since January 2008
Posts: 600
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Post by Roan on Feb 1, 2008 11:46:31 GMT -5
Fish room? Tell me more!!! I'm also a "fish person". Currently, I've got 13 tanks up and running, I've got several more that are empty at the moment. Ah, fellow fishie person ;D I had 14 running up to about 3 months ago. Sold off most of my rainbowfish schools so I could scale down a lot. I only kept the family favorite, rare bows and my Goo obo gudgeons. So, currently I have 8 tanks running, including my 6 year old son's 65g Amazon tank. I have a 75g of Melanotaenia boesemani, 75g Glossolepis wanamensis, 75g Melanotaenia kamaka juvies, 45g Melanotaenia affinis, Pawgi, Goo obo falls and two 30gs that are over-full with kamaka juvies. My son's 65g tank, which is in his bedroom, has 7 silver dollars of various specie, rasboras and rummy nose. He needs a *much* bigger tank as three of the dollars are over 6" x 6" in size. Hubby has a 92g corner reef tank in his basement office. Rock, corals, two onyx clowns, rose anemone, firefish, fairy wrasse, four chromis and various hermits, snails and other critters. What type of fish do you have? Eileen PS Oh, and I also have a bucket of other animals: Lipizzaner horse, 3 rough-coated collies, 1 American Bobtail cat, 3 ball pythons, 1 Kenyan sand boa, pet rats, food rats (for snakes). I'm sure I'm missing something . . .
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Post by Titania on Feb 1, 2008 12:04:16 GMT -5
You know, out of all the fish I've kept for years, I've NEVER kept rainbowfish. Don't know why... Let's see... In my living room, I've got: -90 Gal tank housing my almost 15 year-old school of 6 silver dollars. 3 green severums, 2 uarus and some pelvichachromis pulchers (kribensis). The tank is crowded, but all the fish have been in there for years, so I think everyone is quite used to it. There is suprisingly little fighting between the severums (like...none) or uarus. -90 gal tank for my fancy goldfish. Right now, I've got 6 ryukins and one lionhead. -75 gal tank with African cichlids. I've got German red peacocks and a HUGE colony of pseudotropheus saulosi. -30 gal with julidichromis transcriptus...another African cichlid -55 gal with a huge colony of the adorable little shell-dweller neolamprologus similis and a few cyprichromis leptosoma kitumbas. -10 gal with another adorable shellie...Neolamprologus occelatus. My computer room has 3 tanks -60 gal planted tank with 6 adult Koi angels. These are outstanding and my breeders. That tank also has a breeding group of bristlenose plecos and a big colony of corydora sterbai. There's also some tetras in there...brass tetras, ember tetras and cardinals. - 20 gal planted tank for endlers livebearers -30 gal planted tank with another super prolific bristlenose pleco colony. There's more fish in this tank than I can count...a TON of baby plecos that I need to pull out one of these days. There's also some peacock gudgeons and serpae tetras iin that tank. Downstairs: I've got a breeding setup for bettas. I've mostly gotten out of bettas, but I've got a couple tanks of juvies growing out. -33 gallon tank with a breeding group of jewel cichlids -33 gallon tank with another breeding group of albino bristlenose plecos. I think that's it for now...I've got a bunch of tanks not running right now. I'm thinking I might cut back. Burnout is setting in a bit.
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huffstuff
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since August 2007
Posts: 1,222
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Post by huffstuff on Feb 2, 2008 17:04:36 GMT -5
Egads! This fish stuff has a language of its own!
Eileen, I thought I read somewhere that zebra stone requires a special technique for tumbling.... I could be wrong. Can anyone else comment on zebra stone? Bikerrandy has some, I know, and he also gets great rock at pet stores!
Aaahhh, found it, it was Zebra Marble in the "Rough and Decorative Rock" at the Rock Shed.
My last batch was mixed agates and jaspers and pet wood, all sizes of pieces (did someone mention that you need lots of small with your batch?) and I had it in 60/90 for 8 weeks, pulling some when they were ready and adding more.
It's only the AO from Lortone that people are unhappy with. The AO from the Rock Shed is great, and there are different opinions on which is better, AO or CO.
I had some quartz in my first batch and it ended up looking kinda chippy. That's when I switched to agates and jaspers.
Anyone mention adding plastic pellets or ceramic media from the second stage on? Changing out pellets as you change out grits... it helps cushion the stones.
Gotta run, but welcome!
Amy
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Post by Bikerrandy on Feb 2, 2008 22:50:30 GMT -5
Ahhh yes, zebra stone. lol.....I did if fact get some zebra stone from the local petstore, but I don't buy that stuff anymore. It was too soft for my likings. Now "Green Zebra Agate" is a different story. Ebay has a bit of it up for auction. Beautiful stuff! BTW- You have snakes? I love snakes! The most I had at one time was 28. Now I'm down to just one, a Ball Python named Elvis. Also have a bearded dragon named "Fonzie". They both belong to my daughter "Harlie", she's 6.
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Roan
has rocks in the head
Member since January 2008
Posts: 600
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Post by Roan on Feb 19, 2008 1:10:12 GMT -5
My apologies! I totally lost this thread -- didn't mean to be rude!
Eileen
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Roan
has rocks in the head
Member since January 2008
Posts: 600
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Post by Roan on Feb 19, 2008 1:14:43 GMT -5
Egads! This fish stuff has a language of its own! Yes, it does and it gets pretty technical at times, too I owe Titania a huge reply and I have some questions for her -- tomorrow, though. Ah, yah, that looks like my zebra. Hrm, I didn't think it was all that soft. Took quite a few blows with a sledge to break it and it didn't crumble or anything. I'll do a nail test in the morning and maybe post some pictures. 8 WEEKS? Omg, that is a LONG time! Yes, I know about small and pellets and changing them out with the grit. Nod, nod. Shawn emailed me that they package their own AO with the Lortone kit, so I lucked out. Thanks, Amy! Eileen
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Roan
has rocks in the head
Member since January 2008
Posts: 600
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Post by Roan on Feb 19, 2008 1:21:49 GMT -5
Ahhh yes, zebra stone. lol.....I did if fact get some zebra stone from the local petstore, but I don't buy that stuff anymore. It was too soft for my likings. Now "Green Zebra Agate" is a different story. Ebay has a bit of it up for auction. Beautiful stuff! I'm going to test this zebra in the morning and see how soft it is. If it's that soft, I might try carving some. We have three balls: Monty (the awesome one!), Susan (the meanie), and Ricky (the het pie), and we have a Kenyan sand boa named Dianna. All the snakes were mine, 'cause hubby didn't like snakes. Then one day he picked up Ricky, fell in love and confiscated all my snakes ;D We had two bearded dragons. Unfortunately we didn't know better at the time and put them both in the same 65g tank. My husband's, Kyra, was much bigger than Cyra, my 11 year old daughter's, and she killed her. Even worse: both Deirdre and I witnessed the killing and we just couldn't deal with having Kyra in the house anymore, so we gave her away. Your daughter's beardie is gorgeous! Eileen
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Roan
has rocks in the head
Member since January 2008
Posts: 600
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Post by Roan on Feb 21, 2008 6:57:49 GMT -5
You know, out of all the fish I've kept for years, I've NEVER kept rainbowfish. Don't know why... Once you go bows, you never go back ;D Ooo, yer a Cichlidophile! And, of course, you've got shellies. They're about the only cichlid I've wanted to keep and never got a chance. I'm cichlid challenged -- are the severums and kribs SA or African? I'd assume SA? I can't see dollars being very happy in African water. How do the dollars act around the cichlids? Are the dollars your dithers? How big are they? My son's (he's six) silver dollar 65g is way too crowded and I want to get him a bigger tank. I was thinking the 90g because of the height. He has seven dollars, three of which are the large, non-sptted type, a school of rummys and a school of rasboras. Goldies! My son would love a tank of goldies [..... some stuff snipped cause I dunno cichlids........] Boy, I know THAT feeling! I just sold most of my more common bow schools and only kept the family favorite (Melanotaenia boesemani) and three rares: true Glossolepis wanamensis, Melanotaenia kamaka and seven Melanotaenia affinis (Pagwi, Goo obo Falls) juvies that hatched out in the tank I had their F1 parents in. I sold the parents and sent the last mop to CA, but these fry appeared a week later. Gotta be a hint to keep them Three of the tanks also house colonies of Goo obo gudgeons. I love those guys! I tried peacocks (very pretty!), but they ripped each other to shreds within a month. Hrm, one 75g tank has a school of 7 bronze cories that I might breed and a truant clown loach. I had a school of nine large loaches -- most over 5" -- and when I sold them this guy stuck himself in a piece of driftwood and would NOT be dislodged. So he's all by himself now. Eileen
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