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Post by johnjsgems on Feb 17, 2008 23:39:25 GMT -5
There seems to be more confusion about Al. Oxide than any other polish because as Tony said it comes in a variety of grit sizes (usually expressed in microns). I hear a lot of people that buy al. ox. cheap later to be dissappointed with the results. Good al. ox. (under .5 mic. or 50000grit) works really well on a broader range of materials than cerium. Linde A is .3 mic. and Poly-Al-F is .2 mic. or in the 100000 grit range. Some brands say just "submicron" and a lot are in the 6-10 mic. range. There is a huge difference between above 1 and below .5. Rockshed should be able to give you the micron rating of their polish. Most suppliers use Pro-Polish (.5 mic.) but buy in bulk and package under their own label. If what you bought is .5 and works well you'll know what to buy next time. If you run into something really difficult you can buy small amounts of something really fine.
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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 18, 2008 2:33:48 GMT -5
I've emailed Shawn at the Rock Shed about the AO.
Eileen
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rallyrocks
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2005
Posts: 1,507
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Post by rallyrocks on Feb 19, 2008 19:20:59 GMT -5
Eileen,
I would go so far as to suggest that the Lortone "polish" is probably best used as a pre-polish (because I've never seen it polish anything....ever.) -but usually stuff that has run through the Lortone "polish" and still looks dull will shine up very nicely in a good high quality polish, be it AlOx from the rock shed, (which I use and get great results from) or good Cerium Oxide , Tin oxide or whatever.
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Post by bobby1 on Feb 19, 2008 19:52:45 GMT -5
This may be a dumb (like me) question but wouldn't a coarse grade polish break down into a finer grade just the same as the grit does? If not, why not? The impinging action of the rocks on each other and the grinding or polish media is the same whether grinding or polishing, right? Maybe there is something that I am missing here.
Bob
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rallyrocks
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2005
Posts: 1,507
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Post by rallyrocks on Feb 19, 2008 20:02:42 GMT -5
I have been told that some have gotten the Lortone polish to work, but that it takes "three to four weeks"
So I guess it probably does break down a bit eventually, but why wait around when good aluminum oxide polish is a few clicks of the mouse away....
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scottyh
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2007
Posts: 181
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Post by scottyh on Feb 19, 2008 21:34:18 GMT -5
Hi All, I have been sitting reading the board for a while now and I will stick my toe in the water and get ready for it to be bitten off. I Tumble a lot of agate and petrified wood. I see a lot of people on this group getting real complicated when they don’t need to be. However, before I go on I do admit that each run is slightly different and largely dependant on the material being tumbled. Therefore………. My advice is if you are tumbling agate I wouldn't bother with a pre-polish after a 500 or 600 grit stage (and here is where I wince a little). If the job has been done correctly at 500 grit stage (and all previous stages) then all you should need to do to get a really good polish (and I mean a sunglasses needed type shine) is wash the tumbled material (agate in my case) put it back into a clean Barrel (and I mean clean) run for 12-24 hours with borax then 3-4 days in Tin oxide polish. I polish agate two ways. The first is in a 50 pound barrel with 36 grit (a big cupful for every 10 pounds) for a week. Look at if every 1-2 days for the first week and see how it goes. Once the load has reached the desired state then tip ou about half the slurry and recharge with 36 grit and run until the grit completely broken down and a sample stone has that nice frosted matt finish. This can take up to 4 weeks. I then wash the load up, check the agate take out any stones that are not up to scratch and go straight to the polish stage in a 30 pound barrel that is dedicated for this operation only. In my smaller barrels (15 pounders) run a fairly standard 36 grit until ready to move on, 220 grit for 7 days then 7 days 600 grit and 4 days polish (very rarely do I let the polish go for seven days). Good washes between grit stages are an absolute. My advice is get good grit, cleanliness is an absolute (there can be no short cuts), keep things as simple as possible and have a lot patience in the initial rough grind. If it take 10 repeats to get a stone perfect for the next stage then let it go. personally Have never used pellets very rarely will I thicken the load (remember only talking agate here) and if I do I use clean white paper. And I get very good results… remember sun glasses needed type shine  Well I said my piece…. Hopefully I haven’t offended any one…  Cheers Scott |
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Post by catmandewe on Feb 19, 2008 23:02:08 GMT -5
Hey Scotty,
No offense taken here, but I want to see pics of your big 50 pounder!!
I also have never used pellets, if I need filler I use more rocks.
But I am a relative newbie at this.
Tony
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Post by johnjsgems on Feb 20, 2008 10:21:03 GMT -5
Scott, tumbling is not rocket science. Everyone I know that tumbles has their own method or variation at least. I tumbled my first few batches with no problem until I read about using ceramic media or plastic pellets. The next batch (pidgeon blood agate) chipped something awful. I've used media filler ever since except large batches of agates. Then I use them for polish only. It seem to me cermic pellets (acting like small rocks in the mix) would have to speed up the process.
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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 20, 2008 13:57:49 GMT -5
In Regards to the Lortone Kit/Rock Shed AO Polish, Shawn writes:
"Hi, Thanks for the note. The Kit that comes with OUR Lortone Kits is actually OUR kit so the Polish is one and the same. If you bought an Actual Lortone Kit from Lortone, I am not sure what size his material is. Ours is 2 Micron and finer. It works great, it's what we use here when we tumble. "
I've emailed Shawn that I've quoted him, just to be kosher.
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 20, 2008 15:46:27 GMT -5
Another note from Shawn: "Hi, Thanks for the note. Now that I know that I've been "published"  ) I decided to dig out my paperwork. We've been selling this same AO for years and apparently my memory slipped a bit. I was just reading the spec sheet and the AO we sell is 1 Micron & finer. I might also note that there is also a "cut" factor to aluminum Oxides which also plays into how well it polishes or for what uses it would be good for. I believe that is why AO as a whole has a fairly bad reputation as a polish because there are a lot of aluminum oxides out there that wouldn't work well for polishing rocks. Anyways, hopefully it will work well for you and that's all that matters."Eileen |
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George Amer
having dreams about rocks
Member since June 2005
Posts: 70
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Post by George Amer on Mar 1, 2008 17:28:38 GMT -5
Does AO "break down" in 12 hrs in a vibe, or can I benefit by running the original charge for 24Hrs...
George
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) I decided to dig out my paperwork. We've been selling this same AO for years and apparently my memory slipped a bit. I was just reading the spec sheet and the AO we sell is 1 Micron & finer. I might also note that there is also a "cut" factor to aluminum Oxides which also plays into how well it polishes or for what uses it would be good for. I believe that is why AO as a whole has a fairly bad reputation as a polish because there are a lot of aluminum oxides out there that wouldn't work well for polishing rocks. Anyways, hopefully it will work well for you and that's all that matters."
