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Post by rockyraccoon on Jan 1, 2004 13:29:36 GMT -5
what size rock to most of you prefer to tumble?
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Post by hermatite on Jan 1, 2004 13:59:13 GMT -5
Well, I don't have a lot of experience yet, but I know that in my last batch I threw everything in...all the little splinters from every rock that I cracked with the hammer. And at the end of the polishing stage some of my favorite stones were the wee tiny ones...I think they'd look great around the base of a plant...hey...maybe even a bonsai tree. If I was braver I'd try drilling a couple of them for beads...but as it is now I just like playing with them. So, in answer to your question, I'm moving to smaller rocks with this next load.
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Noah
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2003
Posts: 102
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Post by Noah on Jan 2, 2004 0:14:33 GMT -5
My favorite is 1-2lb pieces. Specially when your making table ornaments. I cheat with this I cut it, grind it a bit, tumble it, grind it again and then tumble the rest of the way...seems to get through the process a lot quicker and cheaper I've been able to produce some of larger book ends type stuff in about 2 days...since mostly I use the tumble time for pre-polish...and polish...but then again it all depends on the stones....I have been experiment with using a high speed rag wheel to polish them, but for some reason I like the tumbled look.....
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James
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 876
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Post by James on Jan 2, 2004 21:34:57 GMT -5
Smaller, 1/2" to 1" rocks are the easiest to tumbler and produce the best results. Rocks approching the 2" to 2 1/2" range take longer and tend to chip the other rocks in the barrel.
I personally like to start off with larger rocks and grind them down into nice round shapes. I usually wait for around 40% to 50% of the origional rock to grind down before I move to the next grit.
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