churross
off to a rocking start
Member since March 2008
Posts: 15
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Post by churross on Jun 23, 2008 11:18:45 GMT -5
I just arrived home with a couple of knapsacks full of jade: serpentine, jadeite, and nephrite (although the last two I'm not certain how to tell apart). I'll be researching as I go, but I thought I'd start here, where lots of information remains outside of common wisdom elsewhere.
How best to manage the breaking up and tumbling of jade? I know it is unique in its hardness to strength ratio, but an not sure how that plays out in tumbling and polishing.
Any thoughts?
Thanks.
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textiger
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since May 2005
Posts: 946
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Post by textiger on Jun 23, 2008 12:26:17 GMT -5
By all accounts, tumbling jade is a difficult endeavor at best. If you do a search, you will find that a member named Alice got some decent results, but it's more suited for grinding and polishing.
And serpentine will get eaten up quickly. I have run some through the rough stages, but have not sent it on to the finer stages. I may run it with some obsidian and a lot of pellets. Not sure what to use to get a shine, if one can be had in a tumbler. I tried a barrel full of serpentine in my Lot-O-Tumbler, but it bogged down in the mud before a full 12 hours passed.
Good luck.
matt
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churross
off to a rocking start
Member since March 2008
Posts: 15
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Post by churross on Jun 23, 2008 21:42:34 GMT -5
Thanks for the start. Yes the serpentine is crumbly. I threw the smaller stones except serpentine into the tumbler and will proceed with Alice's steps to tumble. See what happens. The bigger stones I may just clean well and wait until I get the urge to move up the ladder into high end lapidary. They are pretty impressive as is.
thanks again
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rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
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Post by rollingstone on Jun 24, 2008 1:07:28 GMT -5
Harry got very impressive results on some Cornish Serpentine a few months ago. He couldn't bring the stones to a bright shine in a tumbler, so finished them with polish on a piece of denim. I was really impressed at his results. I don't think he posted on this forum, so here's the link to his original thread: -Don blarneystones.proboards84.com/index.cgi?board=tp&action=display&thread=506 |
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller 
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,494
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Post by Sabre52 on Jun 24, 2008 9:51:12 GMT -5
Man, jade/serpentine are tough ones. First off they're fibrous so almost impossible to break up for the tumbler period and they break up to almost wood like splinters rather than nice blocky hunks. Then, the materials are often of mixed hardness, so they undercut in the softer areas leaving more of a pebbly finish in the grind phases. I've seen a good polish on both materials but have not been able to accomplish it myself. The nice jade I've seen tumbled was very homogeneous in texture and that may have been what led to the nicer finish. Anyway, I gave up on my lots.....Mel
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churross
off to a rocking start
Member since March 2008
Posts: 15
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Post by churross on Jun 25, 2008 9:37:53 GMT -5
thanks for the useful threads: for the jade (not the serpentine), I'm probably going to try a slow and gradual step down. Maybe three weeks of 500 like Alice did, followed by a few weeks of 800 and a few of 1000 prior to polishing. In Lapidary books chrome oxide is the polish of choice, so I will look for that in a tumbler friendly form. If it looks like burnishing will help, then I'll add in last two steps. I also learned that California jade is not as valued as other places, particularly Burmese jade because it is less translucent. I can vouch for this in my samples.
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nansaidh
spending too much on rocks
Jewelry artist, graphic designer, dog lover, car nut (etc.)
Member since August 2008
Posts: 311
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Post by nansaidh on Aug 18, 2008 13:55:03 GMT -5
By all accounts, tumbling jade is a difficult endeavor at best. If you do a search, you will find that a member named Alice got some decent results, but it's more suited for grinding and polishing.... matt Matt - I've searched the forums for Alice's formula for tumbling jades but cannot find anything. If you happen to have a link to the post you're referencing or any further info, I'd really appreciate it.  Thanks, Nancy |
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churross
off to a rocking start
Member since March 2008
Posts: 15
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Post by churross on Aug 18, 2008 21:48:56 GMT -5
Nancy,
Here is the way Alice tumbles the stone of heavan:
I tumbled them with other rocks (agates and Jaspers), because your jade was flat. The agates and Jaspers were irregular shaped (like the usual tumbling rough). I'd say in coarse the mix was probably 1/2 Jade & 1/2 something else.
Here's a more understandable recipe for a 3 pound capacity rotary tumbler:
#1 Coarse grit until happy with the shape (I used 80 grit)
#2 120/220 for a week or 2 (peek in from time to time and be sure to add pellets if needed)
#3 Put rocks on the side until you have a full barrel, so that no pellets are needed for the next stage (be sure to add rocks which have gone through the 120/220 stage which aren't flat like your jade)
#3 600F for 3 weeks (longer wouldn't hurt) peek in from time to time, and add pellets if needed
#4 Burnish
#5 Tripoli & pellets for a week (longer wouldn't hurt)
#6 Burnish
#7 2 weeks in AO polish & pellets (I used "Used" AO polish)... longer then 2 weeks wouldn't hurt
Good luck to all who try jade for tumbling!
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