Post by zmd2008 on Aug 24, 2008 12:51:36 GMT -5
Here is some Thomsonite (Thompsonite) that I collected near Grand Marais, MN. Also, there is some green jade in there, it kind of all runs together when i'm picking it up.
The Thomsonite is difficult because it's very soft, I think 5-5.5 and some is even softer. Some of it is literally so brittle that it falls apart just by touching it, but many times I find whole nodules embedded in the basalt host, so I can easily pop those out and tumble them.
Being that they are so fragile, I've only be experimenting with tumbling in a Lortone 3a tumbler. I'll put them in the Pre-Polish for about 4 days - 1/4 of the tumbler is Thomsonite and 1/4 of the tumbler is plastic pellets. Then, I've tumbled one batch in the polish stage for a week and it turned out just fine. I've included some pics below and would welcome any other ideas to get these beauties looking even more beautiful.
First pic is the batch that I did pre-polish for 4 days 50% rocks and 50% pellets for softness. Then, I did polish for a week and they look pretty good.
Second pic is a close up of some from pic 1.
Third pic is a batch that has gone through the pre-polish for 4 days and that's all. See, the nodules and really all of it that I've found comes with a thin layer of gray, rock material over it, so the 4 days of pre-polish helps to get that thin layer rubbed off.
The Thomsonite is difficult because it's very soft, I think 5-5.5 and some is even softer. Some of it is literally so brittle that it falls apart just by touching it, but many times I find whole nodules embedded in the basalt host, so I can easily pop those out and tumble them.
Being that they are so fragile, I've only be experimenting with tumbling in a Lortone 3a tumbler. I'll put them in the Pre-Polish for about 4 days - 1/4 of the tumbler is Thomsonite and 1/4 of the tumbler is plastic pellets. Then, I've tumbled one batch in the polish stage for a week and it turned out just fine. I've included some pics below and would welcome any other ideas to get these beauties looking even more beautiful.
First pic is the batch that I did pre-polish for 4 days 50% rocks and 50% pellets for softness. Then, I did polish for a week and they look pretty good.
Second pic is a close up of some from pic 1.
Third pic is a batch that has gone through the pre-polish for 4 days and that's all. See, the nodules and really all of it that I've found comes with a thin layer of gray, rock material over it, so the 4 days of pre-polish helps to get that thin layer rubbed off.
