junk
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2008
Posts: 9 
|
Post by junk on Oct 26, 2008 14:40:25 GMT -5
Total newb here on first batch. I got through my third phase and am almost ready for polish. Everything I'm reading says to burnish by putting some ivory snow in for a few days before and after the final polish step. I can't find any local to me.
Is this correct?
What else could I use that may be easier to find?
|
|
huffstuff
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since August 2007
Posts: 1,222
|
Post by huffstuff on Oct 26, 2008 17:12:51 GMT -5
Use some 20 Mule Team Borax, a laundry detergent booster that is sold in a box. It should be near other boosters like oxiclean, I guess.
Some people use a cheese grater on a bar of ivory, but I don't care for the smell.
Good luck! If you are using plastic pellets for cushioning during tumbling, don't forget to include them while burnishing. For me they seem even more important then, because I don't have the slurry to cushion the rocks.
If I am burnishing after step 3, I keep my step 3 pellets in the burnish. Then I still rinse the rocks really well before I put them into polish with my polish-stage pellets.
Amy
|
|
chassroc
Cave Dweller 
Rocks are abundant when you have rocktumblinghobby pals
Member since January 2005
Posts: 3,586
|
Post by chassroc on Oct 27, 2008 12:28:59 GMT -5
I imagine you could use some liquid handwashing soap...i don't think that burnishing before polish is right, I burnish after I polish
csroc
|
|
tombodc
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since August 2008
Posts: 88
|
Post by tombodc on Oct 27, 2008 17:17:33 GMT -5
I use the 20 mule team soap to clean the stones from the medium grit stage and the pre-polish stage with their plastic pellets but only for 24 hours. I then rinse them off and seperate the plastic pellets and save them for the next batch going through the same level of grit. Then I use new plastic pellets for the polish stage. Then after polish I "burnish" but again, only for 24 hours... I don't have all the experience that others have here but from what I have read that is what I understand works. My last batch was a little less than shiney and the burnish made a big difference (I tried the teaspoon of sugar thing)...
|
|
