Rogue Trader
freely admits to licking rocks
"Don't cry because you are leaving, smile because you were there."
Member since December 2008
Posts: 839
|
Post by Rogue Trader on Nov 2, 2008 22:41:26 GMT -5
This is a picture of my first attempt at Snowflake Obsidian.  Though the rocks are nicely rounded off, and there are no cracks or chips in any of them, I'm not happy with the shine. Any advice on improving the final shine would be appreciated. Final polish stage was 2 weeks in CO. |
|
SteveHolmes
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2009
Posts: 1,900
|
Post by SteveHolmes on Nov 2, 2008 23:06:35 GMT -5
They don't look too bad to me. Nicely Shaped! I tried some Apache Tears once and gave up on them. It's gotta be similar to Snowflake. There's soooo many recipes to tumbling obsidian...someone will help out. I have never successfully been able to tumble...so I'm no help. Don't give up...those are gonna shine up beautifully.
Steve
|
|
|
|
Post by Condor on Nov 2, 2008 23:08:49 GMT -5
What do you tumble with? I tend to go 60/90 on a Thumbler's Tumbler rotary then after that I use a mini-sonic vibrating tumbler. Approximately 3 days 120/220, three days 400F then 2 or three days CPP polish. Sometimes I'll go with tripoli for three days after the 400F.
Condor
|
|
RedwoodRocks
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since March 2003
Posts: 762
|
Post by RedwoodRocks on Nov 3, 2008 0:10:55 GMT -5
Nice tumbles. After seeing yours, I wish I had picked up a few more pieces from a recent rock sale. Not sure why I didn't pick up more (at 50 cents a pound), but I can tell you, after seeing yours, I am kicking myself!
|
|
|
|
Post by Bikerrandy on Nov 3, 2008 7:39:19 GMT -5
Those are cool!!  |
|
darrad
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2006
Posts: 1,636
|
Post by darrad on Nov 3, 2008 20:37:48 GMT -5
The shine looks pretty good from here. Did you try a burnish after the CO?
|
|
Wolfden
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2007
Posts: 1,368
|
Post by Wolfden on Nov 3, 2008 21:44:16 GMT -5
try some Tin Oxide I just did some Apache Tears and they came out great
|
|
rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
|
Post by rollingstone on Nov 11, 2008 3:43:47 GMT -5
Your photo makes them look pretty good, but sometimes it's hard to tell from pics, and if you aren't happy with them then that's what really matters. You've obviously got the shaping and not-chipping parts figured out just fine. I don't know how much cushioning (with plastic pellets or whatever) you use, but I'm guessing you add lots of cushioning? (which is why chipping is not an issue). If that's the case, maybe you just need to run it longer in the polish stage to make up for the fact that the cushioning is slowing down the action the barrel. Well, that's one thought. Here's a link to some snowflake obsidian I polished awhile back, and I was quite happy with the results. Might be some info in the thread that could help you? -Don forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/index.cgi?board=Pictures&action=display&thread=12375 |
|
chassroc
Cave Dweller 
Rocks are abundant when you have rocktumblinghobby pals
Member since January 2005
Posts: 3,586
|
Post by chassroc on Nov 11, 2008 8:42:23 GMT -5
They are very nicely shaped.
If the shine needs improvement...Did you prepolish?
I find that many difficult rocks respond to a week in prepolish (1000AO grit) before a week of polish
csroc
|
|
rockwizz
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since May 2007
Posts: 971
|
Post by rockwizz on Nov 11, 2008 19:08:52 GMT -5
thanks for sharing...I've never been able to successfully polish apache tears or obsidian...it seems that the shine is just not apparent when they come out of the fourth step. I've hear that you need to cushion these at all steps of the process...
Any old timers out there that can share some insights into polishing obsidian/apache tears?
Ozzy
|
|
