Post by shelldaly on Jan 22, 2009 12:40:03 GMT -5
I am tumbling Cape Cod beach stones with a vibratory tumbler, the Raytech Tumble vibe. I have had success doing this previously but my notes are not specific enough to know if I am doing it the same way this time. But I know it can work.
The stones are granite and other similar stones that seem to be about the same hardness. They are already nicely shaped so I just did the pre polish and polish stage. My goal is to remove the "chalky" look of the stones and to make them look wet but not highly polished
I "shook" them with 2 tsp. of 800 grit silicone carbide in a 3/4 full bowl of varied sizes of stones , the largest stones are about 1" oval or 2" flat/narrow or flat /round (there are a lot of flat stones). I used 4 tsp. of water per the mfgr. instructions. This stage seemed to go well. I removed some stones that seemed "clean" enough. I rinsed the other stones well and cleaned the bowl thoroughly. Then I augmented the pre polished stones with some existing stones that looked to be similar to the pre polished stones (untumbled, but seemingly pre polished quality) to keep the load the same weight/size.
Then I "shook" them with "Alumina G" Polish from Graves, which I think is an aluminum oxide,( it is a white powder.) I again used 2 tsp. polish and 4 tsp. water per the mfgr. instructions. I checked them every 8 hours, added water as needed and cleaned them completely after day one and after day two and repeated the process with the same amount of polish and water. (the successful batch from last year only took one day of polishing) I took them out today after day 3 and they look worse. They have gotten chalkier and haven't developed any sign of polish.
I have a couple of ideas of what may have gone wrong and I know this is a subjective process, but if anyone has some insight into this problem, I'd love to hear from you.
After some thought and research, here are some of the areas that may have caused a problem, although intuitively I feel like these are not the real answer and the mystery remains. I think the real key is patience.
Here are the possible problem areas:
1. ? I used the same bowl for both steps. (I thoroughly cleaned the bowl and to the eye it looks clean. I have never used course grits in the bowl.)
2. ? The stones were not cleaned enough between batches. ( I thoroughly rinsed the stones and then individually made sure there was no residue on them, but I did not scrub them with soap or a brush.) The stones seem to have the polish embedded in some of the pores, which happened last time, but I was mostly able to remove these with a short cycle with a bit of an ivory soap bar and some water.
3. ? There are some soft stones in the batch causing the problem that weren't present the first time I polished with success?
4.? Adding the additional untumbled stones to keep the bowl 3/4 full caused the problem or part of it.
5. ? I should have started one step earlier than the pre polish with 500 or 600 grit for a day or so?
Any thoughts??
Thanks so much! Shell
The stones are granite and other similar stones that seem to be about the same hardness. They are already nicely shaped so I just did the pre polish and polish stage. My goal is to remove the "chalky" look of the stones and to make them look wet but not highly polished
I "shook" them with 2 tsp. of 800 grit silicone carbide in a 3/4 full bowl of varied sizes of stones , the largest stones are about 1" oval or 2" flat/narrow or flat /round (there are a lot of flat stones). I used 4 tsp. of water per the mfgr. instructions. This stage seemed to go well. I removed some stones that seemed "clean" enough. I rinsed the other stones well and cleaned the bowl thoroughly. Then I augmented the pre polished stones with some existing stones that looked to be similar to the pre polished stones (untumbled, but seemingly pre polished quality) to keep the load the same weight/size.
Then I "shook" them with "Alumina G" Polish from Graves, which I think is an aluminum oxide,( it is a white powder.) I again used 2 tsp. polish and 4 tsp. water per the mfgr. instructions. I checked them every 8 hours, added water as needed and cleaned them completely after day one and after day two and repeated the process with the same amount of polish and water. (the successful batch from last year only took one day of polishing) I took them out today after day 3 and they look worse. They have gotten chalkier and haven't developed any sign of polish.
I have a couple of ideas of what may have gone wrong and I know this is a subjective process, but if anyone has some insight into this problem, I'd love to hear from you.
After some thought and research, here are some of the areas that may have caused a problem, although intuitively I feel like these are not the real answer and the mystery remains. I think the real key is patience.
Here are the possible problem areas:
1. ? I used the same bowl for both steps. (I thoroughly cleaned the bowl and to the eye it looks clean. I have never used course grits in the bowl.)
2. ? The stones were not cleaned enough between batches. ( I thoroughly rinsed the stones and then individually made sure there was no residue on them, but I did not scrub them with soap or a brush.) The stones seem to have the polish embedded in some of the pores, which happened last time, but I was mostly able to remove these with a short cycle with a bit of an ivory soap bar and some water.
3. ? There are some soft stones in the batch causing the problem that weren't present the first time I polished with success?
4.? Adding the additional untumbled stones to keep the bowl 3/4 full caused the problem or part of it.
5. ? I should have started one step earlier than the pre polish with 500 or 600 grit for a day or so?
Any thoughts??
Thanks so much! Shell
on each of your "possible problem areas":
