shorty
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2003
Posts: 392
|
Post by shorty on Jan 18, 2004 12:11:10 GMT -5
hi every one.. is there a expert who has advise on how to tumble lava rock.. or just look at it and leave alone. thanks
|
|
WilliamC
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2003
Posts: 416
|
Post by WilliamC on Jan 18, 2004 16:12:37 GMT -5
Greetings All, Hello Shorty, I guess I should ask what exactly you mean by "lava rock". There are several rock types that are formed directly from molten rock at the earths surface, or lava. Some, such as pumice and tuffstone, I would think would break apart into sludge during tumbling. The only one I am aware that is commonly used for tumbling is obsidian, of which there are several varieties such as snowflake obsidian, mahagony obsidan, and the sheen obsidians (rainbow obsidian, silver sheen obsidian) in which microscopic inclusions of trapped gass break up impinging light into constituative wavelenghts. I am working on some rainbow, mahagony, and silver sheen obsidian now and hope to have some polished within the next month or so. As for other types of volcanic rock apparently some of the types of basalt are used for building and decorative purposes, but I'm not familiar with anyone tumble polishing them, I get the feeling that the vast majority of lapidaries just don't bother trying to work with rocks that are so common they aren't considered "semi-precious". But hey, that doesn't mean you can't try and see what happens WilliamC
|
|
shorty
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2003
Posts: 392
|
Post by shorty on Jan 18, 2004 20:02:27 GMT -5
hi williamc i have the lava that came from mt' st hellens my dauters live by there. and one summer we went site seaing and i got some lava off the side of the road.. just a chunk of gray lava. well i thot i would see if i could tumble that. ive ben tumbling everey thang else wy not that. it mite like you said mite just mush up. then i can use it for hand cleaner.ha ha ;D ;
thanks for input mike
|
|