Post by ejs on Mar 13, 2009 15:55:34 GMT -5
I've been working on this rock since August. Once I upload the photos, it'll finally be done! There are some great rocks in here, but frankly, I am not sure it was worth the time and effort!
After seeing some posts of OJ tumbles (I think it was from Sparkles, but I am not sure), I was prompted to try some myself. I bought some rough:
pic1:
This stuff had lots of pits/crevices/bumps/etc., so it look a long time in coarse. Here are some snaps after four 5-day rounds in 60/90 coarse:
pic2:
pic3:
A lot of them had deep crevices or crystal pockets that would just never tumble out:
pic4:
I moved along what I could, and discarded some. Finally, after about 2 months, I had enough to run through medium (7 days in 120/200 SC):
pic5:
Here is how it looked after the medium tumble:
pic6:
At this point, I separated out the stuff that was pretty smooth from the stuff that looked like it would be serious trouble due to druzy pockets, etc. I ran through the batch of pretty good stuff through 10 days in 500 SC, 10 days in 1000 AO, then 2 weeks in cerium oxide polish. I rinsed in Borax between steps and at the end, and used lots of plastic pellets in the 500+ stages.
Here is how they came out:
pic7:
pic8:
Not bad, for the most part. The smooth parts did pick up a decent shine:
pic9:
There were a few really interesting ones in the batch. Here are some closeups of my favorites:
pic9b:
pic10:
This one is my favorite. I love the red plumes.
pic11:
These have a definite crazy lace look to them.
pic12:
pic13:
These show off that some of them did pick up a nice glassy shine.
pic14:
pic15:
Overall, I am pretty happy with how they turned out. But I was surprised at how difficult this rock was to work with. I have another small jar with pieces that seemed too druzy to mix in with the smoother stuff, so I'll probably run that at some point. I would guess that I probably ended up with about 1/3 of the initial rock in the final product (by weight), if that. Ah, well, live and learn, and I did get a few very nice ones in the end. As always, thanks for looking!
After seeing some posts of OJ tumbles (I think it was from Sparkles, but I am not sure), I was prompted to try some myself. I bought some rough:
pic1:
This stuff had lots of pits/crevices/bumps/etc., so it look a long time in coarse. Here are some snaps after four 5-day rounds in 60/90 coarse:
pic2:
pic3:
A lot of them had deep crevices or crystal pockets that would just never tumble out:
pic4:
I moved along what I could, and discarded some. Finally, after about 2 months, I had enough to run through medium (7 days in 120/200 SC):
pic5:
Here is how it looked after the medium tumble:
pic6:
At this point, I separated out the stuff that was pretty smooth from the stuff that looked like it would be serious trouble due to druzy pockets, etc. I ran through the batch of pretty good stuff through 10 days in 500 SC, 10 days in 1000 AO, then 2 weeks in cerium oxide polish. I rinsed in Borax between steps and at the end, and used lots of plastic pellets in the 500+ stages.
Here is how they came out:
pic7:
pic8:
Not bad, for the most part. The smooth parts did pick up a decent shine:
pic9:
There were a few really interesting ones in the batch. Here are some closeups of my favorites:
pic9b:
pic10:
This one is my favorite. I love the red plumes.
pic11:
These have a definite crazy lace look to them.
pic12:
pic13:
These show off that some of them did pick up a nice glassy shine.
pic14:
pic15:
Overall, I am pretty happy with how they turned out. But I was surprised at how difficult this rock was to work with. I have another small jar with pieces that seemed too druzy to mix in with the smoother stuff, so I'll probably run that at some point. I would guess that I probably ended up with about 1/3 of the initial rock in the final product (by weight), if that. Ah, well, live and learn, and I did get a few very nice ones in the end. As always, thanks for looking!
;D
