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Post by parfive on Apr 7, 2009 15:36:02 GMT -5
Had a couple of posts with Steve/NorthShoreRocks (who’s doing that great looking load of Lakers) and mentioned I was gonna try going from 60/90 right to 1000 or polish. Didn’t have much lying around that was finished with 60/90, but I scrounged up enough – a few decent rocks and the rest saw trimmings – for about a 1/3 of a load. Added 5 plastic wine corks and a slew of pellets to fill the barrel, AO polish, and let it roll for two weeks. Voila – on a crummy overcast day.  Big one upper left is Flint Ridge flint, next to 4 or 5 pieces of Mel's Mojave jasper. Six big ones upper right are just some plain 'ol rocks from the yard. Rich |
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ejs
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2008
Posts: 478
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Post by ejs on Apr 7, 2009 15:47:16 GMT -5
Nice batch! I have no doubt that there are many paths to a nicely finished product - this one is obviously working for you! Great looking rocks.
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Post by parfive on Apr 7, 2009 16:53:41 GMT -5
Ejs - Not my usual routine: 60/90 . . . 500 . . . 1000AO . . . AO polish.
Next batch will be only three steps, for sure. Probably run 500 and skip the 1000.
Rich
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Saskrock
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2007
Posts: 1,852
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Post by Saskrock on Apr 7, 2009 17:27:19 GMT -5
I usually do 60/90 .. 600 .. polish. Those look pretty good though. Might be worth a try for us impatient types.
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tom
having dreams about rocks
Member since March 2009
Posts: 50
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Post by tom on Apr 7, 2009 19:14:28 GMT -5
A very nice batch. Skippng a couple of steps does work, just more run time.
Short story to tell: We started a set on pre-polish, lost track of the time, and just let them roll. Guessing about 350 hours. Took them out and they were polished, never touching the 1000 final polish stage. Sold half the batch at work....lol.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller 
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,497
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 7, 2009 20:24:41 GMT -5
Wow Rich, those came out fantastic. If I may ask, how long did you run the stones in 60/90? Was it a long run that would let the grit break way down or was it the standard week long run time?....Mel
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Post by parfive on Apr 7, 2009 22:34:25 GMT -5
Mel - No long runs in 60/90. This was just stuff plucked out during re-charges every 5 -7 days.
I stopped using pellets for typical agate/jasper/MOH 7 stuff. Needed a lot of filler here, though, and just hoped it wouldn't inhibit the polish.
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Post by frane on Apr 8, 2009 9:07:53 GMT -5
Looks great so it worked for you! You have some beautiful stones in this group!
Fran
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huffstuff
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since August 2007
Posts: 1,222
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Post by huffstuff on Apr 8, 2009 12:02:23 GMT -5
Wow. Those look great! Makes me wonder why I'm doing 2 weeks at 120/220 and 2 weeks at 500.... What size tumbler do you have?
Amy
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,497
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 8, 2009 12:05:55 GMT -5
Yep, I'm feeling kind of stupid too, especially since the club tripoli prepolish I've used really tends to gum up a load and sometimes doesn't work that well anyway. Now I'm thinking I can definitely skip that step since I do a two week run in 110/220 too.....Mel
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Post by parfive on Apr 8, 2009 14:34:44 GMT -5
Amy & Mel - Here's what I said to Steve/NorthShoreRocks.
When those rocks came out of their last 60/90 re-charge, that grit had already broken down to 500, and probably smaller. Why scratch ‘em up again with 120?
Besides, a week in 500 removes up to 5 - 8% of the rocks by weight. Certainly, that’s enough reduction to smooth out anything coming out of a coarse grind.
60/90 to 120/220 . . . no thanks.
Amy - All 3 lb barrels, Thumlers.
Model Ts - fast, 50 - 55 rpm - for coarse grind 60/90
Model AR-2 - slower, 32 rpm - for anything else
Rich
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chadman
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2008
Posts: 106
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Post by chadman on Apr 8, 2009 15:34:00 GMT -5
Whatever works is what serves each of us in our own way. My thoughts. At 50-55 RPM with large rock in the pot I would expect more possible breakage especially slabs. But my barrels are all 15lbs. So be careful there. I have rocks from 3"+ to pebble size in my mixes and don't worry about plastic pellets because the variety of sizes work to keep impacts low if properly loaded. I even keep a spaghetti strainer below my wash drain to catch the pea size stuff to help fill the pot.
Once past grind no more than a week at each stage is needed up to polish. I go 60/90, 120/220, 400, (600 if hard pet wood, green jasper etc.) 1000 (pre-polish) and Polish (10+ days). These are the prescribed methods that have worked well created by others before me. Why change just to take short cuts? Wiser men than me would have taken the shortcuts if they were appropriate and prudent a long time ago. YMMV. I would suspect 60/90 grit has probably been broken down much finer than 1000 after a week or so with maybe a few stragglers.
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10thumbs
spending too much on rocks
I want to be reincarnated as a dog.
Member since March 2009
Posts: 480
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Post by 10thumbs on Apr 10, 2009 14:32:28 GMT -5
I for one am astonished at your results. Being relatively new to the hobby I now feel that there is a vast conspiracy to trick lapidary hobbyists into wasting millions of dollars on useless or redundant polishing steps when really all that is needed is 60/90 and Cerium Oxide. We should be able to follow the money here and find the culprits. Who is getting rich of all that 220, 500, 1000 grit compound? I suspect either aliens, the knights templar, or Warren Buffet.
Parfive/Rich, you should go into hiding. They'll come for you first.
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Post by Roller on Mar 2, 2010 15:28:30 GMT -5
ting and makes sense ,, and I liked the 5 plastic wine corks , I have a new 12lber and sometimes i wonder what else i could use for filler when i need some ....
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chromenut
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2009
Posts: 1,971
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Post by chromenut on Mar 2, 2010 16:49:26 GMT -5
Great photo, makes them look like boulders against that backdrop.
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Post by Bikerrandy on Mar 3, 2010 14:19:55 GMT -5
That's a cool recipe, looks like it worked out great. Beautiful stuff!  |
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Post by Toad on Mar 3, 2010 15:48:48 GMT -5
Great results and pic. This has me thinking about my own recipies. Thanks for the post.
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snuffy
Cave Dweller
Member since May 2009
Posts: 4,319
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Post by snuffy on Mar 3, 2010 16:22:11 GMT -5
Thats basically what I do in my 12 lb tumbler,except I go with reused polish. When I first started tumbling again I would throw out the polish after the polish stage, then Iread an old post on here about reusing the polish. I've been reusing the same stuff for the last year and a half. Still working.
snuffy
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Post by montanamuskrat on Mar 3, 2010 17:42:01 GMT -5
Interesting - makes you think about what you throw away. Very nice batch.
Debby & Tom
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Post by llana2go on Mar 7, 2010 12:05:58 GMT -5
WOW! Those are amazing! Who'd have thunk it?
Definitely will be doing some experimenting myself! Sure would be nice to be able to eliminate a few steps - and would save a bunch of $.
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