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Post by tkrueger3 on Jul 24, 2009 11:06:55 GMT -5
So, after a 24-hour run in the vibe with beach rocks, lots of ceramic filler, a few preforms, and 120/220 grit, here's what it looks like. First, the lot (minus ceramics) - note, the beach rocks stack up about 4 inches in that bowl and weigh about 5 pounds.  The beach rocks  And the next 3 are what's left of the preforms    The green ones are amazonite, I think the light pink is rhodocrosite, the blue is sodalite, I think the darker pink are rhodonite, and I don't know what to call the others. The amazonite lost a bit, but the rhodocrosite lost a lot. Surprisingly, the sodalite didn't take much of a hit. Today the batch goes back in with 500 grit, minus the amazonite and rhodocrosite, and perhaps plus a few cabs that I have already ground to shape, that are of the harder stones. As always, thanks for looking, comments appreciated, advice carefully studied and usually followed. ;D Tom |
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Post by johnjsgems on Jul 24, 2009 14:22:37 GMT -5
Rhodocrosite is very soft as is sodalite. The rest should work fine together.
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Post by frane on Jul 24, 2009 14:26:41 GMT -5
Your beach rocks are looking good...They are probably between a 6.5 and 7 in hardness.
Your rhodocrosite is a 4-5 in hardness. The amazonite is a 6 on a good day and the sodalite is a 6.5 usually.
The porcelain jasper (purple cream pink mix) if it is anything like what I have is fairly soft. About a 5. The ame lace at the top is probably about a 6.5 or even softer in some areas.
Now, that being said, they will try to disappear with the harder rocks. Most of those need to be saved for a softer rock batch. Sometimes, I would say don't add in the preforms until you get to the 500 or better. The rough just takes too much off the softer stones. They are really pretty but I think the only ones here that can go on with the beach rocks are the dark green one and the sodalite.
GOOD LUCK!
Fran
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Post by tkrueger3 on Jul 24, 2009 15:58:37 GMT -5
Fran, I believe you that the porcelain jasper is soft, but I gotta tell you, those pieces really fought me when I was grinding them!  I knew the rhodocrosite, amazonite and sodalite were softer - I tossed them in just to experience what would happen to them. They are far from the only preforms I have of those 2 flavors of rocks! I was pretty surprised that nothing much happened to the sodalite piece, though. Tom |
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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 Jul 24, 2009 20:46:35 GMT -5
Wow! Those beach rocks are pretty big to have in with cabs even in a vibe. When I run cabs I try to have the cabs be the largest stuff in the vibe. I then use either ceramic ball and plastic bead filler or maybe baby 1/4" or so tumbled stones and plastic beads. I'd think otherwise, the cabs would get bashed around more than I'd want.....Mel
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Post by tkrueger3 on Jul 28, 2009 20:22:42 GMT -5
OK. I ended up leaving 4 cabs in the bunch, and they all shined up nice, but the nice shine also showed me a bunch of cracks and pits, which I'm trying to heal now. I'll finish those with the wheels. After 24 hours in 120/220, then 2 hours in borax, followed by 24 hours plus in 500 AO, then again borax, I gave it a full 36 hours with 1000 AO. Then this morning, cleaned it all up, gave it 2 hours with Borax, and cleaned up again. After drying, here's what I wound up with from this vibe batch. The whole batch, separated into 4 groups, clockwise from top right: (1) the shiny ones that are ok for my purposes - they'll be filling some clear glass jars; (2) the small group of what's left of the garnets and emeralds; (3) the ones that tried to get shiny but got beat up, and (4) the ones that stayed dull or matte.  The shinies  The shinies closer  The beat up ones  The dullies  And the garnet/emerald/junk pile  My thinking is that the shinies are all of some composition that comes to about a 7 or even 7.5 hardness, because many of the ones that got beat up are 7's - amethyst, a couple agates, etc. I want to tumble the beat ones by themselves, in the Lortone, and same with the dullies, which I assume are something around 6 or even 5, although they didn't really get smaller, they just didn't take a shine. Of course, I cannot identify more than just a few of these rocks, so I'm sorta fishing without bait here, but .... There you have it. Thanks for looking. Tom |
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I knew the rhodocrosite, amazonite and sodalite were softer - I tossed them in just to experience what would happen to them. They are far from the only preforms I have of those 2 flavors of rocks! I was pretty surprised that nothing much happened to the sodalite piece, though.
