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Post by tntmom on Aug 3, 2009 15:26:31 GMT -5
I'm new here and will warn you now that I am not a great photographer! My kids and I have been collecting beach rocks this summer in the San Juan islands in Washington. We started out doing a couple of small batches in a toy rotary tumbler with mixed rock from the Rock Shed. I became addicted! I upgraded the tumbler to a RT-5 and this is my first vibe batch of the various rocks we found. If any of you recognize some of these rocks please let me know what they are! (I tried to remove all of the Rock Shed rocks from the batch but there still might be a couple in here that were not from the beach) These first few pictures are of the ones that came out shiny...   (The red jasper and the purple one are not from the beach)  (The light colored triangular one is also not from the beach)     These next pictures are the ones that I could not get to polish. I put them back into the small rotary tumbler and ran 1000 grit for a week and then back into polish. I took them out this morning and rinsed them so that I could post them. The ones that wont polish are the green ones, the dark reddish ones and the spotted ones...  The next three pictures are taken wet so that you can see how pretty they would be if I can somehow get them polished.    Thanks for looking! Krystee |
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Post by MyNewHobby on Aug 3, 2009 17:09:41 GMT -5
That batch looks great!!!
Nice Job!
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Post by tkrueger3 on Aug 3, 2009 17:20:04 GMT -5
I'm pretty new at this, too, but have learned a little bit. I'll take a stab at id'ing a couple of them (and probably show my ignorance in the process! :blush: ).
In the 3rd picture, the purplish one appears to be some form of amethyst, probably lace amethyst. The very white one is maybe a white quartz.
In the 6th picture, the little triangular pinkish one, if it's really pink, may be rhodonite, but is probably more likely to be some kind of quartz.
In the last few pictures, it looks like there are a couple of pieces of pure black obsidian.
BUT - I know very little of how to identify these rocks - if I buy a certain kind, then I can pretty much give that one kind a name, but beyond that, I'm swimming upstream.
Pretty nice shine on those, by the way.
Tom
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Good Vibrations
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Overanalysis leads to Paralysis
Member since May 2009
Posts: 91
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Post by Good Vibrations on Aug 6, 2009 12:07:19 GMT -5
It is addicting, isn't it? Well, it's easy to see why with a batch like yours! Great variety and nice shine!
It seems like a lot of us are trying to identify our beach rocks. There is a section on the Rock Tumbling Hobby forum called "Rock Identification Library" where I have been meaning to post a few of my beach rocks to see what kind of response I receive.
Thanks for posting your photos. It's always fun to see what's being found on other beaches around the world!
~Erica
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Post by frane on Aug 6, 2009 15:53:51 GMT -5
I think you should be proud of that batch! Really looks nice!
The one good thing about beach rock is that it has already tumbled away a lot of the softer material and tends to hold together pretty well. Looks like you have a lot of quartzite, quartz and a couple of flint nodules. Looks like a few agates as well as some softer jaspers (not counting your red and the amethyst). The ones that didn't take a shine look like they are in the sandstone family. Some jaspers are a bit soft as well. There area also some rhyolites there and conglomerates. I would recommend that you set the softies aside and when you have a full load of them, add them into the prepolish and polish stages. maybe you will get a bit of shine but it is sure tough with the soft ones.
The best thing you can do is just have fun!
Fran
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Post by tntmom on Aug 6, 2009 17:35:34 GMT -5
Great info - THANKS! I just ordered the Gem Trails of WA book that was referred to me in the introduction forum. I guess it will give me some insight into what kinds of rocks are found in my area.
Fran, which rocks looked like agates to you? I know what lace agates look like because some came with my online purchase but I don't really know what other agates look like. I will search online about the ones you listed and see what I can learn about them! And yes...this is a really fun adventure!
Krystee
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rockinpackgoat
having dreams about rocks
One of our hiking buddies
Member since July 2009
Posts: 59
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Post by rockinpackgoat on Aug 8, 2009 10:24:32 GMT -5
Those are awesome! I hope my river rocks turn out half as shiny! Do you have a "before" photo? (I never really know exactly what to pick up...)
Carrie
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Post by tntmom on Aug 8, 2009 13:42:40 GMT -5
Carrie, Unfortunately I do not have a before picture. I don't know anything about collecting rocks (yet  . What we did while we were beach combing was to dip the rocks in water (or search through the wet ones) and when we found one that had pretty colors or patterns, we put it in a zip lock baggie to tumble. We went out at low tide on a cloudy day so most of the rocks were still wet. Next time I'll take a before picture! Krystee |
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NDK
Cave Dweller 
Member since January 2009
Posts: 9,440
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Post by NDK on Aug 8, 2009 21:38:59 GMT -5
You did a fantastic job on these rocks. Especially for such a mixed batch. I think your "not so shiny" rocks look good too. Some rocks just won't polish to a high luster. IMO that doesn't mean they're not pretty, it just means they're just not polished to a mirror shine.
Nate
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karock
has rocks in the head
Member since November 2007
Posts: 667
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Post by karock on Aug 10, 2009 1:58:45 GMT -5
This is a very pretty batch indeed!. One time I just couldn't get a batch of Tiger Eye to shine up. I finally realized I was because the stuff I was runing it with was some hard Chalcedony that kept the Tiger Eye Dull. When I ran the Tiger Eye by itself and with some plastic and ceramic media I got much better resullts.
Try seperating out the dull ones and use alot of media and a variety of sizes of rocks so the the movement is conistant (not "bangin" into each other, but rather sliding from the Vibe)
Karock
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Post by Noosh9057 on Aug 17, 2009 11:10:43 GMT -5
Great looking first batch. Great job.
Roger
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Post by Jack ( Yorkshire) on Aug 19, 2009 0:22:27 GMT -5
Great batch and a excelent shine as well
I still get some that wont shine its just in their make up !!
Thanks again for showing
Jack
yorkshire uk
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. What we did while we were beach combing was to dip the rocks in water (or search through the wet ones) and when we found one that had pretty colors or patterns, we put it in a zip lock baggie to tumble. We went out at low tide on a cloudy day so most of the rocks were still wet. Next time I'll take a before picture!
