Post by NatureNut on Aug 12, 2009 13:12:46 GMT -5
Slabbed a bunch of mixed moonstone last month and I've been tumbling the scraps and small stuff. I guess everybody is aware that feldspar can be a tricky tumble. The layered nature, quartz/garnet inclusions, and a hardness of Mohs 6-7 (with varying hardness within each stone) can result in blush, grit smuggling, and a crackled appearance.
Hadn't tumbled this stuff in months and from reading Fran, Julie and Tom's threads, I began to think more closely about what I could do to get a better result with feldspar. Keeping the vibe bowl full was one thing that helped, made for a gentler action. Using plastic pellets and ceramics after the 220 step was another. They would look okay until they hit the polish stage and burnish and then, yuck! So, played around and tried a few new things.
This tumble went through 4-6 days in 220, rinsing and recharging every two days, plucking the good ones and saving for the next step. Burnished in borax. Prepolish (500) for about 2 days with plastic pellets and ceramic, cherrypicked the good ones for the next step. Burnished in borax. 1000 grit for 1 day and then I tried something new and burnished in liquid dish soap. They came out cleaner, seemed to tumble more gently, and they didn't look as dry (like borax was too harsh). So, I got to thinking...
The dryness always seemed like they needed moisture and then I thought of using an emollient in the polish stage. Was afraid that it might interfere with the polish process, but I was willing to sacrifice some polish to see what would happen.
So in went my rocks, lots of plastic pellets and ceramics, some Rockshed AO polish and the end of a bar of Dove soap (about 2 TBLSP). Okay, the sudsy look had me laughing. But, the darn thing ran alot more quietly, and the rocks were going so gently, I felt encouraged. After one day, I pulled one and checked it. Not one nick or chip! And... I was getting some shine.
Sorry I didn't think to take before pics- or progress pics. Didn't know I was gonna stumble onto something. But, I did take some out each day in polish to show how the polish was progressing.
Here's the one I pulled after the first day in polish.
Day2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Pulled them on Day 5 due to stuff going on around here and because they looked pretty good.
Days 1 thru 3 for comparison
Days 3 thru 5 for comparison
All days
And here's the finished batch.
So, what do you all think? Do you think it helped?
Hadn't tumbled this stuff in months and from reading Fran, Julie and Tom's threads, I began to think more closely about what I could do to get a better result with feldspar. Keeping the vibe bowl full was one thing that helped, made for a gentler action. Using plastic pellets and ceramics after the 220 step was another. They would look okay until they hit the polish stage and burnish and then, yuck! So, played around and tried a few new things.
This tumble went through 4-6 days in 220, rinsing and recharging every two days, plucking the good ones and saving for the next step. Burnished in borax. Prepolish (500) for about 2 days with plastic pellets and ceramic, cherrypicked the good ones for the next step. Burnished in borax. 1000 grit for 1 day and then I tried something new and burnished in liquid dish soap. They came out cleaner, seemed to tumble more gently, and they didn't look as dry (like borax was too harsh). So, I got to thinking...
The dryness always seemed like they needed moisture and then I thought of using an emollient in the polish stage. Was afraid that it might interfere with the polish process, but I was willing to sacrifice some polish to see what would happen.
So in went my rocks, lots of plastic pellets and ceramics, some Rockshed AO polish and the end of a bar of Dove soap (about 2 TBLSP). Okay, the sudsy look had me laughing. But, the darn thing ran alot more quietly, and the rocks were going so gently, I felt encouraged. After one day, I pulled one and checked it. Not one nick or chip! And... I was getting some shine.
Sorry I didn't think to take before pics- or progress pics. Didn't know I was gonna stumble onto something. But, I did take some out each day in polish to show how the polish was progressing.
Here's the one I pulled after the first day in polish.
Day2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Pulled them on Day 5 due to stuff going on around here and because they looked pretty good.
Days 1 thru 3 for comparison
Days 3 thru 5 for comparison
All days
And here's the finished batch.
So, what do you all think? Do you think it helped?
