curlyjulie
off to a rocking start
Rocks and Teaching are similar in that they both take patience and time.
Member since October 2009
Posts: 7
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Post by curlyjulie on Oct 4, 2009 18:57:46 GMT -5
:help: I have been tumbling stones since August of this year (new hobby thanks to a trip to NC). I am able to shape the stones with a rotary tool and am trying for a polish. The shine is what is eluding me. I first followed the instructions that came with the Loritone. I have gone to a lapidary show recently and only one person would talk to me, he suggested that I was using too much water. The instructions recommended water up to the top layer of stone. What am I doing wrong? Too much water or too little water?
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bobh
having dreams about rocks
Member since September 2009
Posts: 55
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Post by bobh on Oct 4, 2009 19:01:57 GMT -5
What stones are you tumbling and what polish are you using?
Bob
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curlyjulie
off to a rocking start
Rocks and Teaching are similar in that they both take patience and time.
Member since October 2009
Posts: 7
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Post by curlyjulie on Oct 4, 2009 19:07:50 GMT -5
I tumbled beryl first (rough sapphire and some pale pink ruby). They are heavily included. Then I had a bunch of emeralds (stopped by Emerald Mines in NC). My next batch is a mix of aquamarine, amethyst, topaz, and quartz. I am trying to keep the rocks catagorized according to hardness (learned my Mohs scale). The grit/polish came in a kit from Dad's Rock shop. I think the polish is a tin or aluminum oxide (not sure, just says stage 4 on the container). I am a newbie and am still learning.
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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 Oct 4, 2009 19:44:21 GMT -5
Julie, Boy I hate to depress you but man those are tough mixes to tumble. Very hard to do the aquamarine and topaz with quartz/amethyst as they are much harder and will chew up the quartz Same for emerald, sapphire and ruby which are all very hard. These harder materials are only marginally softer than your grit so it takes a long time to shape them up to nice smooth forms, Tin oxide might be the best polish for the harder stones but I'd keep similar hardness stones together for best results. Do the quartz gems separately. Got to say I've a mixed batch of the harder gem stones, garnet, ruby etc set aside right now as I too grew frustrated with lack of progress. best to save those hard gems for when you have more experience and try straight quartz gem batches ie Quartz, agate, jasper etc for best results. Your water level sounds right but it will take many recharges of coarse grit to shape up your emeralds, rubys etc. Can take 6-8 weeks in rough with weekly recharges just to shape the softer quartz gems......Mel
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Post by Jack ( Yorkshire) on Oct 5, 2009 4:21:29 GMT -5
Hi Julie, I Would do a run with agates ,Quartz and Jaspers as Mel above says it will give you a good experiance starting with SC 80Grit also check out this www.rocktumblinghobby.com/cycle/cycle.htmlIts a good recepie and stick to it! and be clinicaly clean, add a 24 to 48 Burnishing stage (Borax & Ivory +1/2 full water) before the polishing stage and you should have winners Jack Yorkshire uk |
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,113
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Post by stefan on Oct 7, 2009 10:20:56 GMT -5
Don't Fret Julie- you are making a go at the most difficult stones first. Time to stop and re-group. Put the sapphire, beryls, topaz, rubies, and Emeralds away for now. Your Aquamarine may work ok with the Amethyst and Quartz. THose are the ones you want to work on first. THe key to a great polish is making sure the rough stage is done right. I know the directions in a lot of books say 2 weeks in rough- but 4 to 6 weeks is usually the miniumum (often even longer) but this is THE most important step!!! The other stages only take a week or 2 each but rough grind takes time. Make sure you SCRUB!!!!!! everthing between steps (rocks, barrels, lids)and be BRUTALLY honest on moving rocks from one stage to the next- if the stone is NOT shaped well with all rough areas smoothed out- it is NOT ready to move out of course. With a single barrel tumbler it can often take MONTHS to get enough rocks together to move on from the course stage.
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curlyjulie
off to a rocking start
Rocks and Teaching are similar in that they both take patience and time.
Member since October 2009
Posts: 7
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Post by curlyjulie on Oct 9, 2009 18:25:58 GMT -5
Thanks everyone for your input. Wow, when I jump into something do I ever jump into the deep end! Back to resorting the rocks! I will post pics when the job is done.
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