Post by chromenut on Dec 28, 2009 12:59:54 GMT -5
Hi everyone! Been wandering around various forums looking for information on this hobby and this seems to be the place to be! So, joined up today and thought I'd do the intro thing.
My name is Robin, turned 48 on Halloween this year. Have two daughters, 12 and 8, and a son, 28. Decided that this was a very interesting hobby to go with my others and the family could participate, unlike my others. I fly RC airplanes, do computer geek stuff, photography, and am addicted to my PT Cruiser. Out of all my hobbies this newest one is the one that all of my family can join in on.
So, I researched this hobby diligently, like every computer geek would do, and searched for months for the best prices, and ended up with a Chicago dual 3-pound rotary tumbler and a 10 pound vibratory tumbler. The vib is only going to be for the harder rocks, and I've got to get a second tub for that as I'm using the current tube for metals. As to the rotary tumbler, well, haven't started using that yet as I wanted to read through these forums first and make sure I was doing the right thing before just diving in, and have some questions maybe you can help me with.
1. Qty - how full can you push your tumbler and get a good shine on the stones? I've got two 3 pound buckets on mine, how full is full?
2. Rock type - I see lots of names of stones in the photos section, how on earth do I tell one stone, in it's raw form, from another? Is there a good online reference? Are there books I should consider?
3. Gems - I have bagfuls of gems and want to know how to process them. Mainly emeralds from Brazil, Opals from Australia, Arizona Turquoise, and some Citrine. Do you follow the same process for these as for rocks? I know opals and turquoise are softer so may make cabs out of them instead. Emeralds, well on some I'm going to cut them and do a face polish with some simple facets, similar to what I want to do with all the quartz I have. I've got up to a 645 ct Emerald, that's definitely going to be cut and polished versus tumbling.
4. Geodes - I have bagfuls of golfball size geodes from my mother-in-laws farm in southern Indiana. Can these be tumbled? I'd like to turn the outside glassy then cut in half and do a face polish. Would make an interesting specimen.
Well, that's it for now, I have probably a hundred more questions but these get me off to a good start. I've already gathered polishing compounds in a rough, medium and fine grades, still need to get some polishing materials, and have about 5 pounds of plastic pellets for the opals/turquoise if I decide to tumble them. I think I'm just about ready to start...pending getting my questions answered.
Thanks for having me, looks to me like a great place!!!
OH, yes, I live now in North Carolina on Lake Norman, the largest man-made lake in the state, 33,000 acres and 521 miles of shoreline. Love it here, been here now 10 years. Am from Texas originally but traveled professionally before arriving here. Have a 28' Four Winns deck boat and enjoy the lake all summer. Anyone else from around this neck of the woods?
My name is Robin, turned 48 on Halloween this year. Have two daughters, 12 and 8, and a son, 28. Decided that this was a very interesting hobby to go with my others and the family could participate, unlike my others. I fly RC airplanes, do computer geek stuff, photography, and am addicted to my PT Cruiser. Out of all my hobbies this newest one is the one that all of my family can join in on.
So, I researched this hobby diligently, like every computer geek would do, and searched for months for the best prices, and ended up with a Chicago dual 3-pound rotary tumbler and a 10 pound vibratory tumbler. The vib is only going to be for the harder rocks, and I've got to get a second tub for that as I'm using the current tube for metals. As to the rotary tumbler, well, haven't started using that yet as I wanted to read through these forums first and make sure I was doing the right thing before just diving in, and have some questions maybe you can help me with.
1. Qty - how full can you push your tumbler and get a good shine on the stones? I've got two 3 pound buckets on mine, how full is full?
2. Rock type - I see lots of names of stones in the photos section, how on earth do I tell one stone, in it's raw form, from another? Is there a good online reference? Are there books I should consider?
3. Gems - I have bagfuls of gems and want to know how to process them. Mainly emeralds from Brazil, Opals from Australia, Arizona Turquoise, and some Citrine. Do you follow the same process for these as for rocks? I know opals and turquoise are softer so may make cabs out of them instead. Emeralds, well on some I'm going to cut them and do a face polish with some simple facets, similar to what I want to do with all the quartz I have. I've got up to a 645 ct Emerald, that's definitely going to be cut and polished versus tumbling.
4. Geodes - I have bagfuls of golfball size geodes from my mother-in-laws farm in southern Indiana. Can these be tumbled? I'd like to turn the outside glassy then cut in half and do a face polish. Would make an interesting specimen.
Well, that's it for now, I have probably a hundred more questions but these get me off to a good start. I've already gathered polishing compounds in a rough, medium and fine grades, still need to get some polishing materials, and have about 5 pounds of plastic pellets for the opals/turquoise if I decide to tumble them. I think I'm just about ready to start...pending getting my questions answered.
Thanks for having me, looks to me like a great place!!!
OH, yes, I live now in North Carolina on Lake Norman, the largest man-made lake in the state, 33,000 acres and 521 miles of shoreline. Love it here, been here now 10 years. Am from Texas originally but traveled professionally before arriving here. Have a 28' Four Winns deck boat and enjoy the lake all summer. Anyone else from around this neck of the woods?