Tumbling Agate Problems

Greetings Tanya, wallpaper crystals = dry wallpaper powder (mix with water to form a paste), i too am
having grinding issues with my local Quartz, more like rotten Quartz (pits, craters & other imperfections
to the core) & the stones 1st used in "My first tumble" some of it has been grinding on
F80 (60 / 90) for up to the last 16 months & all i have to show is 635g (1.4lb) out of
10kg (22.04lb) so far that is shaped enough to move on to the next stage F220 (200 / 240),
but no more i will be cutting & grinding out imperfections on my club's diamond saws & grinders.

Scottish Minerals & Lapidary Club

My first tumble for a picture heavy first steps.
--
I hail from (The Barony of Seabegs) Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire, U.K, where aliens sometimes come
for a visit & about 4 miles west from this monstrosity!

Sticky's: their contents are resource information 1: Vendors worldwide, 2: FAQS: Tags & Smilies,
3: How to identify rocks & minerals, 4: Save money on expensive grits & polishes!

Greetings Ladies & Gents, my recipe is Sticky #4 & i use ceramic shapes instead of plastic pellets
as they don't float, if your water level is too high your rocks gets beat up with plastic pellets,
but not with ceramic shapes.

Also ceramic shapes can be moved on to the next stage with the rocks if & when they are done.

It takes more than 1 cycle of grit per stage to get good polished stones that you could
make into your own jewelery.

If you have good quality Quartz (Moh's 7.0) gravel you will probally reload your barrel
around 10 times with Fixed 80 (60 / 90) grit in order to get a reasonable rounded shape with
enough to fill a 1.36kg (3lb) or whatever size of barrel you have, after that stage a single cycle
of grit per stage can be done.

Wash the barrel & stones, then do a 4 hour burnish wash then check your stones when
dry for rejects (pits, sharp points, cracks that can be felt with a fingernail, thins that can be
broken in two by just using in your fingers & thumbs), those that fail are back in F80 (60 / 90) grit,
those that pass move on to the next stage, usually it is only a few stones per 1.36kg (3lb)
load after at least 3 cycles in F80 (60 / 90) grit.

You will either need an unused barrel for polish or wash the barrel to clinical standards
to stop cross over grit contamination after each stage.

If you use plastic pellets, do not re-use the same pellets for all stages as they can carry
grit from one stage to the next, you can re-use pellets, but put them in a container marked
with the stage or grit grade, you should also mark the barrels too.
--
I hail from (The Barony of Seabegs) Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire, U.K, where aliens sometimes come
for a visit & about 4 miles west from this monstrosity!

Sticky's: their contents are resource information 1: Vendors worldwide, 2: FAQS: Tags & Smilies,
3: How to identify rocks & minerals, 4: Save money on expensive grits & polishes!