Jen
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2010
Posts: 3
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Post by Jen on Oct 15, 2010 13:57:04 GMT -5
Hi everyone
My daughter and I will open our first batch of agates out of polish in the next couple of days-all found this summer locally and up in northern MN. This is so much fun-we are both officially addicted! My question is this-I've read about "burnishing" in soap after the polish stage. Do we just rinse the stones off, then run them in the tumbler with soap (we bought Dreft powder) and water?
Any advise is greatly appreciated.
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Post by jakesrocks on Oct 15, 2010 14:49:31 GMT -5
Hi Jen, welcome aboard. Add a healthy bunch of plastic pellets to the burnish stage, to cushion the stones and prevent chipping. If you used pellets in your polish stage, you can use those for burnish also.
Don
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slabcabber
has rocks in the head
Member since April 2010
Posts: 590
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Post by slabcabber on Oct 15, 2010 16:42:54 GMT -5
Hello Jen ,And welcome aboard..Yes burnishing is something you sure want to do. I am fairly new to tumbling myself and when I took my first batch out I thought they needed to go through another round of polish........... Then some one told me noooo just burnish them and see what happens...... You will be surprised... And I was ... They looked good to me..
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Jen
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2010
Posts: 3
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Post by Jen on Oct 15, 2010 17:25:29 GMT -5
Thanks for the tips- I may have forgotten about the plastic pellets.
Jen
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Post by tanyafrench on Oct 15, 2010 20:59:14 GMT -5
Jen, if you don't have plastic pellets you can go to any hardware store and buy soft tile spacers, used to proper spacing when laying tile floors. They work very well. Of course you can also buy pellets where you buy your grit. They do make a big difference.
Welcome aboard the RTH, Tanya
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Post by johnjsgems on Oct 15, 2010 23:35:08 GMT -5
Craft stores usually have plastic pellets for doll filler.
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revco
starting to spend too much on rocks
Another Victim Of The Rockcycle
Member since February 2010
Posts: 162
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Post by revco on Oct 16, 2010 10:42:04 GMT -5
Sounds like you have the basic process of burnishing down. I usually use about 2TB of Borax or Dreft and run them for about 2-4 hours. I've found it important to burnish before and after polish. The before insures that no previous grit gets into the polish stage and the after really makes 'em shine! I also use an additional 1000 grit on most loads and typically I burnish before and after that step as well.
As for the pellets, they're not always necessary (especially with harder stones), but I do find that they help immensely with pitting/cracking in all stages, including rough. For me, I got some cheapo stuff for rough...but use higher quality pellets for subsequent stages. I reuse the pellets in the same stage, over and over, except for polish pellets which I typically only use once or twice and then send them down to courser stages.
Good luck & glad to have another excited tumbler in the world!
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drjo
fully equipped rock polisher
Honduran Opal & DIY Nut
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,581
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Post by drjo on Oct 16, 2010 18:09:01 GMT -5
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Post by Bikerrandy on Oct 19, 2010 20:04:29 GMT -5
Beanie Babies are full of plastic pellets ;D
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Post by rockrookie on Oct 19, 2010 21:36:42 GMT -5
welcome to RTH !! hope to see some pictures . --paul
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Post by llana2go on Oct 20, 2010 7:09:13 GMT -5
And another one gets hooked on tumbling! LOL!
Jen, it's always a good idea to use pellets in your polish stage. I use them in both the pre-polish and polish stage. And, I tell, ya', I hate those little boogers! I also use tile spacers, which I like a lot better. Not all of the tile spacers float, but they are a lot easier to keep track of. For me, anyway!
Welcome aboard.
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