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Post by akansan on Apr 1, 2006 0:21:34 GMT -5
I know it's a softer stone than your run of the mill agates and jaspers (6), and so I'll need to watch a bit more closely to see how it plays with the other stones in the batch and how quickly it might shape, but does anyone have any tips on tumbling feldspar...or more specifically, amazonite? Is it worth it in the end? The coloring on the amazonite is just so striking, I really want to play with it!
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Post by joe on Apr 1, 2006 0:32:41 GMT -5
I've tumbled pink orthoclase which is similar to Amazonite (in structure, not in the fantastic color) It tends to be chippy. You can leave it in coarse awhile it won't fall apart, but if you see chips cracking off during coarse it may mean that piece is trouble. It was kind of hit and miss. the pieces that came out well (over 50%) came out really nice. I polish it on the grinder now and have much the ssame experience I had with tumbling it.
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rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
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Post by rollingstone on Apr 1, 2006 2:45:25 GMT -5
I've also done orthoclase, and I agree with Joe that it can cause problems. It has such a pronounced cleavage in one direction (or is it 2?) that it is really hard to get that surface rounded, the feldspar keeps wanting to fracture and make a nice angular corner. But it can be done, you just want to use enough pellets or have a thick enough slurry to really damp down the chipping. I'm not sure if amazonite has as strong cleavage as orthoclase, if not, that is a good thing. I have some labradorite (another feldspar) that I have put through coarse grind only, and it wasn't nearly so chippy as orthoclase.
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Post by connrock on Apr 1, 2006 6:45:32 GMT -5
There is amazonite and then theres amazonite.
My first attempt at tumbling amazonite was a disaster.The material itself was not of a good quality and loaded with quartz running through it.I didn't have a chipping/cracking problem but did have an undercutting problem.The quartz being much harder ruined the whole batch.
I didn't do any amazonite for quite a few years when a friend sent me some(about 5 lbs) of very dark aqua colored material with almost no quartz in it at all.As a matter of fact you really had to look at it close to see the quartz.
It came out beautiful and I have never been able to find any amazonite of that quality since.
I may see my friend at a rockhound get-to-gether this July and see if I can "beg" him for more!
connrock
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stefan
Cave Dweller 
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,113
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Post by stefan on Apr 1, 2006 12:25:19 GMT -5
I've worked some in granite- (orthoclas) comes out with a super shine!!! I have been tempted to try amazonite- But finding good stuff is a bit of a challange
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Duckbean
fully equipped rock polisher
Looking for rocks in all the wrong places
Member since February 2005
Posts: 1,072
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Post by Duckbean on Apr 1, 2006 21:41:02 GMT -5
I did some moonstone and amazonite and it came out great. used pellets after 60/90 when I noticed It started chipping, and used tin oxide to polish. The amazonite I did is a very nnice looking tumbled stone! Got it from Astro gallery, must have been a good batch, but man that shipping.
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crystaldragon
having dreams about rocks
how do you find good rocks in the middle of IOWA????
Member since December 2005
Posts: 60
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Post by crystaldragon on Apr 1, 2006 21:56:37 GMT -5
i did some amazonite a while back. most of it was heavily laced with quartz. i had one that was half black mica, and i thought it was really neat. i ran three batches of rough and came out with two when i went into the polish. as i said, mine did not turn out as shiny as i had hoped. they looked great when wet, but... i got mine from a relative who picked it up in colorado. so yeah, watch out for that wear on the stones.
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Post by joe on Apr 1, 2006 22:26:10 GMT -5
Here's a pic of pink orthoclase with other minerals. There is a lot of pegmatite around here so naturally I want to shine it. These were done on the grinder.  |
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jrtrio
has rocks in the head
With10 tumblers tumbling the sound is so delicious!Send me more of those little red fellas, please?
Member since February 2006
Posts: 535
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Post by jrtrio on Apr 3, 2006 8:45:57 GMT -5
What about different kinds of ore? Like Peacock Ore? It's makeup is of different minerals and quartz. Would tumbling it be the same as the soft Feldspar? I mean Sodalite is soft MOH 5 and as long as you watch it it comes out fine. But, with something that has at least two Cleavages then you run into chipping and breaking right?
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Post by greig on Apr 20, 2020 4:35:33 GMT -5
I collected some amazonite last weekend. Here is a short video of the rockhounding. I will get it tumbling this week (hopefully), as I seem to have run out of coarse grit and have been waiting on a shipment for a few weeks.
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Post by greig on Apr 20, 2020 16:20:08 GMT -5
My grit arrived today. I bought 10 lbs of each stage, so I am good to go for a while. I have to decide if I should set up my saw and shape some of the amazonite for for my first run or just tumble some of the smaller stones and remind myself how best to tumble feldspars in. a rotary. Should be fun.
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Post by RocksInNJ on Apr 21, 2020 17:02:35 GMT -5
My grit arrived today. I bought 10 lbs of each stage, so I am good to go for a while. I have to decide if I should set up my saw and shape some of the amazonite for for my first run or just tumble some of the smaller stones and remind myself how best to tumble feldspars in. a rotary. Should be fun. Don’t forget the videos. Love watching them. 😃 |
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