rudy35
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2010
Posts: 23
|
Post by rudy35 on Mar 19, 2011 18:36:04 GMT -5
Hello fellow tumblers, I have been tumbling for about three months now and have several nice batches. I tumble mostly agates,jasper,pet wood and the misc stones i get from catmandu and the rock shed. my favorite is the pet wood i got from Toad......I use the process from rock shed...rough in60/90 sic in lortone barrells, then 120/220 lortone and then 500 ao and polish with ao in the LOT-o I get a few stones that never polish past the satin stage,mostly jaspers i think.....even after several stages of the pre polish and polish stage...........would using tripoli between the 500 ao and the ao polish stage help? I see very little discussion about tripoli. I love this forum and spent many hours reading it...appreciate any advice you can provide Rudy
|
|
quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,352
|
Post by quartz on Mar 19, 2011 21:01:45 GMT -5
We polish with tripoli, well cushioned with leather, and get very good results. From your description, about the same material you run. We do a 2 week polish run, likely longer than most people do.
|
|
Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
|
Post by Sabre52 on Mar 19, 2011 21:45:30 GMT -5
I do 120/220 skip the 500 unless I'm doing softer rocks and then use tripoli for my prepolish before going to the Rockshed AO polish. Works well for me.....Mel
|
|
stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,113
|
Post by stefan on Mar 20, 2011 6:18:03 GMT -5
I use tripoli as a prepolish. My typical cycle is 60/90 till happy with the shape, 120/220 for 2weeks, 500 with plastic pellets for 2weeks, tripoli with pellets for 2 weeks and polish (either alum. Oxide or tin oxide)with pellets for 2 weeks
|
|
|
Post by connrock on Mar 20, 2011 8:44:06 GMT -5
Hi ,,, Try this in your LOT,,, Let your 500 stage run for at least 4 days and without stopping,,,add 1/2 teaspoon of Tripoli and let the run along with the 500. I use a 1000 stage to do this but by letting your 500 run for 4 days the 500 will break down enough for you to try it. I did these Brazilian Agates this way and although this may not be a fair comparison (as your rocks may be a tad softer),it will show you that you can get quite a shine on your rocks without even going into a polish stage! I use this method on almost everything I polish and have found it to work on most materials I have tried it on. Good luck and keep us posted! connrock
|
|
lloyd1wv
starting to shine!
Member since December 2010
Posts: 47
|
Post by lloyd1wv on Mar 20, 2011 9:55:31 GMT -5
In my vibe I add tripoli after 3 or 4 days of 500 (500 will have broken down to 1000 by that time), and I also add liberal amounts of borax along with a liberal amount of Ivory soap shavings (to cushion). After another 2-3 days most hard stones shine as though they were polished, but then I go ahead and add a polish directly to that mix and run another day or two. - This works so well for me that it is now my routine for every thing.
|
|
rudy35
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2010
Posts: 23
|
Post by rudy35 on Mar 20, 2011 10:52:11 GMT -5
Conrock, thanks for the advice and also for the beautiful pictures of the Brazilian agate......I never get anything that pretty....I think I need to keep my stuff in the pre and polish stages longer. once I get to the LOT-O,I have been leaving them in for one day in 500 and one day in AO polish and one hour in burnish but after seeing your results.....well,lets say I will try your method....thanks again...Rudy
|
|
rudy35
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2010
Posts: 23
|
Post by rudy35 on Mar 20, 2011 11:00:02 GMT -5
many thanks to Quartz,Sabre52,Stephen and Lloyd also. Your advice coincides with what Conrock said and I appreciate your replies,and will let you know what my results are. thanks,,,,,,,Rudy
|
|
danb
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2011
Posts: 107
|
Post by danb on Mar 22, 2011 23:03:00 GMT -5
Where do you purchase tripoli from? This is the first I've heard of it. (I'm a total newb though too...)
|
|
rudy35
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2010
Posts: 23
|
Post by rudy35 on Mar 23, 2011 10:20:49 GMT -5
Hello Dan, I get my tripoli from" the rock shed" and it is cheaper than other polishes by far.....my problem was not knowing where it fit in the polishing sequence. Most everything can be had at The Rock Shed and they are very good to deal with. Rudy
|
|
stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,113
|
Post by stefan on Mar 23, 2011 13:47:00 GMT -5
I just got 5 lbs of rock shed tripoli. Good stuff
|
|