Post by herchenx on Feb 13, 2012 12:53:23 GMT -5
I have been posting in the rock tumbling forum, but as I read the rules, my "in-progress" photos and descriptions should probably be on this thread. Sorry for any confusion. Here goes:
I opened my 2x6# lortone barrels last night, as well as one of the 1.5# barrels. I am leaving the other 1.5 in for a few more days because it is garnet and it I checked on it a couple days ago, it is not getting close yet.
I have been running stage 1 tumbles in all barrels. As I open and clean everything, I pull out a couple rocks each time that are ready to progress. This was the end of the third stage 1 tumble I have run.
First 6# barrel when opened:
I am finding that a lot of the rocks still have deep pits and cracks. In the process of letting them tumble and tumble and tumble, lots of beautiful features have disappeared. I got fed up with that last night and took a number of stones out that were close, and chopped off, ground down or otherwise removed any pits, cracks etc. Here is some lace that underwent the procedure (before grinding):
I repeated the process of grinding and cutting with a number of the prettier stones that I didn't want to se disappear. I also broke some stones that had developed long appendages as other parts of the stones have receded.
Second barrel had a little more runny slurry:
I cleaned up everything and was going to try to fit all the larger stuff in one barrel but it was too full:
I added in a couple handfuls of scrap I bought from an ebay seller who sells beautiful slabs from Utah, I used some of that to fill in the barrels, I also tossed in some locally found agate and two epidote pieces (the green stones) to see how they fare:
I have about 4 pounds of cut cabs and stage-1-complete tumbled stones that are ready for the vibe. My polish stage on the vibe will be done in a few days so I will put in whatever is ready as stage 2 (120/220) and keep going from there!
I opened my 2x6# lortone barrels last night, as well as one of the 1.5# barrels. I am leaving the other 1.5 in for a few more days because it is garnet and it I checked on it a couple days ago, it is not getting close yet.
I have been running stage 1 tumbles in all barrels. As I open and clean everything, I pull out a couple rocks each time that are ready to progress. This was the end of the third stage 1 tumble I have run.
First 6# barrel when opened:
I am finding that a lot of the rocks still have deep pits and cracks. In the process of letting them tumble and tumble and tumble, lots of beautiful features have disappeared. I got fed up with that last night and took a number of stones out that were close, and chopped off, ground down or otherwise removed any pits, cracks etc. Here is some lace that underwent the procedure (before grinding):
I repeated the process of grinding and cutting with a number of the prettier stones that I didn't want to se disappear. I also broke some stones that had developed long appendages as other parts of the stones have receded.
Second barrel had a little more runny slurry:
I cleaned up everything and was going to try to fit all the larger stuff in one barrel but it was too full:
I added in a couple handfuls of scrap I bought from an ebay seller who sells beautiful slabs from Utah, I used some of that to fill in the barrels, I also tossed in some locally found agate and two epidote pieces (the green stones) to see how they fare:
I have about 4 pounds of cut cabs and stage-1-complete tumbled stones that are ready for the vibe. My polish stage on the vibe will be done in a few days so I will put in whatever is ready as stage 2 (120/220) and keep going from there!