hand2mouthmining
spending too much on rocks
Purveyors of California Gem Rock
Member since September 2011
Posts: 495
|
Post by hand2mouthmining on Aug 27, 2012 14:48:12 GMT -5
Howdy, tumblers! In the course of dealing with resurrecting a 24" home built slab saw, we decided to plan on doing our own sandblasting and surface coating. Online research found: 30/60 grit "coal slag" sandblasting abrasive www.tractorsupply.com/little-fury-fine-blend-30-60-blasting-grit-50-lb--3907798So, we're gonna try it in our tumblers! :cheesy: At Mohs 7 and $7.99 per 50 pound bag, it's a bargain! It should be great for our soon-to-be spinning tire tumblers. But, has anyone here tried using coal slag for tumbling? What results? We'll be trying it today, and let everyone know our results! Best regards, everyone! Kris Hand-2-Mouth Mining
|
|
|
Post by deb193redux on Aug 27, 2012 14:58:03 GMT -5
Well SiC is Mohs 9, so much much harder. Folks have tried AO grits, and even sand (silica) and these have modest results.
If you tumble obsidian (Mohs 5.5 to 6), it could work for you.
Expect lots of mud and girt that breaks down fast. Likely more frequent changes.
|
|
hand2mouthmining
spending too much on rocks
Purveyors of California Gem Rock
Member since September 2011
Posts: 495
|
Post by hand2mouthmining on Aug 29, 2012 14:39:47 GMT -5
Thanks, Deb.
We tried the coal slag in a 16 pound batch of Blue G trims & cutoffs, in a Gy-roc Model C vibe tumbler. The material has a lot of outer nodule surface exposure with lots of caliche, and needed a good cleaning. The coal slag did a great job of cleaning this jade tough material, without removing the solid gem material.
We'll take your suggestion on the obsidian, and see what it does on our next batch. From the Mohs hardness (7), it should be a good, less aggressive alternative to SiC, at a small fraction of the cost. We'll post more when we try it.
thanks again!
Kris
|
|
|
Post by gr on Aug 29, 2012 18:28:15 GMT -5
sounds like it might work very well for obsidian. waiting for results post
|
|
ravnone
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2018
Posts: 1
|
Post by ravnone on Oct 27, 2018 14:54:02 GMT -5
I am very new to this. I bought some for my vibratory tumbler (from harbour freigyt). Did you use the coal wet or dry?
|
|