foogy
starting to shine!
Member since October 2012
Posts: 26
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Post by foogy on Dec 21, 2012 7:33:11 GMT -5
Needin some help here folks! Got some tiger eye rattlin away in my small one and a half pound rotary tumbler which were lookin ok till I started the final polish in Aluminium oxide with plastic beads but theyve been in there for over 2 weeks and if anything they are goin backwards as there seems to be some pitting appearing on most of the stones and no shine at all, was advised to use only a tiny amount of polish as in less than half a teaspoon full which to me seems very little but hopefully some of you out there can tell me where I'm goin wrong, thanks !
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Post by geoff on Dec 21, 2012 7:38:50 GMT -5
Contamination. Start over with prepolish and see how they look. Try the polish stage with brand new beads only after cleaning everything meticulously.
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Post by Toad on Dec 21, 2012 9:28:29 GMT -5
I agree. Tiger eye takes a polish easily. Walk it back a step or two.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Dec 21, 2012 9:37:04 GMT -5
sounds like a very small amount of polish to me. I never use less then a tablespoon of polish in our 1.5 lb barrel.
Chuck
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jamesp
Cave Dweller 
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,594
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Post by jamesp on Dec 21, 2012 11:53:42 GMT -5
Wash everything.You don't have to use a pressure washer but I do.More polish too.I would use 3 tablespoons of sugar(with 1.5 TBLS of polish).Is your barrel at least 2/3rds full and water right at rock level?They should start to show a shine in a couple of days.
Are you sure you did the early steps.They will NOT polish unless you did steps 1 2 3 correct... Pitting?That's strange.Post pics of that one and someone will have an answer for that one.It's not a home made tumbler is it?
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Post by deb193redux on Dec 21, 2012 14:57:58 GMT -5
some tigereye where the fibers are less silicified can look dull across the grain fo the fiber and may even have a fiber or two pull out along the grain. so it is important to know whether you think you have a well silicified tigereye.
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metalsmith
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 1,537
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Post by metalsmith on Dec 21, 2012 15:20:54 GMT -5
I've just finished tumbling a mix that included Tigers Eye. Its my first batch so there is no special knowledge - and has come out good. Grits are Cerium Oxide 1, 2, Polish and finished with a fine polish of Silicon Carbide. The mix includes quartz and schist (just as an experiment) and these don't seem to have harmed. In the final, I put in a dash of washing up liquid. Glossy result. See also reviews.ebay.com/How-to-Polish-Stones-in-a-Rock-Tumbler?ugid=10000000000066954 just for general info. |
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Post by susand24224 on Dec 21, 2012 21:16:01 GMT -5
I agree with the contamination, but debredux is also correct--some fibers may pull out and the shine not be quite as apparent. As for the amount of polish, you do seem a bit short, but I don't even use a full tablespoon in a 3 lb. On the other hand--too much polish will hurt nothing but your wallet!
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foogy
starting to shine!
Member since October 2012
Posts: 26
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Post by foogy on Dec 23, 2012 15:52:35 GMT -5
Thanks for all the advice folks! I'd be surprised if Contamination was the cause as I wash all my rocks in borax for 24hrs between stages and use seperate barrels for each stage but will start again as advised and see what happens, thanks again everybody!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2012 4:21:27 GMT -5
Greetings [foogy] Scott without a picture no-one can say for sure what's the problem, though i think based upon the time you got it from me it has not been in F80 long enough, never mind whatever stages you run it through after F80. My batch ran for a total of 76 days (11 weeks), including 6 days in burnish (2 heaped tablespoons of borax in my 12lb barrel for a day), 55 days in F80, 10 days in F600 & 5 days in spent (1/8th of a teaspoon) of Lortone's 1.0 micron Aluminum Oxide polish, had already used the polish in a local Quartz batch & you can see what my gold Tiger's Eye rejects were like at the end of Sticky #2 below. It is Scottish Gold Tiger's Eye (Quartz), there is 3 distinct areas of differing hardness the black stuff is Moh's 3.0 with parting fault line, the main gold part is mostly Moh's 5.0 though some is Moh's 7.0 & the crossply is Moh's 7.0 too. Scott is this your tumbler?  Evan's Lapidary Machines: Model CR2. You should update your RTH Profile to include your country at the very least. Aluminum Oxide polish is not available to purchase from any vendor within the UK, without getting it from someone or a club that imported it into the UK or you could import it yourself. Just 5lbs of RockShed's Aluminum Oxide polish you will not get much change from £68 ($110) including all fees & taxes! -- I hail from (The Barony of Seabegs) Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire, U.K, where aliens (15mb) sometimes come for a visit & about 4 miles west from this monstrosity! Sticky's: their contents are resource information 1#: Vendors worldwide (2mb), 2#: How to use the forum, 3#: How to identify rocks & minerals, 4#: Save money on expensive grits & polishes! |
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Post by johnjsgems on Dec 30, 2012 9:02:16 GMT -5
I would question what aluminum oxide. You can buy everything from 600 through .2 micron. For rotary tumblers it would need to be at most 3-4 micron. A good tumbling grade of aluminum will work with one tablespoon in a 3 lb. drum. The lower priced polishes require a lot more so where is the savings?
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foogy
starting to shine!
Member since October 2012
Posts: 26
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Post by foogy on Dec 30, 2012 14:15:05 GMT -5
I've ordered some Aluminium oxide from the rockshed so that should arrive in the next couple of weeks and I can try them again at some point in the near future
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2013 3:25:35 GMT -5
Greetings [foogy] Scott if you want more polish, just bring a container like a coffee jar, i can easily give you 250g (half a pound), anyway if your RockShed package weighs less than 2kg (4.4lb), you would be likely to get the package within 6 days without paying VAT & Ransom fee. However if it's more than 2kg (4.4lb), you should expect a Ransom demand for £8 via snail mail within 2-3 weeks after your package arrived within the UK, which is normally 4-5 days after Shawn sent you a conformation that your package has been posted! Scott is this your tumbler? Evan's Lapidary Machines: Model CR2. If so you will find this useful Evans CR2 Tumbler Cleaning-- I hail from (The Barony of Seabegs) Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire, U.K, where aliens (15mb) sometimes come for a visit & about 4 miles west from this monstrosity! Sticky's: their contents are resource information 1#: Vendors worldwide (2mb), 2#: How to use the forum, 3#: How to identify rocks & minerals, 4#: Save money on expensive grits & polishes! |
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foogy
starting to shine!
Member since October 2012
Posts: 26
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Post by foogy on Jan 3, 2013 6:37:17 GMT -5
My tumbler looks similar to the picture of the one you posted but mine only takes two of the small barrels so its shorter but other than that it looks much the same. Should be ok for polish when my order from the rockshed arrives but thanks for the offer just the same. Just to update you on the Black agate situation or whatever you want to call it, I've binned the old polish and gave barrels and stones a good clean and started again with fresh Cerium oxide mix so will check them in a few days and see how theyre doin
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rockhound71
off to a rocking start
Member since February 2017
Posts: 1 
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Post by rockhound71 on Feb 7, 2017 21:52:07 GMT -5
I used a tablespoon of polishing powder for 1.5 weeks. Then, rubbed stone on superfine sandpapers. I started with 1500 grit and worked up to 2500 grit, constantly wetting the stone. That process only took about 15 minutes and my blue tiger eye is beautiful. After discovering a golden eye in the roughly triangular shaped flat stone, I ground around it until the "eye" was raised. Now restarting tumble and hand polishing. Just have to decide if it's going on my shelf or around my neck, now. The toughest part.
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