James
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 876
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Post by James on Apr 11, 2004 17:13:00 GMT -5
Hi guy's. I told eveyone that I'd post a review on Tripoli when I had the results, so here they are. I just bought 5 lbs of this stuff from www.therockshed.com for about $11.00. I must say, the results were spectacular. I just ran a load of agate through the tripoli for 7 days. I took them out today and washed them up. WOW! They look like they were already polished. Not a supper shine or anything, but "not bad." My mon actually looked over at them while I was cleaning them and said: " wow, those came out really good." I told her that they hadn't even made it to final polish yet. She was quite suprised. I think this might be the "missing link." I'll post the final results when they are done with polish. That will be 5-7 days.
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Post by rockyraccoon on Apr 11, 2004 17:33:01 GMT -5
do you use a separate barrel for each thing? like one for a.o., one for sisa, one for tripoli, one for cerium, one for titanium, one for tin oxide - i know you use separate ones for the other stages but i was wondering about this. how many barrels do you have?
kim
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James
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 876
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Post by James on Apr 11, 2004 17:44:42 GMT -5
I have one barrel for each step regardless of the specific grit. For examlpe. I use the same barrel for SISA, Tropoli, 500, 1000 ect... I Don't use the same plastic pellets for 1000 though. The same goes with polish. One barrel for all polishes. But unlike pre-polish, I use the same plellets for all the diffenent types of polishes I have.
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Post by creativeminded on Apr 11, 2004 19:07:03 GMT -5
I just ordered some tripoli, I am hoping that if my bloodstone, sweet water agate, and epidote, don't polish well then I will go back. Question should I just go back and do the batch in tripoli, or should I go to 1000 grit that I just ordered and then to tripoli? Tami
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llanago
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,714
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Post by llanago on Apr 11, 2004 19:58:10 GMT -5
Where do your get the SISA pre-polish? Is this the same as 1000 grit? Do I need both?
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Post by RockyHorror on Apr 11, 2004 20:28:57 GMT -5
Looks like you guys are getting all twisted up trying to follow James. Problem is, James is a moving target! If experience has taught me anything, it's taught me that there is no silver bullet.
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Post by rockyraccoon on Apr 11, 2004 20:53:43 GMT -5
the sisa, 1000 a.o. and tripoli are all a fine pre-polish. you would only use one of the three after the 400/500 grit and before polish. i don't have a preference yet because i haven't used but one of the 3 and have not seen the final results yet - but soon. they are probably all good products but james has tried all 3 and if he says he sees better results with the tripoli then i'm betting he does.
kim
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James
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 876
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Post by James on Apr 11, 2004 21:24:51 GMT -5
Sorry for causing any confusion. The thing is, there are many good products on the market. I routinely try different things. Here are some typical pre-polish steps I use.
These are for pre-polishes only.
1. 500 silicon carbide then 1000 aluminum oxide grit. Then straight to polish
2. Tripoli pre-polish. Then straight to polish.
3. SISA pre-polish. Then straight to polish.
It's that simple. You'll find any of these to work about the same.
If you're using SISA or Tripoli pre-polish, you DON'T need to use a 400 or 500 grit step prior to that.
I only use the 1000 grit if I use 400, or 500 first. Like when I got stuck with 5 lbs of 500 SC. 500 alone just doesn't cut it, that's why I use 1000 grit after 500.
1000 grit alone might be too fine to use all by itself. I havn't tried it myself but experience tells me that it wouldn't be wise.
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Post by creativeminded on Apr 12, 2004 9:44:33 GMT -5
Thanks for Clearing that up.
Tami
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RedwoodRocks
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since March 2003
Posts: 762
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Post by RedwoodRocks on Apr 13, 2004 1:00:22 GMT -5
The tripoli seems really reasonably priced at 5lbs for $11. Seems that the other pre-polishes are priced much higher. Gees, can you tell that I work as a Cost Analyst as a profession Cal
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WarrenA
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2003
Posts: 1,530
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Post by WarrenA on Apr 14, 2004 0:52:48 GMT -5
the rock shop where I bought some grit awhile back sold tripoli as a final polish. I got some and have been using it as final polish. it takes a little longer but for the most part I am satisified with the results. I bought some Lake Superior agates off ebay and have them in coarse now when they get to final I will let you know how they turn out. (I can hardly wait)
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