Sleestak
starting to shine!
Member since February 2013
Posts: 46
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Post by Sleestak on Feb 18, 2013 12:48:00 GMT -5
Hey Folks-
Went hounding yesterday and found some nice Jasper and Pet Wood for my first tumble. I understand the concept of mixing sizes of rock for a tumble. What is the largest I should put in the mix and how many? Lortone manual says 3/4 to 1 inch but just wondering what y'all thought. I have a two barrel tumbler - should I do separate barrels for the jasper and pet wood to be safe on the initial grind or just mix the two?
thanks
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Post by susand24224 on Feb 18, 2013 13:04:06 GMT -5
Hi, your tumble will likely turn out better if you separate the jasper and petrified wood, but it probably is not essential in the rough grind unless they are significantly different in hardness. You can figure this out easily by findin a sharp end of each of the types and then trying to scratch one with the other. If neither scratches significantly, you are okay in the earlier stages. Identical hardness becomes more important in the later stages.
I will go up to 2" in a 3 lb. barrel, but only one that big, or maybe 2 or 3 at 1 1/2" If the rocks are fairly flat, you can use a few more large, but if there are concave shapes that need to be smoothed out you need to have much more smaller pieces to facilitate getting to those surfaces.
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jspencer
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since March 2011
Posts: 929
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Post by jspencer on Feb 19, 2013 22:29:01 GMT -5
When I need some small stuff to achieve a good mix I use small round rocks that are sold for a top dressing on houseplants. They`re about 1/2" dia. river pebbles and seemed to give me a good gravy consistency fairly quick which is good. I got 5 lbs. for $4 at Home Depot and lasted me more than a year. And they polish up great.
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,547
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Post by tkvancil on Feb 27, 2013 11:50:11 GMT -5
I did an experiment a while back. I put 3 rocks over 2 inches in a 3# barrel. The rest of the rocks were less than 3/4 inches with the bulk of them at 1/4 to 1/2 inch. The whole batch smoothed and rounded as well as I have come to expect.
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