lostintheforest
off to a rocking start
Member since February 2013
Posts: 19
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Post by lostintheforest on May 14, 2013 21:21:23 GMT -5
hey everyone, so a couple months ago i bought some rough labradorite because i had just got my tumbler and was/am kind of obsessed with the stone. i decided to take my chances with what i hear to be one of the most frustrating materials to work with and am at the last stage of the process and could use some advice. so far the stones are actually looking pretty awesome if i do say so myself, compared to how they looked before going in at least. anway, i've just taken them out after a week in the pre-polish stage (using the basic thumlers grit kit, not sure what they use for "pre-polish" or "polish" for that matter), and they're looking great when wet. i have them in a wash cycle at the moment with just some ivory soap shavings. my concern is that whatever the white substance thumler's sends out as polish seems to be notoriously good at getting stuck in the most minute of cracks, and being bright white, tends to exaggerate the appearance of said cracks making the end result pretty displeasing. i'm really worried that if i put the lab into the polish stage i will end up making the stones look a lot worse than they do right now. any ways to avoid this problem? should i look for a different kind of polishing compound? perhaps use some kind of glue or acrylic or wax to seal any areas that might cause problems? i am so hopeful that despite the odds, these will turn out half decent (the stones show some really stunning labradoresence) and dont want to risk ruining them at the last stage of the process. any advice would be greatly appreciated!!
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Post by Toad on May 14, 2013 21:29:43 GMT -5
Best way to avoid the problem is to tumble the stones until they don't have any cracks. Might be hard to do with labradorite depending on the quality.
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lostintheforest
off to a rocking start
Member since February 2013
Posts: 19
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Post by lostintheforest on May 16, 2013 14:53:08 GMT -5
yeah, i do realize that the best solution is to not have cracks in the stones in the first place, but as you know, that's usually easier said than done when it comes to labradorite. I was wondering if instead of putting them all back in the tumbler with the white polish, i could find another polishing compound with a little less conspicuous appearance and manually polish the stones using a piece of denim or something. anyone have any ideas or suggestions? as you can see from the photos, the stones are not free from small cracks, but they do show some shine already. what do you think? Attachments:
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lostintheforest
off to a rocking start
Member since February 2013
Posts: 19
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Post by lostintheforest on May 16, 2013 14:53:43 GMT -5
and a close up... Attachments:
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lostintheforest
off to a rocking start
Member since February 2013
Posts: 19
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Post by lostintheforest on May 16, 2013 14:57:00 GMT -5
one more, showing a piece from the rough, a piece after fine grit tumble for 10 days, and then a week in the prepolish. took these last night in my bathroom so the lighting is not really ideal to show off the labradoresence. some of the pieces are quite beautiful in the right light. Attachments:
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lostintheforest
off to a rocking start
Member since February 2013
Posts: 19
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Post by lostintheforest on May 16, 2013 20:36:02 GMT -5
or do you think taking them back a couple steps and putting them through another week in medium or fine grit will help? i have a feeling the quality of the stones is maybe not high enough for tumble polishing, and more days in grit will just wear away more stone and reveal yet more cracks... i'm not really unhappy with them as they are though (i was expecting a complete disaster), so if there isn't much more i can do that's ok, was just wondering if other people ever finish off polishing delicate stones by hand after tumbling.
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Minnesota Daniel
freely admits to licking rocks
A COUPLE LAKERS
Member since August 2011
Posts: 891
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Post by Minnesota Daniel on May 17, 2013 0:28:28 GMT -5
I sometimes use my Dremel Tool with a diamond bur to grind out the stubborn cracks and pits. Then I put them in the 120/220, or even back into the 60/90. Labradorite and other feldspars can be tough though, as you've discovered.
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Post by tntmom on May 17, 2013 0:41:40 GMT -5
It's been a very long time since I tried to tumble Labradorite. It is best cabbed, however, when I did them I also got some white exposed polish areas in the finished product, tumblers are mostly too aggressive for this stone at finishing stages.
What I did was take them back to 1000 grit and then instead of tumble polishing them, I used an oil based diamond paste that I got from Jadecarver on a felt bob with a hand tool (dremel or foredom). Worked perfectly although it took some time to polish each piece. 14k produced a beautiful polish for me.
If your 1000 doesn't get rid of all of the cracks then go back to 500, then 1000 and then polish with hand tool. Or do 500, then use your hand tool to do 1000 to 14k with diamond paste and felt bobs.
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rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
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Post by rollingstone on May 18, 2013 12:16:20 GMT -5
This is digging back 7 years to when I last tumbled labradorite, but I just polished them in a rotary and I don't see any polish in the final result. Maybe this stuff wasn't cracked?... but I think I can see cracks in the photos, they just don't trap polish. I think you just want to make sure the stones never dry out until you are absolutely finished. Take them out of polish and put them (while still wet) back into a barrel with lots of plastic pellets and a generous amount of shavings from a bar of Ivory soap, then tumble them for a few hours or a half a day to dislodge any residual polish, then rinse and dry. -Don
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