mibeachrocks
starting to spend too much on rocks
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Member since September 2013
Posts: 198
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Post by mibeachrocks on Nov 18, 2013 13:49:47 GMT -5
I've read all of the posts warning about the difficulty of tumbling quartz. I thought I would give it a try since I had several requests at home to try. Here are the results. The biggest mistake that I made was not having the correct ratio of small to large stones. Next time I will use some ceramic filler and leave out the stones (>1") since I'm using a 3 lbs barrel. There are several in the batch that are not quartz, but were just as hard. Entire batch ![](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5539/10930379693_31ce5e2fe5_b.jpg) Not sure what this is, but it looks nice (the fractures occured during tumbling) ![](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3749/10930242374_64afba1bb6_b.jpg) another pic ![](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3824/10930378883_6ccfbd31b9_b.jpg) not sure what this is ![](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7412/10930377443_317f3c5f6e_b.jpg) pudding stone? ![](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7318/10930100545_e23d06399b_b.jpg) Nice color. Quartz? ![](http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2894/10930378693_3ae216673d_b.jpg)
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carloscinco
fully equipped rock polisher
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Member since July 2008
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Quartz
Nov 18, 2013 19:17:46 GMT -5
Post by carloscinco on Nov 18, 2013 19:17:46 GMT -5
Those look pretty good. I think you'll also find that if you leave rocks with rough surfaces in the polish stage you wind up giving up a little of the luster. Putting too many big rocks in my tumbles is my downfall as well. I've had to settle for one or two bigs or large slabs and load the remainder with smalls to get a good finish.
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Quartz
Nov 18, 2013 21:15:29 GMT -5
Post by Jugglerguy on Nov 18, 2013 21:15:29 GMT -5
I have some Michigan quartz in rough right now too. I almost have enough done to move to the Lot-O. I find that using ceramic in the rough stage is hard on the ceramic, so I've been using beach pebbles I picked up this summer. I only use them in the first stage and then use ceramic after that in the Lot-O. I think the difficulty with quartz is supposed to be not fracturing it. Jamesp suggested that overfilling the barrel will keep the rocks from falling so far and prevent fracturing. That's what I'm trying. I'll post pictures of my finished rocks when they're done.
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Quartz
Nov 18, 2013 22:20:17 GMT -5
Post by pghram on Nov 18, 2013 22:20:17 GMT -5
Nice batch, I don't think you have to remove all of the larger stones, just limit it to a couple or three at at time with plenty of smalls.
Rich
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mibeachrocks
starting to spend too much on rocks
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Member since September 2013
Posts: 198
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Quartz
Nov 19, 2013 9:20:25 GMT -5
Post by mibeachrocks on Nov 19, 2013 9:20:25 GMT -5
Thanks for all of the suggestions. I will try these next summer. Unfortunately I am all out of Quartz; however, I have plenty of other beach stones to run. Additionally, I picked up some rough from the Rock Shed for the kids that we are running now.
One question though. I have a handful of Lake Superior agates that I found over the summer but not enough to run alone. What can I run them with?
Rob, cannot wait to see the quartz. Did you get slammed by the storm? Parts of SE MI are still without power.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
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Quartz
Nov 19, 2013 9:24:20 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2013 9:24:20 GMT -5
Nice shine for quartz. I ended up with all white edges and gave up. Jim
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,694
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Quartz
Nov 19, 2013 10:41:54 GMT -5
Post by Fossilman on Nov 19, 2013 10:41:54 GMT -5
Nice!
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Quartz
Nov 19, 2013 15:46:21 GMT -5
Post by pghram on Nov 19, 2013 15:46:21 GMT -5
I have run lakers with other HARD, non-brittle stuff with no problems.
Rich
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Quartz
Nov 19, 2013 15:58:11 GMT -5
Post by Jugglerguy on Nov 19, 2013 15:58:11 GMT -5
It was windy for about three days in Alpena, but we didn't have any real problems here. There were some power outages nearby though.
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Quartz
Nov 19, 2013 16:24:17 GMT -5
Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Nov 19, 2013 16:24:17 GMT -5
You could run the Lakers with other quartz, or as Rich said, other hard material. They will also fracture if you don't run a full load.
Save the ceramics for a vibe; use plastic pellets or tile spacers for filler in a rotary.
Chuck
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mibeachrocks
starting to spend too much on rocks
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Member since September 2013
Posts: 198
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Quartz
Nov 25, 2013 8:44:31 GMT -5
Post by mibeachrocks on Nov 25, 2013 8:44:31 GMT -5
I finally got around to granting my daughter's request to make a necklace out of her favorite rock out of the bunch. It took a few minutes, but I was able to use a dremel diamond point bit and drill through. ![](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5482/11049170833_03f066a3e3_b.jpg)
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Quartz
Nov 25, 2013 9:01:12 GMT -5
Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Nov 25, 2013 9:01:12 GMT -5
That looks great as a pendant. Nice job. I am sure she will love that. As an answer to what you can run with your lakers I just posted a mix that finished up yesterday that had lakers,quartz,flint,montana agates and a whole bunch more. Just make it a nice full load so nothing gets damaged.
Chuck
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