azgnoinc
spending too much on rocks
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Member since March 2014
Posts: 484
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Post by azgnoinc on Jun 9, 2014 22:34:10 GMT -5
So after talking to some folks on here and doing a little reading I was kinda worried this batch may not shine up well due to the different materials in the batch, but all and all, I'm happy as could be with it, and best of all the rocks were sourced by me for free! These pics were taken under shop lights in the basement, I'll get some natural light pics in the next few days. I also wrote every step down for this batch (all of them actually), so if someone see where I might get better results please let me know. I wire wrap a lot of pieces, so perfect smoothness is not usually my end game- but the best polish possible is. The whole batch - I did use ceramic fillers & plastic beads from stage 3 through polish. ![](http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k525/azgnoinc/Rocks%20and%20lapidary%20stuff/1st%20tumbled%20all%20beach%20batch/1stbeachrocksbatch6-9-14017crop.jpg) Closeups of individual pieces: Granite ![](http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k525/azgnoinc/Rocks%20and%20lapidary%20stuff/1st%20tumbled%20all%20beach%20batch/1stbeachrockbatchcloseups6-9-14010crop.jpg) ![](http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k525/azgnoinc/Rocks%20and%20lapidary%20stuff/1st%20tumbled%20all%20beach%20batch/1stbeachrockbatchcloseups6-9-14009crop.jpg) Possible/probable granite ![](http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k525/azgnoinc/Rocks%20and%20lapidary%20stuff/1st%20tumbled%20all%20beach%20batch/1stbeachrockbatchcloseups6-9-14020crop.jpg) Front ![](http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k525/azgnoinc/Rocks%20and%20lapidary%20stuff/1st%20tumbled%20all%20beach%20batch/1stbeachrockbatchcloseups6-9-14006crop.jpg) reverse ![](http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k525/azgnoinc/Rocks%20and%20lapidary%20stuff/1st%20tumbled%20all%20beach%20batch/1stbeachrockbatchcloseups6-9-14005crop.jpg) Porphrytic Rhyolite (I think any way) ![](http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k525/azgnoinc/Rocks%20and%20lapidary%20stuff/1st%20tumbled%20all%20beach%20batch/1stbeachrockbatchcloseups6-9-14008crop.jpg) ![](http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k525/azgnoinc/Rocks%20and%20lapidary%20stuff/1st%20tumbled%20all%20beach%20batch/1stbeachrockbatchcloseups6-9-14007crop.jpg) other unknown but very cool pieces ![](http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k525/azgnoinc/Rocks%20and%20lapidary%20stuff/1st%20tumbled%20all%20beach%20batch/1stbeachrockbatchcloseups6-9-14002crop.jpg) ![](http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k525/azgnoinc/Rocks%20and%20lapidary%20stuff/1st%20tumbled%20all%20beach%20batch/1stbeachrockbatchcloseups6-9-14001crop.jpg) ![](http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k525/azgnoinc/Rocks%20and%20lapidary%20stuff/1st%20tumbled%20all%20beach%20batch/1stbeachrocksbatch6-9-14013crop.jpg) ![](http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k525/azgnoinc/Rocks%20and%20lapidary%20stuff/1st%20tumbled%20all%20beach%20batch/1stbeachrockbatchcloseups6-9-14017crop.jpg)
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,348
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Post by quartz on Jun 9, 2014 22:56:41 GMT -5
We have never tried it with granite, but a final soap burnish on pet. wood really helps our polish. We mix cheap dry laundry soap to about pancake batter thickness, pad ours with about 20% leather pieces of ~1" dimension, fill to where we can just see the liquid coming up on the rocks, and run it for 5-7 days. We have given other people the same advice, and have gotten positive responses.
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
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Member since September 2011
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Post by tkvancil on Jun 10, 2014 0:42:25 GMT -5
Granite is a pretty tough tumble. Looks like you got a good shine on yours. I like the stuff too but am usually disappointed by the final results. These days I only pick up the most colorful pieces I find.
As far as "perfect smoothness" goes ... its been my experience that the smother the stone the better the shine.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
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Post by jamesp on Jun 10, 2014 5:58:04 GMT -5
I was lazy and let the tumbler run almost 2 weeks on 220 and 2 weeks on 500 grit. I noticed that after 24 hours on polish the rocks had a 'good' polish. By day 3 they were about done. I think there is a lot to be said for running them extra time on theses finishing grits. It may not be the fastest way to get a polish. But it is a way to insure a good polish. After 2 weeks on 500 grit they even had a slight shine. And have run them 5-6 days on 220 and 500 each and and had to wait 7-9 days for the polish cycle to finish. Have witnessed this on a good many occasions. You can see a good polish. But seeing a good 220 or 500 grit finish is difficult. It is easier for me to look at the 220 and 500 slurry.(easier than looking at the rocks) Pour it in a white pan and let it settle for a couple of hours. Then pour off the water and look for any particles by letting the sludge thin out by tilting the pan. A little magnification helps. Should be no sparkles in bold sunlight. Should run like thin grey paint.
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Post by snowmom on Jun 10, 2014 6:16:09 GMT -5
very colorful! That one with the yellow spots is a traffic stopper. Granite is notoriously hard to do but I think those bright colors must be worth it. so pretty!
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azgnoinc
spending too much on rocks
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Member since March 2014
Posts: 484
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Post by azgnoinc on Jun 10, 2014 21:42:01 GMT -5
We have never tried it with granite, but a final soap burnish on pet. wood really helps our polish. We mix cheap dry laundry soap to about pancake batter thickness, pad ours with about 20% leather pieces of ~1" dimension, fill to where we can just see the liquid coming up on the rocks, and run it for 5-7 days. We have given other people the same advice, and have gotten positive responses. I've got as much of this material as I care to carry home from the beach so I am absolutely game to try this out, I've got another batch started just yesterday so it will be great to see the difference. As for the leather - would an old belt work, I can wash it & get it down to straight raw leather with belt sander then chop it up from there- if you think it might work. Any particular detergent - I've got Borax on hand?
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mjflinty
spending too much on rocks
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Post by mjflinty on Jun 12, 2014 6:33:28 GMT -5
Could take a bunch of those for Granite... lol sorry I had to. Gneiss! I'm not talking Schist...
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,348
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Post by quartz on Jun 12, 2014 23:16:09 GMT -5
azgnoinc: We use any kind of leather we can find cheap, except the thin split and dyed stuff. An old belt works fine, no need to rough it up, just cut it up and toss it in. As far as soap, we use the cheapest dry laundry soap we can find, generally Costco or Winco grocery store. We run 5-gallon barrels, so the volume of soap gets pretty big, about 20 scoops per run; ~50lbs. of rock.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,397
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Post by jamesp on Jun 13, 2014 20:13:50 GMT -5
azgnoinc: We use any kind of leather we can find cheap, except the thin split and dyed stuff. An old belt works fine, no need to rough it up, just cut it up and toss it in. As far as soap, we use the cheapest dry laundry soap we can find, generally Costco or Winco grocery store. We run 5-gallon barrels, so the volume of soap gets pretty big, about 20 scoops per run; ~50lbs. of rock. It takes that much soap to get the sugar out of my coral Larry. The leather is a great idea.
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,348
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Post by quartz on Jun 13, 2014 23:39:28 GMT -5
When we do the 220 run, we pad to 20% of barrel capacity with the 3/8 rubber cord truckers use for tarp tiedown, cut into max. 3/8" long pieces. Try cutting a gallon of that stuff with a razor knife, but it works. We run airsoft pellets [the camo ones are heavier than water] in the polish run with leather pieces, and leather pieces in the soap run. Found that round pieces in the soap cause too much sliding, don't get a good burnish. We run 1 3/4 gallon and 5 gallon barrels, how well all this would work in a smaller, say 3lb. barrel, I can't say.
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Fossilman
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Post by Fossilman on Jun 14, 2014 17:13:11 GMT -5
Very nice!
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azgnoinc
spending too much on rocks
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Member since March 2014
Posts: 484
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Post by azgnoinc on Jun 14, 2014 19:59:45 GMT -5
When we do the 220 run, we pad to 20% of barrel capacity with the 3/8 rubber cord truckers use for tarp tiedown, cut into max. 3/8" long pieces. Try cutting a gallon of that stuff with a razor knife, but it works. We run airsoft pellets [the camo ones are heavier than water] in the polish run with leather pieces, and leather pieces in the soap run. Found that round pieces in the soap cause too much sliding, don't get a good burnish. We run 1 3/4 gallon and 5 gallon barrels, how well all this would work in a smaller, say 3lb. barrel, I can't say. We are gonna find out soon enough how it works on a smaller scale. I'm gonna get some natural light pics of the batch tomorrow & then get them back into tumble for a week or so with the powdered soap & leather, then I'll do another post with updated pics.
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Post by pghram on Jun 15, 2014 13:00:18 GMT -5
Nice batch, I especially like the one in the 9th photo. It has great patterns & a nice shine.
Rich
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