meviva
Cave Dweller
Member since July 2013
Posts: 1,474
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Post by meviva on Feb 27, 2015 9:48:46 GMT -5
When your rocks are finished with rough grind and you pull them out, do you keep them in water or let them dry while waiting for the rest of the batch to finish grinding? I have a batch of obsidian and a batch of amethyst and smoky quartz running right now. Over the past few weeks I've pulled out a few and have kept them in a tray with water. They got slimy, I hate slimy rocks, so I threw in a penny to see if the copper would kill the slime. Now they have a rough surface so I will probably have to put them back in rough grind for a little while, I'm not sure why that happened. A while back I read that the rock should be kept wet so the grit doesn't turn to cement but these rocks were perfectly smooth so no grit was trapped, so I'm guessing it's not necessary to keep them wet. Up until I read that I always let them dry.
Thanks, Andrea
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,563
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Post by jamesp on Feb 27, 2015 10:04:16 GMT -5
I would leave them wet. If they get slimy the tumbler will remove the slime. As mentioned, most rocks have small fractures that slurry can cement up and be hard to remove. You can put a pinch of copper sulfate in the water and there will be no slime, or add more pennies if one does not do the job. It depends on the rocks and how many fractures and voids are in them. I store them in water and add Dawn. Soap is good, helps weaken concretions.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,711
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Post by Fossilman on Feb 27, 2015 10:04:56 GMT -5
I soak and clean my rocks with Dawn dish soap after each course of grit,than hot water.....Than let them dry...
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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, 2015 12:10:17 GMT -5
I do both. The slimy stuff will rinse off in hot water. As for the rough surface, I've seen that before. Try to scratch it off with a fingernail, may just be calcium or some other soft mineral from the water. That's what I had. After I realized it was soft I just put them into the 220. Didn't seem to hurt anything.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Feb 27, 2015 15:57:51 GMT -5
I have never kept my rocks wet after the first stage. When my rocks come out of the first stage, they usually don't have any large pits or cracks for anything to dry up in. It think letting rocks dry out in later stages is a much bigger problem than after the first stage.
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meviva
Cave Dweller
Member since July 2013
Posts: 1,474
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Post by meviva on Feb 28, 2015 11:22:01 GMT -5
I do both. The slimy stuff will rinse off in hot water. As for the rough surface, I've seen that before. Try to scratch it off with a fingernail, may just be calcium or some other soft mineral from the water. That's what I had. After I realized it was soft I just put them into the 220. Didn't seem to hurt anything. I thought it was probably calcium. It's not coming off too easily, so maybe I'll toss them in a barrel for a day at the end of a rough run. Andrea
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SirRoxalot
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 790
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Post by SirRoxalot on Mar 4, 2015 12:05:29 GMT -5
I'm sure the coating is nothing to worry about, proceed with the tumble as you would normally. I never store stuff wet, it's just not practical.
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