pjtaxi
off to a rocking start
Member since November 2014
Posts: 4
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Post by pjtaxi on Mar 8, 2015 18:55:46 GMT -5
Have only tumbled a couple of batches in doulble 3 lb barrels. Went through the 4 different grades of media and the final polish has the stones glossy but all the pits are filled with the white polish. Is there a way to clean these out. Also did I not leave them in course grind long enough to get rid of the pits? These were some Lake Superior agates.
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KathyG
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since February 2015
Posts: 85
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Post by KathyG on Mar 9, 2015 6:55:11 GMT -5
Hi, I am quite new to this but I suspect that if you have any pits or grooves in your rocks at the polish stage, you definitely didn't leave them in the course grit stage long enough. I'm on my third week of my first course grit stage I've ever done and while all the stones (all different kinds of quartzes) are very rounded and smooth, many have grooves still. I put them back in and won't take them out until they are perfect. The key word for tumbling, you will always always hear, is patience.
Also, I've read that to clean anything out of any grooves or pits that may have been left on the rocks, after rinsing them from the fine grit stage, put them in water again and add maybe a TBS (?) of a cleanser like Dreft or borax and tumble for an hour or two and the soap should clean out the grooves.
I do not know if you can use the cleanser method to clean out the stones after they've been polished. But once polished, I don't think a cleanser would dull them.
I have not gotten past the course grit stage, and I'm only repeating what I've learned from reading here on the forum. Keep reading here, you will get lots of great information. Good luck!
Kathy
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,563
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Post by jamesp on Mar 9, 2015 7:57:14 GMT -5
Some rocks have pits throughout. Like pumice. So they will not tumble away no matter how much you grind them down. Just the nature of the beast. Yes, dried polish is like concrete and not easy to remove. The worst thing to do is let rocks in polish mode dry out. So avoid that, keep them wet. I use sugar with polish and the polish particles dissolves away with the sugar that gets caught in the cracks for the most part. Others 'burnish' or cleanse using a soap to clean the batch of rocks right in the barrel immediately after polish. Soap will help release the polish. Just do not let them dry out.
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,547
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Post by tkvancil on Mar 9, 2015 9:10:38 GMT -5
Many Lake Superior agates have pits, cracks or druzy pockets. A long time in coarse grit or a grinder is needed to get them out. Sometimes the pits add character and I leave them in. Sometimes I grind past them.
Once polish dries it is like cement just like James said. You can try a long soak then scrub affected areas with a tooth brush or carefully pick at it with a pin.
In the future do a burnish after the polish run. I rinse the polish off then put the rocks in a bowl of water. Put rocks back in barrel with water and a couple tbs. borax. You can also add 1/2 tbs. dreft or ivory shavings to the mix. Run this for a couple hours to overnight. Rinse off once more and back into bowl of water. You may still need to scrub out the pits at this point. Keeping it wet is the key to being able to clean all of it out.
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pjtaxi
off to a rocking start
Member since November 2014
Posts: 4
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Post by pjtaxi on Mar 9, 2015 9:47:14 GMT -5
Thanks for the info. It's great to have a place like this to answer questions and to keep newbies from being frustrated by making the same mistakes over and over.
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