jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Sept 18, 2015 8:22:17 GMT -5
Most people here use 500-1000-14,000 aluminum oxide beckybee. Great general purpose abrasive. About guaranteed for silica based rocks. Darn good for others. Cheap and effective. White/grey/light brown in color.
Most folks here probably purchase it from The Rock Shed here in the states. Theirs has a proven track record.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2015 9:29:24 GMT -5
Greetings [beckybee] and [boutoo] my reason for calling most of your rocks Leverites is simply because they look porous and most likely suck-up water like a sponge. I will be sending [beckybee] a package containing; 1: (£16.50, US$25.66) 2.85kg (6.283lb) of Rose Quartz (Moh's 7.0) tumbling pieces. 2: (£03.50, US$05.44) 500g (1.1lb) Rose Quartz (Moh's 7.0) media. 3: (£04.60, US$07.15) 2kg (4.4lb) F80 Silicon Carbide grit (per Kg (2.2lb), £02.30 US$03.57). 4: (£09.00, US$13.99) 300g (10.582oz) F600 Silicon Carbide grit. 5: (£05.00, US$07.77) 250g (8.818oz) Lortone's Aluminum Oxide 1.0 micron (equivalent to 25,000 grit) polish. 6: (£16.40, US$25.50) ParcelFarce delivery 48hour: Bonnybridge Monday 21 Sep 15 anytime between 15:00 - 17:00 GMT. Delivery in Whales Wednesday 23 Sep 15 anytime between 09:00 - 17:00 GMT. Total (£55.00, US$85.54) Weight 7kg (15.432lb) [boutoo] Sodium Sesquicarbonate is unperfumed bath salts (Radox bath salts), what you need is "Borax Ph Eur" Brand, "Sodium Borate (JAN)" Ingredient or rock soap it is made by Canton Pharmaceuticals, I just ordered two packs 500g (1.1lb) at my local independent chemist today, at £08.50, US$13.22 Please check out my Sticky's below. -- Please click images to open larger images in a new Tab, same with everything that is Underlined! I currently have a 3lb Beach (UK), Lortone QT 12/66 (USA) rotaries & 2x Viking Vibrasonic (Diamond Pacific) (USA) virbrating tumblers, with Silicon Carbide grit F80, F220, F600, F1200, with Tin Oxide (1.0 micron) & Aluminum Oxide (1.0 micron & 0.3 micron) polishes. I hail from (The Barony of Seabegs) Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire, U.K, where aliens (15mb) sometimes come for a visit & about 4 miles west from that monstrosity & 7 miles west of this new monstrosity! Sticky's: their contents are resource information 1#: Vendors worldwide (2mb), 2#: How to use the forum, 3#: How to identify rocks & minerals, 4#: Save money on expensive grits & polishes, 5#: Aussie Lapidary Forum: Rock Tumbling Guide!
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Intheswamp
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Member since September 2015
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Post by Intheswamp on Sept 18, 2015 10:37:32 GMT -5
Good show, Andrew, that is very kind and generous of you. And, I can somewhat understand now why you made your original statement regarding leaverites. You perceived them to be possibly porous and porous rocks would hide grit in them and contaminate later polish stages. Have you had experience with rocks such as these and from this area before?
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Post by captbob on Sept 18, 2015 10:53:28 GMT -5
That's about 5 bucks a pound for the rose quartz. Decent price. The AO polish @ 1.0 micron is more like 14,000 grit than 25k, but it is a fine polish for hard rocks. Rose quartz can be a tough tumble beckybee as it is more often than not quite fractured. Looking forward to seeing your tumbling adventures in photos!
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boutoo
having dreams about rocks
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Post by boutoo on Sept 18, 2015 11:35:30 GMT -5
beckybee I meant the natural pits in the stones, not drilled ones. I haven't been brave enough to experiment with drilling as yet, although I have a couple of tuts bookmarked on my Pinterest page. Your lapidary kit needs to have 1 black & 1 white tile (both matt), a nail & vinegar so that you can test the hardness of your stones before tumbling them & for stones that have different hardnesses, tumble for the softest part of the stone (I think this helps with undercutting). I have NO clue about chromium Oxide. However.....what I'm learning FAST is that Rock Shed (US) seem to be best for grits & polishes - Little Gems didn't tell me which polish they sent me, but it's white so could be either tin or zinc. They've also kept me waiting over 2 weeks for barrels, so I'm not impressed with their service. andrew highly recommended Northern Minerals & Creetown to me & he knows what he's talking about. For plastic pellets, you can get them for toy guns You can get smaller barrels that will fit on your 5lb machine pretty easily, just remember that rubber are 3 times the price of plastic ones (but last a LOT longer if you care for them properly - see Shelbeeray's tut) & most people advise having at least one separate one for polish only & later keeping separate ones for each stage. As I in does tries! Ahhhhhhh some of mine are, but not all & I'm planning to do the porous ones on their own once I have my home made machine set up (will take a while) Awwwwww I didn't get a newbie prezzie j/k That was very kind of you & I'll look out for the other kind of borax next month The shop that sells the one I bought sells it for laundry only. I'm saving my big piece of rose quartz for when I have a better idea of what I'm doing captbob would demin be good media for cushioning quartz? If not, what would you & jamesp recommend?
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,563
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Post by jamesp on Sept 18, 2015 11:58:53 GMT -5
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Post by captbob on Sept 18, 2015 12:20:06 GMT -5
boutoo, I considered using denim once but figured that it would end up all globbing together. Is globbing a word? Anyway, never tried it. How about tile spacers (used to set tiles) should be able to pick them up easily enough over there. Like so- come in bags with hundreds in a bag
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boutoo
having dreams about rocks
Member since August 2015
Posts: 62
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Post by boutoo on Sept 18, 2015 12:20:23 GMT -5
Never did a clean out on these after SiC 220 in the rotary. This means you began normally with F80 SiC & clay, yes? How long for? AO 500 AO 1000 and AO 14,000 added with no slurry changes, no virgin clay added. So, 220 for ?? time & then just add the different grades of AO + top up water? 3 weeks in each, heavy clay slurry slowed fine grit stages, but eliminated all frosting problems. OMG Slooooooooooowwww!! Thicker slurry would be roughly McD's milkshake thickness or....?
Waiting waiting for polish cycle. After 10 days it started getting the shine going on.
Needed 3 weeks in each stage. Hard rocks slow to achieve each finish, soft rocks slow to polish.
A bit of water was added along the 9 week process if the slurry got too thick.
Slurry intentionally thicker than what most would run.
Hard PVC barrels seem bad about frosting, so the thick slurry.
Did you use any media at all?
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boutoo
having dreams about rocks
Member since August 2015
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Post by boutoo on Sept 18, 2015 12:26:47 GMT -5
captbob I saw somewhere that denim is best used dry? Maybe it's for vibes only, I don't know I have some tile spacers ready for when I need them ThinksMaybe find some old leather scraps instead of denim for wet polishing delicate stones? Weeeeeeellll, if I can call my kitty liter slurry 'goop', I think you can say denim might glob together nodsnodsnods
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,563
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Post by jamesp on Sept 18, 2015 12:41:56 GMT -5
Never did a clean out on these after SiC 220 in the rotary. This means you began normally with F80 SiC & clay, yes? How long for?AO 500 AO 1000 and AO 14,000 added with no slurry changes, no virgin clay added. So, 220 for ?? time & then just add the different grades of AO + top up water?3 weeks in each, heavy clay slurry slowed fine grit stages, but eliminated all frosting problems. OMG Slooooooooooowwww!! Thicker slurry would be roughly McD's milkshake thickness or....?Waiting waiting for polish cycle. After 10 days it started getting the shine going on. Needed 3 weeks in each stage. Hard rocks slow to achieve each finish, soft rocks slow to polish. A bit of water was added along the 9 week process if the slurry got too thick. Slurry intentionally thicker than what most would run. Hard PVC barrels seem bad about frosting, so the thick slurry. Did you use any media at all?80 grit not so thick, enough clay to make chocolate milk shake. Run till you are happy with shape. 220 grit McD shake consistency, for 10 days. Yes, a thick McD milkshake for 500/1000/14,000. Maybe a little thicker. 3 weeks each. Probably could have cut 1000 and 14,000 to 12 days. sorta used media, 30% large pea sized granite gravel, and a good balance rose quartz sizes.
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boutoo
having dreams about rocks
Member since August 2015
Posts: 62
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Post by boutoo on Sept 18, 2015 13:27:15 GMT -5
Never did a clean out on these after SiC 220 in the rotary. This means you began normally with F80 SiC & clay, yes? How long for?AO 500 AO 1000 and AO 14,000 added with no slurry changes, no virgin clay added. So, 220 for ?? time & then just add the different grades of AO + top up water?3 weeks in each, heavy clay slurry slowed fine grit stages, but eliminated all frosting problems. OMG Slooooooooooowwww!! Thicker slurry would be roughly McD's milkshake thickness or....?Waiting waiting for polish cycle. After 10 days it started getting the shine going on. Needed 3 weeks in each stage. Hard rocks slow to achieve each finish, soft rocks slow to polish. A bit of water was added along the 9 week process if the slurry got too thick. Slurry intentionally thicker than what most would run. Hard PVC barrels seem bad about frosting, so the thick slurry. Did you use any media at all?80 grit not so thick, enough clay to make chocolate milk shake. Run till you are happy with shape. 220 grit McD shake consistency, for 10 days. Yes, a thick McD milkshake for 500/1000/14,000. Maybe a little thicker. 3 weeks each. Probably could have cut 1000 and 14,000 to 12 days. sorta used media, 30% large pea sized granite gravel, and a good balance rose quartz sizes. This is the special stone & I have loads of much smaller pieces of clear quartz I can put in with it. I don't want to break it up if I don't have to & am praying hard that it isn't cracked inside I know I'm not skilled enough just yet, but I'll get there & I have some other bigger granite looking stones that I can practice with using pebbles to fill with. I thought granite would be too harsh for quartz??? I think I have some, not sure....substitute if I can't find any please? Thanks loads
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Sept 18, 2015 15:04:38 GMT -5
Granite fine with all quartz for media boutoo. It is just softer felspar and mica and then plain quartz. It will round off faster than pure quartz. And add to slurry a bit faster. I just use it because it is the rock of choice for road gravel here. The lower set of photos is granite I stole off the local railroad tracks when working the chain gang not really(the chain gang thing). But can not get a good polish on granite, the ones in the photo are wet. pink = felspar white = quartz black = mica Georgia has smoking good granite. Granitoids: www.flickr.com/photos/67205364@N06/sets/72157656279758379I think captbob's recipe is faster for rose quartz. Using the media. The rose quartz link I shared was an experiment to add 500-1000-14,000 w/out a clean out. With the clay thing. Albeit, it worked.
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boutoo
having dreams about rocks
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Posts: 62
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Post by boutoo on Sept 18, 2015 16:34:55 GMT -5
I remember those from when I first came here....granite is a favourite for public/corporate buildings here, so I know it can shine up to a mirror shine, but if I remember correctly from school it's one of the hardest to work with. I'll see what I can find next time I go down to the river I have plenty of normal gravel in my garden if I can't find any, but I think there might be a lot of flint....not sure until I look
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Post by pauls on Sept 18, 2015 18:14:29 GMT -5
Tile spacers, what a brilliant idea.
Don't use Chrome Oxide, it is seriously messy stuff, great polish for Cabochons but too much mess for loads of tumbled rocks.
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beckybee
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Member since September 2015
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Post by beckybee on Sept 18, 2015 18:37:35 GMT -5
Wow - great info guys - thank you! I have been browsing all sorts on these forums and this is brilliant. jamesp - amazing photos - not just of the granite, but I am amazed with those coral pictures too.... And lovely clear sharp close-ups... wish I could do photos like that - you have a macro lens I presume? (jealous) boutoo - why the denim or leather scraps or tile spacers? Is this for the polish stage only? For cushioning? And why not the plastic beads? I am a wee bit confused here. I noticed that when I used the SiC grits I got a good slurry each time, but then my unsuccessful polish stage was too liquidy and I was concerned that it shouldn't be so. So what should I be adding to it then - or do I need to? I will definately add some plastic beads to my polish stage - but would it need to be a slurry consistency as well? As I in does tries! - seriously!!?? Wow you are very kind!! I don't know what to say. Wow! Love all the info I am getting here. I can see this is actually much more of a science than I originally thought. I am a little bit scared - but mostly excited! DIOLCH YN FAWR
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2015 2:26:58 GMT -5
Greetings Ladies & Gents, [beckybee] 100% ac rydych yn croeso! = and you're welcome! [intheswamp] "porous rocks would hide grit in them and contaminate later polish stages" No Porous rocks, do not polish, the best polish would be a silk finish! [boutoo] Chromium Oxide I used it once in 1974 polishing Elie Ness Garnets (South Fife, Scotland [iant]'s backyard), boy that was really messy stuff, never again! "Little Gems didn't tell me which polish they sent me, but it's white so could be either tin or zinc." They only sell Zinc Oxide. "andrew highly recommended Northern Minerals and Creetown" Never heard of "Northern Minerals", however you probally mean Mineral Craft North and I don't recommend any company over another I just give the facts as I see them. Denim is Not used in tumbling whatsoever, it can be used as a buffing material while starting to polish cabochons by hand, usually by those whom do not have access to cabochon machines or their smallest loose grit is F400 - F600. Please check out my Sticky's below. -- Please click images to open larger images in a new Tab, same with everything that is Underlined! I currently have a 3lb Beach (UK), Lortone QT 12/66 (USA) rotaries & 2x Viking Vibrasonic (Diamond Pacific) (USA) virbrating tumblers, with Silicon Carbide grit F80, F220, F600, F1200, with Tin Oxide (1.0 micron) & Aluminum Oxide (1.0 micron & 0.3 micron) polishes. I hail from (The Barony of Seabegs) Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire, U.K, where aliens (15mb) sometimes come for a visit & about 4 miles west from that monstrosity & 7 miles west of this new monstrosity! Sticky's: their contents are resource information 1#: Vendors worldwide (2mb), 2#: How to use the forum, 3#: How to identify rocks & minerals, 4#: Save money on expensive grits & polishes, 5#: Aussie Lapidary Forum: Rock Tumbling Guide!
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Intheswamp
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Member since September 2015
Posts: 1,910
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Post by Intheswamp on Sept 20, 2015 8:56:06 GMT -5
[intheswamp] "porous rocks would hide grit in them and contaminate later polish stages" No Porous rocks, do not polish, the best polish would be a silk finish! Thanks for squaring me away on that, Andrew. Seems if they are porous, though, that the polish would embed in the pores which may in turn affect their appearance. For some nice looking rocks (like these) that can't be polished to a high degree, it seems a silk finish would be better than rough, eh? Not trying to be argumentative, but simply trying to figure it out.
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lhr
off to a rocking start
Member since August 2015
Posts: 15
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Post by lhr on Sept 20, 2015 10:14:29 GMT -5
Granite fine with all quartz for media boutoo. It is just softer felspar and mica and then plain quartz. It will round off faster than pure quartz. And add to slurry a bit faster. I just use it because it is the rock of choice for road gravel here. The lower set of photos is granite I stole off the local railroad tracks when working the chain gang not really(the chain gang thing). But can not get a good polish on granite, the ones in the photo are wet. pink = felspar white = quartz black = mica Georgia has smoking good granite. Granitoids: www.flickr.com/photos/67205364@N06/sets/72157656279758379I think captbob's recipe is faster for rose quartz. Using the media. The rose quartz link I shared was an experiment to add 500-1000-14,000 w/out a clean out. With the clay thing. Albeit, it worked.
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lhr
off to a rocking start
Member since August 2015
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Post by lhr on Sept 20, 2015 10:18:36 GMT -5
jamesp: I LOVE your granitoids. Like, why am I paying good money for rocks to polish? I guess if you want to make jewelry, certain rocks would be important, but if (like me) you just want pretty rocks this works!
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
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Post by jamesp on Sept 20, 2015 13:02:36 GMT -5
jamesp: I LOVE your granitoids. Like, why am I paying good money for rocks to polish? I guess if you want to make jewelry, certain rocks would be important, but if (like me) you just want pretty rocks this works! Not so fast lhr, granite hard to tumble polish. It under cuts bad. OK to polish/grind on a wheel, but tumbling very difficult.
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