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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Apr 7, 2016 18:26:23 GMT -5
These are my keepers so far after tumbling about 40 pounds of Petoskey stones for 3 days in 46/70. Some might end up going through the vibe tumbler to polish but the purpose of the three day rough tumble is to high grade them to get a better idea of which ones will be set aside for jewelry projects. Shown wet. Started with 40 pounds. Lost at least 20 percent volume tumbling and removed at least 10 pounds that did not make the cut after high grading. May have about 12-15 pounds in the photo. Thanks for looking Chuck
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Post by radio on Apr 7, 2016 18:47:23 GMT -5
Those look great!!!! Some dandy pieces in there for jewelry purposes, but a few are standouts!
What's the deal with the funky dark one at about 11 o'clock? I don't recall ever seeing one with a "flower" that large
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Apr 7, 2016 19:35:51 GMT -5
Thanks radioThat one at 11 o'clock is some other fossil that was found while hunting the others. I am not usually a fossil person but that one was cool looking. Chuck
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Post by Jugglerguy on Apr 7, 2016 19:54:03 GMT -5
Wow, you have some really nice ones there. Those are wet, right? If not, you need to give me a lesson on getting them that shiny with 46/70.
I think that one at 11:00 is a horn coral, isn't it?
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Apr 7, 2016 22:22:04 GMT -5
Wow, you have some really nice ones there. Those are wet, right? If not, you need to give me a lesson on getting them that shiny with 46/70. I think that one at 11:00 is a horn coral, isn't it? Shown wet. Would be a big pile of white rocks if they were dry. That is probably a horn coral but the it is completly encased in matrix with just the top showing. Everyone that has seen it in person has liked it. Going out of town for the weekend but planning to grab some corn cob to get a batch of these in a loto. Chuck
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Post by Toad on Apr 7, 2016 23:10:27 GMT -5
Great looking batch there. Still need to try shining up the fovosites I found while up in MI.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Apr 8, 2016 5:34:50 GMT -5
Wow, you have some really nice ones there. Those are wet, right? If not, you need to give me a lesson on getting them that shiny with 46/70. I think that one at 11:00 is a horn coral, isn't it? Shown wet. Would be a big pile of white rocks if they were dry. That is probably a horn coral but the it is completly encased in matrix with just the top showing. Everyone that has seen it in person has liked it. Going out of town for the weekend but planning to grab some corn cob to get a batch of these in a loto. Chuck I do 220 in a rotary tumbler for a 2-3 days before 500 in the Lot-O.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,562
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Post by jamesp on Apr 8, 2016 6:07:50 GMT -5
Using the tumbler to remove outside layer is a good strategy. For jewelry projects or for simply high grading future tumbles. The Florida coral has a thick softer white layer. After 3-4 days in rotary with no grit some loads go from 15 pounds to 8-9 pounds. Clean the slurry out and high grade if needed, add grit and start the grind.
I would think that the SiC 45/70 would not break down with the soft petosky stones. May be reusable for several loads. I have run several 15 pound loads one after the other using coarse SiC over and over when trying to remove the soft coating in a hurry by wetting the slurry and letting the SiC sink to the bottom in a 'semi-cleanout'. Scavenge the heavy particles at the bottom of a pan and reusing them. By pouring the contents of the rotary on a pan with a rock screen over it and flushing the slurry in the pan with clean water. Washing the slurry coated rocks off so those particles all fall into the pan also.(similar to scavenging gold, SiC is dense and does sink).
Agates will break coarse SiC down really fast, but Mohs 3-4 rocks are way slower to break it down. Same with obsidian, it is slower at breaking down coarse SiC.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Apr 8, 2016 6:24:52 GMT -5
Using the tumbler to remove outside layer is a good strategy. For jewelry projects or for simply high grading future tumbles. The Florida coral has a thick softer white layer. After 3-4 days in rotary with no grit some loads go from 15 pounds to 8-9 pounds. Clean the slurry out and high grade if needed, add grit and start the grind. I would think that the SiC 45/70 would not break down with the soft petosky stones. May be reusable for several loads. I have run several 15 pound loads one after the other using coarse SiC over and over when trying to remove the soft coating in a hurry by wetting the slurry and letting the SiC sink to the bottom in a 'semi-cleanout'. Scavenge the heavy particles at the bottom of a pan and reusing them. By pouring the contents of the rotary on a pan with a rock screen over it and flushing the slurry in the pan with clean water. Washing the slurry coated rocks off so those particles all fall into the pan also.(similar to scavenging gold, SiC is dense and does sink). Agates will break coarse SiC down really fast, but Mohs 3-4 rocks are way slower to break it down. Same with obsidian, it is slower at breaking down coarse SiC. You are correct. After 3 days the 46/70 is still 100 percent intact. Reclaiming is certainly possible but just did not justify the time an effort. Only 3 pounds of grit used to clean up 40 pounds of them so I got my $6 worth. Beats the crap out of taking every one of the rocks to a diamond wheel to high grade. On another note I get the feeling that if I was going to finish tumbling these through the next stages then 46/70 might be too harsh of a first stage. Normally on hard rocks the grit breaks down by the end of the week but with these it does not. That means they are left rougher then hard rocks because they have true 46/70 abrasions at the end of the three day run. My agate and jasper loads that same grit breaks down gradually and the end of the week they are basically running in something like 100-120. Chuck
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,562
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Post by jamesp on Apr 8, 2016 7:53:09 GMT -5
Using the tumbler to remove outside layer is a good strategy. For jewelry projects or for simply high grading future tumbles. The Florida coral has a thick softer white layer. After 3-4 days in rotary with no grit some loads go from 15 pounds to 8-9 pounds. Clean the slurry out and high grade if needed, add grit and start the grind. I would think that the SiC 45/70 would not break down with the soft petosky stones. May be reusable for several loads. I have run several 15 pound loads one after the other using coarse SiC over and over when trying to remove the soft coating in a hurry by wetting the slurry and letting the SiC sink to the bottom in a 'semi-cleanout'. Scavenge the heavy particles at the bottom of a pan and reusing them. By pouring the contents of the rotary on a pan with a rock screen over it and flushing the slurry in the pan with clean water. Washing the slurry coated rocks off so those particles all fall into the pan also.(similar to scavenging gold, SiC is dense and does sink). Agates will break coarse SiC down really fast, but Mohs 3-4 rocks are way slower to break it down. Same with obsidian, it is slower at breaking down coarse SiC. You are correct. After 3 days the 46/70 is still 100 percent intact. Reclaiming is certainly possible but just did not justify the time an effort. Only 3 pounds of grit used to clean up 40 pounds of them so I got my $6 worth. Beats the crap out of taking every one of the rocks to a diamond wheel to high grade. On another note I get the feeling that if I was going to finish tumbling these through the next stages then 46/70 might be too harsh of a first stage. Normally on hard rocks the grit breaks down by the end of the week but with these it does not. That means they are left rougher then hard rocks because they have true 46/70 abrasions at the end of the three day run. My agate and jasper loads that same grit breaks down gradually and the end of the week they are basically running in something like 100-120. Chuck Only worth while to scavenge if you have a lot of barrel's worth to run, granted. The abrasion thing, so true. For that reason soft rocks about have to have more grit steps. Find soft rocks to be a lot of work; round fast, finish slow. I suck at getting polish on soft rocks. Actually gave up on them. I do have gravel and usually running water outdoors. Makes the scavenge easy outside because it is messy. Scavenging grit from thick slurry requires a lot of clean water in a tall container with water gently overflowing for several minutes to thin the slurry. Sometimes I just set the barrel full of dirty rocks and slurry vertical and let the water run in it at a trickle for an hour or two thinning it so the grit will settle to the bottom.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,711
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Post by Fossilman on Apr 8, 2016 15:22:40 GMT -5
What can a guy say,but WOW!!!
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Post by radio on Apr 8, 2016 16:01:30 GMT -5
These are my keepers so far after tumbling about 40 pounds of Petoskey stones for 3 days in 46/70. Some might end up going through the vibe tumbler to polish but the purpose of the three day rough tumble is to high grade them to get a better idea of which ones will be set aside for jewelry projects. Shown wet. Started with 40 pounds. Lost at least 20 percent volume tumbling and removed at least 10 pounds that did not make the cut after high grading. May have about 12-15 pounds in the photo. Thanks for looking Chuck If you have more than you can use, I would be a buyer for some of the better patterned stones to turn into jewelry. I can use anything from nickel size up to half dollar if the patterns are strong not too full of pits.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Apr 9, 2016 20:15:57 GMT -5
These are my keepers so far after tumbling about 40 pounds of Petoskey stones for 3 days in 46/70. Some might end up going through the vibe tumbler to polish but the purpose of the three day rough tumble is to high grade them to get a better idea of which ones will be set aside for jewelry projects. Shown wet. Started with 40 pounds. Lost at least 20 percent volume tumbling and removed at least 10 pounds that did not make the cut after high grading. May have about 12-15 pounds in the photo. Thanks for looking Chuck If you have more than you can use, I would be a buyer for some of the better patterned stones to turn into jewelry. I can use anything from nickel size up to half dollar if the patterns are strong not too full of pits. Thanks for the offer. I have been ordering most of my Petoskey stones off ebay for the last few years and I am usually lucky to get one good cab for every ten rocks purchased. These were from my first trip hunting my own and Jugglerguy was kind enough to take me along and teach me a bit about hunting them so I'll be holding on to these ones. Chuck
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Post by radio on Apr 10, 2016 4:57:00 GMT -5
If you have more than you can use, I would be a buyer for some of the better patterned stones to turn into jewelry. I can use anything from nickel size up to half dollar if the patterns are strong not too full of pits. Thanks for the offer. I have been ordering most of my Petoskey stones off ebay for the last few years and I am usually lucky to get one good cab for every ten rocks purchased. These were from my first trip hunting my own and Jugglerguy was kind enough to take me along and teach me a bit about hunting them so I'll be holding on to these ones. Chuck I don't blame you one bit for hanging on to them! I was looking on e bay after seeing yours and most lots of rough don't look too promising. I had rather pay good money for a few good finished stones than buy a bunch and roll the dice.
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