taryn
starting to shine!
Member since March 2016
Posts: 38
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Post by taryn on Apr 14, 2016 12:35:18 GMT -5
I posted a few days ago to another thread re getting grit out of the vugs/pits/spaces. It was suggested I post some pics and so this thread is meant to follow my progress on my first vibe tumble. Some info - I have a Lot-O and I am tumbling preforms/little slabs. I'm just kind of winging it here, reading the forum, throwing in stones with similar hardnesses, and seeing what comes out. I have learned that some of my stones were not made for tumbling, e.g. the plume agates. I really love the look of them, especially all the little caverns that are present in even thin slices, but clearly they weren't made for grit lol, as those cool little caverns quickly filled up. Per suggestions, I tried running them a little longer with borax and used a stiff bristled toothbrush to try and scrub it out. This worked for a couple. The remaining ones I let sit in water a few days until I had a chance to attack this again, sat down today with my lighted magnifier and some wooden skewers and got to work. (the skewers are pretty great, btw - the wood splits and gets fuzzy and is great for getting into the spaces that the toothbrush couldn't - not enough control there.) Anyway, I got all but 3 cleaned out. Those three have amazing little mazes of crystal pitting running through them so that you can see the grit in there but realize that it made its way in there clear from the other end of the stone. Really cool when you think about it. Not very attractive, though, and a little sad as I just cannot get to those deposits. So they are once again sitting in water until my next great idea. Ideas, discussion, anything welcome. I'm not one to put myself out there, but I realize how much expertise is on this forum and I'd love to eventually get good at this! Okay enough words, here are some pics! I don't have pre-run pics except the ones that identify each stone on my phone... let me know if you're interested in those and I'll search them out. These are after the first run of 120/220. First dry, then wet. (and they really are a lot more attractive than these amateur photos would have you believe!) Most of the stones: [/URL] [/URL] The agates I was successful at cleaning out: [/URL] [/URL] The agates that have held on to the grit: [/URL] [/URL] Hopefully the photo posting worked. Now considering what to do with the agates I was successful at cleaning. Thinking that I will keep going with them as now I have a system and know what I'm in for... and I have no other way of polishing them. And lesson learned - avoid the vugs and crystal pits in future preform orders! thanks for looking!
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Fossilman
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Member since January 2009
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Post by Fossilman on Apr 14, 2016 12:54:31 GMT -5
Not a bad experience for winging it............I did the same thing,till I finally figured it out.....We called that OJT in the Army! On The Job Training...It works great doing it that way..... Keep doing what you think you need (or) should do with the tumbling.... I guess that's my two cents worth....
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Apr 14, 2016 13:12:58 GMT -5
Coming along just fine. I like the green one top right of first photo. That will be a nice tumbled pendant. How much ceramic media are you using with this batch?
Chuck
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taryn
starting to shine!
Member since March 2016
Posts: 38
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Post by taryn on Apr 14, 2016 15:15:22 GMT -5
Coming along just fine. I like the green one top right of first photo. That will be a nice tumbled pendant. How much ceramic media are you using with this batch? Chuck Do you mean the green oval (nephrite jade) or the drilled triangle (lemon chrysoprase - it's yellow but not sure how my pics are rendering). I have about 3 pounds ceramic in there give or take. I'm trying to keep it 3/4 full.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Apr 14, 2016 15:19:03 GMT -5
Coming along just fine. I like the green one top right of first photo. That will be a nice tumbled pendant. How much ceramic media are you using with this batch? Chuck Do you mean the green oval (nephrite jade) or the drilled triangle (lemon chrysoprase - it's yellow but not sure how my pics are rendering). I have about 3 pounds ceramic in there give or take. I'm trying to keep it 3/4 full. I was talking about the lemon chrysoprase. Sounds like you are all set on ceramic too. That is a good amount for tumbling slabbettes and cabs. Should yield great results. Chuck
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taryn
starting to shine!
Member since March 2016
Posts: 38
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Post by taryn on Apr 14, 2016 15:23:12 GMT -5
Do you mean the green oval (nephrite jade) or the drilled triangle (lemon chrysoprase - it's yellow but not sure how my pics are rendering). I have about 3 pounds ceramic in there give or take. I'm trying to keep it 3/4 full. I was talking about the lemon chrysoprase. Sounds like you are all set on ceramic too. That is a good amount for tumbling slabbettes and cabs. Should yield great results. Chuck Great thanks for the feedback, Chuck!
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taryn
starting to shine!
Member since March 2016
Posts: 38
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Post by taryn on Apr 19, 2016 12:18:01 GMT -5
Update! After cleaning out from the 500 stage, I completely forgot to take pictures before throwing them into polish. They were pretty and felt silky. :-) I switched to a new barrel for polish and ran them for 2 days. I have just now finished cleaning out the beloved caverns that several have and here are some pics. Shown wet, but I took a couple and dried them off - I think the pics show the nice shine that has developed. [/URL] Here are my problem children. Though, like many problem children, it's really not their fault... ;-) [/URL] Here are a couple dry: [/URL] [/URL] Now into borax per several forum recommendations... I have a couple more lessons learned... the most embarrassing has to do with grit amounts. I read the Lot-o instructions 3 or 4 times (yes, that's how I roll) but for some reason totally disregarded them and followed instructions for a different, higher capacity machine that I do not own. Which means I used 3-4 tablespoons of 120/220 and of 500. I have no excuse for my behavior, except toddler-induced sleep deprivation... that counts, right? Anyway, as far as I can tell, this resulted in much more volume loss than I expected. Then again, since I haven't done this "right" even once, yet, who knows if my "expectations" are at all valid anyway. For polish I used 1/2 teaspoon. Another lesson is to pay more attention to what I'm putting in there. To this point, I have pictures of my preforms laid out and labelled on 8x10 sheets of paper. The pics show one side only and are not close-ups - they show no detail. I think I will do more the next time around, as several seem chipped/fractured now and I don't believe they were beforehand. I can't be sure, though, since these were rough preforms that I did nothing to before tossing them in the barrel... so in the future, I will note individual stone characteristics at the outset. Okay, waiting for the borax run to complete and I will update again then!
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taryn
starting to shine!
Member since March 2016
Posts: 38
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Post by taryn on Apr 20, 2016 11:40:35 GMT -5
Final Update, done with borax burnish: Overall, I think my first vibe tumble went well. Some hits, some misses. Some pics: [/URL] Some of my faves: [/URL] [/URL] This one is just cool (it's not really that milky - just short of transparent in real life): [/URL] Can't seem to get a good pic of this one, lots more depth than the pic shows: [/URL] Some issues: The jade and lemon chrysoprase did not polish at all and look pretty tore up. I have read that jade can be difficult, but I am somewhat mystified by the chrysoprase. Please weigh in if you have any insight! [/URL] This aventurine polished nicely but it looks like something started gnawing at one of the edges. [/URL] Any comments, suggestions, anything appreciated! Thanks for looking!! (... and look... I have a new batch ready to get started...) ***tried to make these pics more user-friendly - hope it worked!***
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taryn
starting to shine!
Member since March 2016
Posts: 38
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Post by taryn on Apr 20, 2016 11:48:26 GMT -5
Okay so photobucket crops and resizes when it wants to, regardless of whether I pressed save or what shows in my account. Sorry for the monster pics... again!
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Intheswamp
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Post by Intheswamp on Apr 20, 2016 14:26:09 GMT -5
Okay so photobucket crops and resizes when it wants to, regardless of whether I pressed save or what shows in my account. Sorry for the monster pics... again! Try www.flickr.com
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taryn
starting to shine!
Member since March 2016
Posts: 38
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Post by taryn on Apr 20, 2016 18:37:14 GMT -5
Will do, thanks!
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Intheswamp
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Post by Intheswamp on Apr 20, 2016 19:50:42 GMT -5
By the way, nice rocks. Yeah, I run into things that simply don't polish with the rest of them. I'm just learning, too, so things are pretty much a crap shoot for me. I like the bluish-gray one with the icey looking edge to it...the one you said was somewhat translucent...interesting rock. I also like the striped ones. Keep at it, you're doing good!
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Post by victor1941 on Apr 20, 2016 20:23:13 GMT -5
Taryn, you have made a really good start. I also work with plume and other materials where grit and/or polish gets lodged in cracks or voids and is hard to remove. Some RTH members suggested and I purchased a Bab's spot cleaning gun(WS-170A) as an aid in cleaning. This machine will produce a very fine powerful needle spray that really works in cleaning. The spray is so strong that it will sting if you hit the skin when holding the rock to be cleaned.
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taryn
starting to shine!
Member since March 2016
Posts: 38
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Post by taryn on Apr 20, 2016 20:38:45 GMT -5
By the way, nice rocks. Yeah, I run into things that simply don't polish with the rest of them. I'm just learning, too, so things are pretty much a crap shoot for me. I like the bluish-gray one with the icey looking edge to it...the one you said was somewhat translucent...interesting rock. I also like the striped ones. Keep at it, you're doing good! Thank you - I appreciate it!
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taryn
starting to shine!
Member since March 2016
Posts: 38
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Post by taryn on Apr 20, 2016 20:44:09 GMT -5
Taryn, you have made a really good start. I also work with plume and other materials where grit and/or polish gets lodged in cracks or voids and is hard to remove. Some RTH members suggested and I purchased a Bab's spot cleaning gun(WS-170A) as an aid in cleaning. This machine will produce a very fine powerful needle spray that really works in cleaning. The spray is so strong that it will sting if you hit the skin when holding the rock to be cleaned. Glad to hear I'm not the only one to try and tumble those plume agates! Thank you for the suggestion, that's a great idea. Some one else also suggested an air gun. I think it would be great to have something like what you have described even if I try not to mess with those agates again... Too many cool materials have pits and other areas that grab onto the grit. Thank you!
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Post by spiceman on Apr 20, 2016 21:53:05 GMT -5
Good first tumble, good choice of rocks. Mistakes are a learning tool, if you never make a mistake sometimes, it hard to learn.
About the cleaning, someone suggested a ultrasonic cleaner to remove that hard to reach grit. Never tried it yet but it sounded Like a good option.
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Post by victor1941 on Apr 21, 2016 9:20:14 GMT -5
Taryn, it might take both the ultrasonic and the Bab's spot cleaner to get grit or polish from the deeper recesses of a cavity.
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taryn
starting to shine!
Member since March 2016
Posts: 38
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Post by taryn on Apr 21, 2016 11:18:02 GMT -5
spiceman & victor1941 thanks! I saw the ultrasonic cleaner as well... i need to do some research.
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