tarylina
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since May 2004
Posts: 84
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Post by tarylina on Jun 15, 2004 22:04:38 GMT -5
I have a 3lb Thumbler tumbler and want to know the largest size rock I can safely put into it. If I have a rock that is up to 4 inches long, is that too big?
I have large pieces of petrified wood and smaller pieces of green quartz, red jasper and agate, and I like them all so much I want to try and tumble a few of each at the same time - but not if it will ruin any of them.
Also, how much grit should I use for each stage? I'm so confused with the fractions - the grit I have simply reads "rough" "fine" "pre-polish" and "polish"
The first time I had a kit with everything pre-measured, but I had to buy in bulk last time so now I'm completely lost. This is only my second batch I'm getting ready to start, any advice would be appreciated. My first batch is horrible.
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Skipper
spending too much on rocks
Member since March 2003
Posts: 258
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Post by Skipper on Jun 15, 2004 22:44:14 GMT -5
You can try anything, but larger rocks prevent adequate circulation of grit. The manual recommends only up to an inch. I have done 2 inch rocks that have come out nicely, but they sometimes need more time to get shaped in the first stage. I don't think safety is an issue...if it will fit in the barrel you can try it, but the larger the size the harder it will be to tumble. Also note that Lortone does not recommend anything over an inch until you hit a 12lb barrel. That being said, there's lots of us loading larger rocks into the larger barrels. I'll be interested to hear what others have tried.
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tarylina
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since May 2004
Posts: 84
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Post by tarylina on Jun 15, 2004 23:02:02 GMT -5
Thanks Skipper. Not the answer I wanted, but I thought that might be the case. I guess this weekend I'll be breaking stuff!
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Post by sandsman1 on Jun 15, 2004 23:10:59 GMT -5
hi all ---i just looked at the dish pan i have that i keep filled with broken up rock for filling barrels and i see 3x3x3 size rocks in there haha but im gonna put them in a 15lb barrel for 60/90, so i dont think theres a prob when you use a small barrel it slows down the motion of the rocks when you put bigger ones in so it slows down the grind, the more they move the faster the shape --but you can try anything like skip said it will prob take longer thats all,, keep an eye on it for awile so it dont stop turning when i used the 3lb barrels i only put small stuff in maybe 2inch was the biggest
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Post by creativeminded on Jun 16, 2004 10:04:51 GMT -5
I don't know how well it is going to work, but I have a very large rock that I found that is mostly smooth and almost perfectly round, I put it in with my rose quartz, aventurine, sodalite and other stones. So far the rose quartz is shaping up nicely and I have noticed some of the rough spots on the larger rock are smoothing down nicely.
Tami
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stubby
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since April 2004
Posts: 150
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Post by stubby on Jun 16, 2004 16:39:01 GMT -5
To answer your question on amount of grit - at top of message board, click on home, once there, third or fourth topic down is "complete 4 phase...
Eric
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Trouthunter
having dreams about rocks
Member since May 2004
Posts: 63
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Post by Trouthunter on Jun 16, 2004 16:57:18 GMT -5
I don't think you are going to screw up your batch with too much or too little grit. Rough and fine use one heaping tablespoon per pound (approx). Half that, I think, for prepolish and polish. If you add too little grit, it will break down too fast and you won't be grinding anything; too much and there will still be some left when you are done grinding so you'll waste some.
At any rate, you either waste a little grit, or add some and tumble a little longer. I don't think it's a disaster either way.
Accidentally dumping an entire barrel full of slurry on your wife's brand new living room carpet - now THAT'S a disaster.
I have a rock that's a little smaller than my fist going on two weeks now in my 4 pound barrel and it doesn't seem to be hurting anything. It also doesn't seem to have ground down much at all, either, so it may be in there for a while.
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rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
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Post by rollingstone on Jun 17, 2004 4:48:14 GMT -5
Tarylina, some years ago I tumbled a big piece of smoky quartz, about the size of a small lemon, in a 3 lb. barrel, and it ended up taking a fairly good shine. Funny though, it turned out that I preferred the look of smaller stones, so I ended up smashing up the big polished stone recently (2 of them actually, run in different loads), and the remains are now sitting around as standard-sized rough waiting to be tumbled as smaller stones. I suspect that for most of those stones you mention (jasper, agate, I forget the rest) you will probably end up happier if you tumble them as standard-sized stones, rather than trying something big. The petrified wood you mention might be an exception. I'm also wondering if petrified wood might sometimes show off better big. Some of these stones have such nice displays of tree-rings, I wonder if standard-sized stones really show these off properly. So I'm also thinking of tumbling a few bigger pieces of petrified wood in my 6 lb tumber (the 3 lb-er is long dead). The only photo I have so far is of piece of p.wood (almost 3 inches wide, though no more than 1 inch thick) that has been through 10 days of 60/90 --- shown below --- this stone maybe should go in coarse grind again to clear up the rough spots. At any rate, I think it might show off the tree rings better than if I were to bust it up into smaller pieces.
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tarylina
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since May 2004
Posts: 84
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Post by tarylina on Jun 17, 2004 20:57:24 GMT -5
Rollingstone - thanks, that's kind of what I was thinking. I've decided that my second batch is going to be some of the beautiful (beautiful!) green quartz and red jasper that I got from banjocreek; plus two pieces of petrified wood from the Alamo Rock Shop that are about 2x2 each; and use aquarium rock as filler. I remember reading somewhere on this board that it worked well as a filler in the first two grinds.
The petrified wood that I bought from Alamo Rock Shop (highly recommended) is absolutely beautiful, and I agree, the bigger pieces show off the details of the tree so much better.
We'll see - any thoughts from anyone on this?
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Post by puppie96 on Jun 18, 2004 0:59:53 GMT -5
I stick larger stones in my 3lb Lortone, but only one or two (depending on just how large) in a load of the usual mix of smaller sizes.
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