lloydsjourney
off to a rocking start
Member since May 2017
Posts: 1
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Post by lloydsjourney on May 30, 2017 16:50:06 GMT -5
Hello everyone,
I am new to tumbling and have a lortone double tumbler 33b.
Everything looks great wet but when dry it lacks lustre. I tried to load pictures but site is telling me I can't.
What are the keys to getting tigers eye and lapis lazuli to keep their "wet" look?
Sincerely,
Lloyd
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Post by aDave on May 30, 2017 18:15:35 GMT -5
Hi Lloyd, welcome. If you don't mind, would you please detail the steps you took during your tumbling process (different grits, time in stages, types of rocks, what you're doing to clean, and so forth)? That will really help, as things can go "wrong" a number of different ways. As far as photos, you can't add attachments directly. You'll have to use a photo hosting service like Photobucket, Flickr, or similar. The site's admin Tommy is currently testing a new service that he is building which avoids many commercial site pitfalls. Dave
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Post by coloradocliff on May 31, 2017 0:27:41 GMT -5
Plus 1 adave, A recipe of what and how you are doing it Lloyd, would help greatly especially wo pictures.
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Post by coloradocliff on May 31, 2017 0:28:45 GMT -5
By the way welcome to the forum and hope you will get to know and like the many great people in our family. Some really awesome abilities here.
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Deleted
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Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2017 13:01:23 GMT -5
I am also having this same issue. Many of my ricks are comming out looking "matte" instead of shinny.I am using the National Geographic Professional tumbler. I was using the grit and polish that comes with it, but I recently switched to a different polish. I am now using Aluminum Oxide. About half of my stones look shinny, but some of my stones such as my rose quartz and my amethyst still look matte and dull. Should I try burnishing them?
Time in steps: 1- 7 days 2-10 days 3-10 days 4 (polish)- 7 days
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Post by captbob on Jun 10, 2017 14:32:17 GMT -5
Hello lloydsjourney and @pandagem and welcome to the forum. @pandagem , I don't believe that burnishing your rose quartz or amethyst will help with your problem. It sounds to me like you may need to cushion the load for these types of rock. Meaning, they are being beat up in the tumbler so any polish you get on them gets taken right back off. Some (many) types of rocks will get "frosted" or "bruised" while tumbling. These rocks need cushioning in the barel to try to lessen such damage. Many folks (using rotary tumblers) here on the forum will add plastic beads to the finer stages of grit and then also to the polish stage to help keep the rocks from beating against each other while being tumbled. You can get such plastic beads all over the place. The Rock Shed (http://therockshed.com/) has 'em, as do most other lapidary supply shops. eBay is another place to find them. Some have other things they use as filler to cushion the load. Those small tile spacers (available at Home Depot etc) can be used if you don't want to wait on ordering something from the internet. Ceramic media can be used after the coarse grit run to help cushion the load if needed. Also, you need to throw the rock tumbling instruction book out the window! Rocks are ready to move to the next stage when they are ready, not in a set amount of days. The coarse grit run can last weeks or even months - 7 days ain't gonna do it unless you are tumbling the softers types of stones. Again, welcome. Lots of folks here to help out and answer any questions!
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Deleted
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Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2017 14:47:29 GMT -5
captbob Thanks! Can you reuse the plastic beads, or is that something that is one use only? And I should seperate the quartz and similar rocks and run them in their own run? Will it be OK to try and polish the ones that are bruised or are they ruined (not really, I kind of like the frosted look, but I also want some that are shinny).
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Post by captbob on Jun 10, 2017 15:48:48 GMT -5
Oh yes, you can use them again and again. They wear out VERY slowly. Ceramic media will wear out much faster, usually after a few/several loads. I would recommend keeping the beads so that they are used in specific stages. Grit can become lodged in the beads so you don't want to use your beads from the medium grit run in your polish stage. Tupperware, baggies, whatever, just mark the container so you know what step to use them in again.
You don't really to separate rocks of similar hardness. Just make sure your barrel is full enough that they aren't beating the heck out of each other once you get past the coarse grit.
The frosted pieces can easily be saved. Just back them up a few steps - like take them back to your medium or fine grit stage (depending on their condition) and run them again. If they are already well rounded and shapes as you want them, no need to go all the way back to coarse just to remove the frosted look.
Some (usually softer) rocks will never get shiny. Or it's one heck of a fight to get them there! Just the nature of the beast. Harder types of rocks should take a shine.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2017 15:55:32 GMT -5
I think that the issue was that I had them in with other rocks like agates, jasper, and some random rocks from outside. I assume that the quartz and similar rocks are just softer than them, and should be tumbled with a like softness? I went ahead and ordered a pound of beads from amazon...And some rocks
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Post by captbob on Jun 10, 2017 17:55:14 GMT -5
I prefer to tumble one type of rock at a time, but I'm anal that way. Many (most?) here tumble mixed batches. All those rocks you mention are close in hardness, all 6 1/2 to 7 (check the Mohs scale) and should be fine to run together. Yup... you're hooked! Enjoy your new hobby addiction. Nice ears by the way!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2017 18:47:14 GMT -5
This is actually the second time I've ordered rocks from Amazon. I like them because you don't have to pay shipping if it's over 25$. However, last time I also ordered some books and they thought that it would be a good idea to ship the rocks and books in the same box. It was not a good idea and they had to replace the books.
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Post by aDave on Jun 10, 2017 19:22:15 GMT -5
@pandagem , stick with it, and you'll see results. captbob has given you some great information. Just to reiterate, you might want to adjust your first step in terms of time. If you're moving along rocks that are not ready to...well, move along...you risk the chance of carrying grit from a prior stage if the grit is stuck in cracks and crevices. Those crevices will never go away in subsequent stages, and a batch could potentially be impacted at any time down the road due to captured grit being released when you don't want it. At this point in time, I'm purely a rotary tumbler. It takes time and patience. My first stage runs for weeks, if not months, before I move rocks to the next stage. It sounds like you're tumbling rocks of the same/similar hardness. You don't have to do the same type of rocks at any one time, as long as the hardness is similar. Quartz, while hard, tends to bruise and fracture more than some other rocks of similar hardness. I happen to use plastic pellets to cushion. If you've only ordered one pound of plastic, I'd suggest you order more and use it. While the pellets can be reused, they should only be reused in the stage they were previously run in. If you fill your barrel correctly in the first stage, there's no need to use pellets. But, once the material is reduced, you will probably want to use them in every stage thereafter. I have never ordered rocks off Amazon. Some of the stuff I've collected, and other is from known sources of rock. That said, I can't say whether or not you're getting good tumbling material or not. One vendor, the Rock Shed, often has nice material and prices are good on tumbling rough and grit for your purposes. Lastly, if you really start to get into tumbling, you might want to consider a tumbler other than what you have. Some might consider it a "toy" tumbler, and there are others that offer more capacity that are well recognized in the tumbling area by name brand. If you end up having questions about those, don't hesitate to ask. Good luck with your work. Dave
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2017 20:01:41 GMT -5
aDave My orders have actually been through the rock shed, they have an Amazon store front. I will think about a different tumbler at some point in time, however right now I think that this one is doing the trick. It is much better than the plastic one that I used for my first ever tumble So to sum it up -pellets in step 3&4 -longer step one -it's not needed to separate the quartz and amethyst, but I can I had a thought- out of curiosity, can plastic bb pellets be used to cushion?
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Post by aDave on Jun 10, 2017 21:13:31 GMT -5
aDave My orders have actually been through the rock shed, they have an Amazon store front. I will think about a different tumbler at some point in time, however right now I think that this one is doing the trick. It is much better than the plastic one that I used for my first ever tumble So to sum it up -pellets in step 3&4 -longer step one -it's not needed to separate the quartz and amethyst, but I can I had a thought- out of curiosity, can plastic bb pellets be used to cushion? Didn't know the Rock Shed had an Amazon store front. Great place to deal with. Good on you for dealing with them. I use pellets in the second step and the subsequent ones as well. They're used as filler to take up any lost volume from the first stage. I've had good luck running amethyst and quartz with other stones...when I do, plastic pellets are always used. Then again, even if I'm not running those stones, I still use pellets. It helps to carry grit. I don't know about what plastic BB pellets you speak of. They may work just fine. Some folks also use plastic tile spacers to cushion. But, the nice things about pellets you might buy from places like the Rock Shed (and other rock suppliers) is that the pellets float. Makes it much easier for separation when you are doing cleanouts. Dave
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Deleted
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Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2017 10:45:57 GMT -5
So I just pulled my batch from the polish. Of the 40 rocks in the tumbler, about 19 had a shine. The shine is not amazing, so I will burnish them sometime soon- I could really see the difference in them when I rubbed them on a cloth, so I think that this will help them. The others are all bruised, and I will send most of them back once I get my pellets- some I like with the "natural" look and some are just too small. I am more encouraged, as this batch at least had SOME shine to it. My last two batches were 100% bruised and dull. In fact, as a test, I tossed one of the rocks from the previous batch in this one, and it took a polish I also definately need to send at least some of them trough step one for much longer. Live and learn I guess.
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Post by captbob on Jun 11, 2017 11:08:06 GMT -5
Live & Learn is a good motto in life and maybe a bit extra for rock tumblers! Might add Patience to that to round it out.
Round it out *snicker*
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zekester55
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 111
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Post by zekester55 on Jun 11, 2017 21:03:46 GMT -5
The Rock Shed isa a great resource. I've also had very good experiences ordering rough from these guys: gemsbymail.com
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Deleted
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Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2017 13:10:01 GMT -5
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Post by aDave on Jun 12, 2017 13:25:59 GMT -5
@pandagem , here are some instructions from an old post of mine. Hopefully they help.
... with Flickr, you have the ability to copy and paste code that works in posting photos on this site. I'll make this as brief as I can.
Go to your photostream in Flickr and click on the photo you'd like to post here. When that photo loads as a single photo, you should see a series of symbols in the lower right corner of the screen. The curved arrow is what you are looking for.
Click on the curved arrow. After doing so, you should get a screen that says, "Share 1 photo to:". Select the BBCode tab. The code you see in the box is what you will copy and place in your post to show the photo. If you don't know, ctrl+c is copy, and ctrl+v is paste. After you've copied the BBCode, all you have to do is paste it directly in your post. Oh yeah, select "medium" as the size before you copy, as that attribute should be placed in the code you copy.
So with your OP (original post), simply go edit it by deleting your old photo links and pasting in the new ones from the BBCode generator. Again, just place it directly. You don't have to select "link" or "image" from the formatting menu. Hope this helps.
Dave
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Deleted
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Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2017 14:55:55 GMT -5
Thanks Adave! Aw yea, I can post pics now
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