fossilpeeps
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2017
Posts: 14
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Post by fossilpeeps on Oct 9, 2017 9:06:04 GMT -5
Hello All, we are new to these forums, but have been reading for some time. We live in Michigan, so my hubby and I deal with Michigan fossil rocks mostly. Finding, hand sanding, drilling, slicing, hand polishing, etc. We used to be rock, fossil and mineral vendors at rock shows. Too old to carry those heavy weights around any longer! Currently, we are learning to ROTARY TUMBLE Petoskey Stones in a Lortone 3A (3 lb.). We want to work into tumbling Cladopora and Favosite also. If there is anyone out there who has EXPERIENCE tumbling Petoskey (or Cladopora or Favosite) stones, we would sure like to hear from them! In our experience there are four categories of Petoskey stones: 1.) Stones found on the beach or in roadcuts (or in rivers) and have been smoothed by water and sand. 2.)"Surface finds" or inland roadcut finds that have never been washed or smoothed by the water and are very rough. 3.) Stones from the EAST SIDE of the Lower Peninsula (which are softer) versus those found on the WEST side of the Lower Peninsula (which are harder). 4,) Stones that have been sliced and cut into shapes, and still need smoothing, shaping and polishing. We could sure use some input from those who have actually tumbled Petoskey Stones from any of the above categories! We have a "recipe" from Shawn at The Rock Shed, and it seems to be working out well - we are only in step 2 of our first batch. We still have many questions, and instead of bugging poor Shawn (he has been VERY helpful), we were wondering if anyone here could give us more information on the process. We've already found great information on how to dispose of the used "sludge" of grit from tumbling in a forum here. We live in the city so our options are limited on where we can dump it. Again, we look forward to participating in this forum! Thanks
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Post by fantastic5 on Oct 9, 2017 9:46:41 GMT -5
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Post by TheRock on Oct 9, 2017 9:49:01 GMT -5
fossilpeeps From SW Michigan. Only been at this hobby for a couple months so I'm no help on your question. Have been PU a few of them so will be keeping an eye on this post. Jugglerguy Rob our resident Petoskey Stone expert will be along shortley to help you out. Good luck ~Duke Edit: I thought I was gonna be the first to pull the trigger but fantastic5 beat me too the punch. Oh well the main thing is Rob will be around shortly to help U. ~Duke
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Post by manofglass on Oct 9, 2017 10:15:04 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum
Walt
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Tommy
Administrator
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,673
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Post by Tommy on Oct 9, 2017 11:09:13 GMT -5
Welcome from CA. Michigan and petoskey stones are well-represented here so you definitely came to the right place!
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Post by Jugglerguy on Oct 9, 2017 15:47:36 GMT -5
I noticed that I got a message from Peeps earlier today, but just saw this thread now. I think I’ve answered the question in a P.M., but we can continue the conversation here if necessary.
Welcome Peeps!
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Post by TheRock on Oct 9, 2017 17:05:42 GMT -5
I Sure would like to know?
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Post by Jugglerguy on Oct 9, 2017 20:06:58 GMT -5
I just happened to open a load of Petoskeys today. I don't post a lot of pictures of these because they're not my best stones. I keep the best to polish by better methods. This should give you an idea of what to expect. A half way decent bigger rock. Those white specks don't show up until the polish stage. The rocks get shinier after polish, but they look better in some ways after 500. They would be best polished by hand at the end. These two small ones were probably the nicest rocks in the batch. Here's a favosite that wasn't in the group photo but was in this batch. It came out as good as the Petoskeys. fossilpeeps, in the P.M. I sent you, I told you that the favosites didn't come out as well. I was actually thinking about horn corals. They usually don't turn out as well. I don't do a lot of either though.
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fossilpeeps
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2017
Posts: 14
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Post by fossilpeeps on Oct 17, 2017 11:52:19 GMT -5
I posted the recipe I received from Shawn at The Rock Shed on how to rotary tumble polish Petoskey Stones in a Lortone 3A (3lb.) tumber, and it has worked GREAT for us. No corn cob or walnut shells were used, but he recommends using small slant cut ceramic cylinders and then 2mm ceramic beads in the final polishing stage.
My hubby and I highly recommend this easy recipe Shawn gave us. It really saves us having to purchase grinding/polishing equipment. We have even cut slabs/slices of Petoskey up into squares, triangles and other simple shapes and put them through the first stage of the recipe. It smooths the edges and gets the stones ready for the other three stages. Some of the cut stones did lose some mass because of soft spots that were in them, but 3/4 of the shapes came out fine. We are going to drill holes in these shapes - when they are finished - and make pendants out of them.
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Post by rockjunquie on Oct 17, 2017 16:09:12 GMT -5
Welcome from Virginia. Petoskey stones are so cool! There are a lot of people here from Mich. You'll get all the help you need.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Oct 17, 2017 16:10:06 GMT -5
I posted the recipe I received from Shawn at The Rock Shed on how to rotary tumble polish Petoskey Stones in a Lortone 3A (3lb.) tumber, and it has worked GREAT for us. No corn cob or walnut shells were used, but he recommends using small slant cut ceramic cylinders and then 2mm ceramic beads in the final polishing stage. My hubby and I highly recommend this easy recipe Shawn gave us. It really saves us having to purchase grinding/polishing equipment. We have even cut slabs/slices of Petoskey up into squares, triangles and other simple shapes and put them through the first stage of the recipe. It smooths the edges and gets the stones ready for the other three stages. Some of the cut stones did lose some mass because of soft spots that were in them, but 3/4 of the shapes came out fine. We are going to drill holes in these shapes - when they are finished - and make pendants out of them. Any chance you can post some pictures of your results?
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,685
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Post by Fossilman on Oct 20, 2017 12:02:58 GMT -5
Howdy and welcome........
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fossilpeeps
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2017
Posts: 14
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Post by fossilpeeps on Oct 24, 2017 11:27:26 GMT -5
I I finally figured out how to post images here. My old brain isn't so useless after all! Above are two images of the "before" and "after" of the first batch we tumble polished with the recipe we got from Shawn at The Rock Shed. Again, these stones were from the WEST side of Michigan, where the Petoskey fossilized harder than the EAST side.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Oct 24, 2017 11:41:31 GMT -5
View AttachmentView AttachmentI I finally figured out how to post images here. My old brain isn't so useless after all! Above are two images of the "before" and "after" of the first batch we tumble polished with the recipe we got from Shawn at The Rock Shed. Again, these stones were from the WEST side of Michigan, where the Petoskey fossilized harder than the EAST side. I'm not convinced that Lake Michigan fossils are harder than Lake Huron fossils. We do have some horrible Petoskeys here though. The ones from Rockport are very bad in my experience. I'm not so sure that the ones I find in the lake here are worse than the ones on the other side of the state. Could be, I'm just not sure. Those tumbled Petoskeys look great. I'm going to have to try that method. Did you buy the round ceramic or just use the normal cylinders? I'm very excited to try this out.
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Post by fantastic5 on Oct 24, 2017 11:50:07 GMT -5
View AttachmentView AttachmentI I finally figured out how to post images here. My old brain isn't so useless after all! Above are two images of the "before" and "after" of the first batch we tumble polished with the recipe we got from Shawn at The Rock Shed. Again, these stones were from the WEST side of Michigan, where the Petoskey fossilized harder than the EAST side. Beautiful stones! You nailed that polish!!!
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