georgeb138
having dreams about rocks
Member since April 2017
Posts: 68
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Post by georgeb138 on Nov 18, 2017 20:46:48 GMT -5
Got a large box of fluorite from a friend in Colorado. I was hoping to make some octahedrons. But I don't think I have the quality needed for that. Any suggestions what to do with this stuff?
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Post by vegasjames on Nov 18, 2017 20:49:06 GMT -5
I would start with cabbing a scrap piece to see how stable it is and what it looks like polished.
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georgeb138
having dreams about rocks
Member since April 2017
Posts: 68
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Post by georgeb138 on Nov 18, 2017 20:49:42 GMT -5
I would start with cabbing a scrap piece to see how stable it is and what it looks like polished. No slab saw, no lap equipment. ðŸ˜
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Post by vegasjames on Nov 19, 2017 0:32:12 GMT -5
I would start with cabbing a scrap piece to see how stable it is and what it looks like polished. No slab saw, no lap equipment. 😠You could donate it all to me and I can slab and cab it. Fluorite is soft enough that you can create a flat surface by rubbing it on a sidewalk. The polish it up with some medium and fine sanding sponges and superfine sandpaper. If it is nice material then there are options such as swapping for other materials or working out a trade for someone to slab and/or cab or tumble the material in exchange for a percentage. On the Facebook swap board the normal trade is the person doing the work keeps 60% of the finished material and sends back 40%. Or put it up on Ebay with pics of what it will look like polished.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2017 10:03:57 GMT -5
What about that material makes one say it's fluorite? No color? no cubes?
Just curious
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georgeb138
having dreams about rocks
Member since April 2017
Posts: 68
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Post by georgeb138 on Nov 19, 2017 13:14:08 GMT -5
What about that material makes one say it's fluorite? No color? no cubes? Just curious
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georgeb138
having dreams about rocks
Member since April 2017
Posts: 68
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Post by georgeb138 on Nov 19, 2017 13:17:29 GMT -5
What about that material makes one say it's fluorite? No color? no cubes? Just curious
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georgeb138
having dreams about rocks
Member since April 2017
Posts: 68
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Post by georgeb138 on Nov 19, 2017 13:19:25 GMT -5
What about that material makes one say it's fluorite? No color? no cubes? Just curious Board is being dumb and won't let me upload photos. There is color. And some cubing. I'll try again soon. But I think I am gonna use an angle grinder on the larger stuff to cut/grind the rough off. And some polishing wheels and see if I can make some display pieces.
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georgeb138
having dreams about rocks
Member since April 2017
Posts: 68
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Post by georgeb138 on Nov 19, 2017 13:20:20 GMT -5
No slab saw, no lap equipment. 😠You could donate it all to me and I can slab and cab it. Fluorite is soft enough that you can create a flat surface by rubbing it on a sidewalk. The polish it up with some medium and fine sanding sponges and superfine sandpaper. If it is nice material then there are options such as swapping for other materials or working out a trade for someone to slab and/or cab or tumble the material in exchange for a percentage. On the Facebook swap board the normal trade is the person doing the work keeps 60% of the finished material and sends back 40%. Or put it up on Ebay with pics of what it will look like polished. I have tried to tumble fluorite before and had horrendous results. Do you have a method that you would be willing to share?
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Post by vegasjames on Nov 19, 2017 19:32:28 GMT -5
You could donate it all to me and I can slab and cab it. Fluorite is soft enough that you can create a flat surface by rubbing it on a sidewalk. The polish it up with some medium and fine sanding sponges and superfine sandpaper. If it is nice material then there are options such as swapping for other materials or working out a trade for someone to slab and/or cab or tumble the material in exchange for a percentage. On the Facebook swap board the normal trade is the person doing the work keeps 60% of the finished material and sends back 40%. Or put it up on Ebay with pics of what it will look like polished. I have tried to tumble fluorite before and had horrendous results. Do you have a method that you would be willing to share? I don't really tumble rocks. I use my tumblers primarily to clean rocks up such as allowing the softer limonite to grind off of copper ores. That would be a better question for the tumblers here.
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Post by gmitch067 on Nov 19, 2017 21:00:51 GMT -5
You could donate it all to me and I can slab and cab it. Fluorite is soft enough that you can create a flat surface by rubbing it on a sidewalk. The polish it up with some medium and fine sanding sponges and superfine sandpaper. If it is nice material then there are options such as swapping for other materials or working out a trade for someone to slab and/or cab or tumble the material in exchange for a percentage. On the Facebook swap board the normal trade is the person doing the work keeps 60% of the finished material and sends back 40%. Or put it up on Ebay with pics of what it will look like polished. I have tried to tumble fluorite before and had horrendous results. Do you have a method that you would be willing to share? What steps did you take in your last tumbling batch of fluorite that resulted in your horrendous results georgeb138? I have 3 lbs of rough fluorite (Amazon) that I intend to attack soon. jamesp has mentioned in other posts that it is a soft stone that is prone to frosting. Using Silicon Carbide grits is a death sentence. He is experimenting with softer grits, like Pumice, to see if he can realize a better shine on both fluorite and obsidian. The fluorite in your photo looks real nice... lots of purples. I am interested in your future tumbling results.
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georgeb138
having dreams about rocks
Member since April 2017
Posts: 68
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Post by georgeb138 on Nov 20, 2017 0:12:09 GMT -5
I have tried to tumble fluorite before and had horrendous results. Do you have a method that you would be willing to share? What steps did you take in your last tumbling batch of fluorite that resulted in your horrendous results georgeb138? I have 3 lbs of rough fluorite (Amazon) that I intend to attack soon. jamesp has mentioned in other posts that it is a soft stone that is prone to frosting. Using Silicon Carbide grits is a death sentence. He is experimenting with softer grits, like Pumice, to see if he can realize a better shine on both fluorite and obsidian. The fluorite in your photo looks real nice... lots of purples. I am interested in your future tumbling results. I used the SiC. And I turned a lb into less than an ounce. I have a vibratory now. I may just shape some smalls and see it I can get them to shine in the vibratory. Otherwise it's all hand work. There are some great deep purples and greens. But I am not seeing as many cube like shapes as I was hoping for. I will definitely post some more when I get into it.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
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Post by jamesp on Nov 20, 2017 4:15:28 GMT -5
The only luck I have ever had tumbling fluorite was with almost perfect unfractured fluorite. The fractured material did not fare well. I rolled it in a rotary for a few days till it was shaped using SiC. Went to vibe and ran it with a lot of media, 0-1/2 pumice and aluminum oxide 14,000(polish) in the vibe. A few turned out well, only the finest ones without any fractures. Pumice and AO I can't remember how I ran these.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Nov 20, 2017 9:34:26 GMT -5
Vibe tumbled serpentine and fluorite together in 3 to 5 micron kaolin with lots of media. The serpentine improved greatly but the fluorite was terrible. mysterious >??@#$%
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georgeb138
having dreams about rocks
Member since April 2017
Posts: 68
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Post by georgeb138 on Nov 26, 2017 20:42:22 GMT -5
Vibe tumbled serpentine and fluorite together in 3 to 5 micron kaolin with lots of media. The serpentine improved greatly but the fluorite was terrible. mysterious >??@#$% Thanks for the input! Very interesting
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georgeb138
having dreams about rocks
Member since April 2017
Posts: 68
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Post by georgeb138 on Nov 26, 2017 21:14:52 GMT -5
So you got them clean of rough rock, shaped them and then tumbled? Where would I find this pumice for tumbling? Did you do the plastic media and water? 1 tbsp of pumice and one of AO per lb?
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Nov 27, 2017 8:34:24 GMT -5
So you got them clean of rough rock, shaped them and then tumbled? Where would I find this pumice for tumbling? Did you do the plastic media and water? 1 tbsp of pumice and one of AO per lb? I tumbled 11 pounds fluorite. About 20% of it was fracture free. Like glass clear, no cracks. All the others had fractures. They tumbled terribly. I would not bother tumbling fluorite unless it is AAA grade with no fractures. I don't see any fluorite in your photo that would tumble well. I can give you a link to pumice. I ran one load with coarse pumice(0-1/2 size) and AO 14,000 mixed in. Vibe. agate media. Hinting at you not to bother
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georgeb138
having dreams about rocks
Member since April 2017
Posts: 68
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Post by georgeb138 on Dec 3, 2017 23:43:39 GMT -5
So you got them clean of rough rock, shaped them and then tumbled? Where would I find this pumice for tumbling? Did you do the plastic media and water? 1 tbsp of pumice and one of AO per lb? I tumbled 11 pounds fluorite. About 20% of it was fracture free. Like glass clear, no cracks. All the others had fractures. They tumbled terribly. I would not bother tumbling fluorite unless it is AAA grade with no fractures. I don't see any fluorite in your photo that would tumble well. I can give you a link to pumice. I ran one load with coarse pumice(0-1/2 size) and AO 14,000 mixed in. Vibe. agate media. Hinting at you not to bother I'm becoming more wary of tumbling these. I'm gonna try it with the small stuff I have but don't expect good results. It's useless otherwise though. Probably gonna shape it with an angle grinder and get some polish wheels to make display pieces, with the larger ones. Not sure what I'm gonna do with the mediums yet.
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crazysanman
starting to shine!
Member since December 2017
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Post by crazysanman on Dec 9, 2017 12:46:23 GMT -5
I'm interested in seeing what you do with this. Last weekend I collected a lot of purple and green flourite from St Peter's Dome in Colorado. It's not the most gemmy stuff but there are some nice clear parts. I'm not sure what to do with it.
BTW, the St Peter's Dome flourite is thermoluminescent. It will glow when heated but not under UV light, but if you overheat it, it won't glow anymore.
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