nchillbilly
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2018
Posts: 212
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Post by nchillbilly on Feb 27, 2018 23:33:58 GMT -5
Good evening all. Hoping someone out there can point me in the right direction. I've been working on a small batch of amazonite, and am currently in the final polish stage. They have been running in this stage for a week and a half, and they don't show a bit of shine. Here's my set-up: Thumler ar-2 , barrel filled 35-40 percent with stone, topped off with worn large and small ceramic cylinders with 2mm ceramic spheres. 5 tbsp of txp polish, and water to just below top level of fill. I have a nice frothy slurry, but no shine. What am I doing wrong? I just finished a load of labradorite last week in the other barrel, and they came out looking like they were wet! They had a terrific shine, and it is my understanding that labradorite is slightly softer than the amazonite. HELP.
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Post by gmitch067 on Feb 28, 2018 1:28:47 GMT -5
Just started 2.5 lb load in a Lortone 3A of Amazonite - 1 wk in 80 grit so far. I am interested in following this thread to get more info. Thank you nchillbilly. Back in June 2017 I tumbled another 2.5 lb load of the same - purchased from Amazon... also in a rotary Lortone 3A. On completion of the polish stage, it did not take anything more than a slightly satin shine using Tin Oxide polish. I took the same batch of Amazonite and ran them in a UV-10 vibe - 2 days in 1200 SiC grit followed with 2 days of Cerium Oxide polish... it came out the same dull satin shine... VERY frustrating! They were smooth and had good color, and the neighborhood kids quickly ran off with them all. Still... no shine. Back in 2017, I used the following procedures for my rotary 3A tumbler: (all grits are Silicon Carbide graded. I used small and large ceramics as filler for Stages 2-5) Stage-1 80 grit for 6 weeks - nice shape Stage-2 220 grit 2 weeks Stage-3 600 grit 1 week Stage-4 1200 grit 1 week Stage-5 Polish (Tin Oxide) 2 weeks Back then I did not know about using 1 Tbs.Borax in the Stages 3,4, or 5). I would recommend it's use. Glenn
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nchillbilly
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2018
Posts: 212
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Post by nchillbilly on Feb 28, 2018 22:20:37 GMT -5
Good to hear from you GMITCH. I'll try to keep you abreast of what I'm doing to try to get these things to shine. I just opened the barrel and took everything out and cleaned everything. I'm going to run them for another week and a half, at least, using the same ceramic media as before, but I'm using 5 tbsp of tin oxide this time. If after a week or two I don't see any improvement, the only other thing I can think to use would be cerium oxide.
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Post by Pat on Feb 28, 2018 23:32:02 GMT -5
Sorry I cannot help you, but there are many tumbling pros here.
Welcome!
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Post by gmitch067 on Feb 28, 2018 23:52:30 GMT -5
A lot of members are choosing to go with Aluminum Oxide 500 grit (AO-500) for Stage-3, followed by AO-1000 (especially for softer stones), and then AO-14,000 for polish. It is cheaper than using Silicon Carbide grits... and MUCH cheaper than using Tin Oxide and Cerium Oxide polishes. I just recently started to use the Aluminum Oxide products and 'am impressed with the results. 5 TBS is a bit over-kill on the polish... but not bad either... just more $$$.
Glenn
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nchillbilly
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2018
Posts: 212
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Post by nchillbilly on Mar 1, 2018 18:56:07 GMT -5
Here's the breakdown of what I've used up to this point: 2 weeks in 60/90 grit sic 1 week in 120/220 grit sic 1 week in 500 grit sic 1 week in 1000 AO 1 and 1/2 weeks in TXP just started last night(2/21) in Tin oxide
I'm going to run it for a while and see what happens. The barrel is 85 to 90% full, so I feel like the pack should be sufficient. Plenty of well worn ceramic cylinders of various sizes and plenty of 2mm ceramic spheres. I'll let you know.
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inbtb
Cave Dweller
Member since May 2016
Posts: 351
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Post by inbtb on Mar 2, 2018 9:24:02 GMT -5
Here's the breakdown of what I've used up to this point: 2 weeks in 60/90 grit sic 1 week in 120/220 grit sic 1 week in 500 grit sic 1 week in 1000 AO 1 and 1/2 weeks in TXP just started last night(2/21) in Tin oxide I'm going to run it for a while and see what happens. The barrel is 85 to 90% full, so I feel like the pack should be sufficient. Plenty of well worn ceramic cylinders of various sizes and plenty of 2mm ceramic spheres. I'll let you know. That seems to be a rather large load. Might want to cut load back to about 75% or a little less.
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nchillbilly
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2018
Posts: 212
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Post by nchillbilly on Mar 2, 2018 11:24:33 GMT -5
Thanks for the tip. I'll let them run for a couple of days and see if there is any improvement. If there isn't, I'll take some of the ceramic media out and run them some more.
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nchillbilly
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2018
Posts: 212
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Post by nchillbilly on Mar 2, 2018 22:42:35 GMT -5
Good evening from N.C. Just wanted to give an update on the progress of the amazonite that I've been trying to get to shine. I just checked them after 2 days running in the tin oxide ( I mis-typed my start date in my earlier post. It was supposed to be 2/28). I am very encouraged in how they're looking after the short amount of time they've been running. I can see the shine starting to develop. It's the best they've looked so far. I'm going to check again in a couple of days. Report to come. Thanks for the tips. BTW, where are you folks getting the 14000 aluminum oxide? That sounds like something I'd like to try. I've got more stones on the softer side that might benefit from that polish.
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Post by grumpybill on Mar 3, 2018 7:14:30 GMT -5
BTW, where are you folks getting the 14000 aluminum oxide? I (and several others) get it from The Rock Shed. It's their standard AO polish.
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nchillbilly
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2018
Posts: 212
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Post by nchillbilly on Mar 3, 2018 10:25:46 GMT -5
Thanks, Grumpybill. Turns out I already have a couple of pounds of that, just didn't know that's what it was. I buy a lot of my grit and polish from them, just somehow missed that their a/o polish was graded 14000.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,711
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Post by Fossilman on Mar 3, 2018 11:45:02 GMT -5
I had to move to Cerium Oxide on some of my polishing... It works great!
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nchillbilly
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2018
Posts: 212
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Post by nchillbilly on Mar 3, 2018 12:33:51 GMT -5
I don't currently have any cerium oxide, but had figured on getting some to have, just in case. I have a batch of gorgeous mahogany obsidian and thought it may be necessary to use cerium oxide for that. I'll give the 14000 a/o a shot first, just to see.
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nchillbilly
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2018
Posts: 212
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Post by nchillbilly on Mar 7, 2018 17:59:31 GMT -5
Good evening. well, it's been a week since I put the amazonite in tin oxide to run. I'll have to say, I'm getting excited. The shine is developing very well. I'll probably let them run 2 or 3 days more, and they should be finished. If I can figure out how to add pics to my posts, I'll do that. Thanks for all of the helpful tips. This can be an exasperating hobby sometimes, but is also very rewarding when things work out.
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nchillbilly
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2018
Posts: 212
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Post by nchillbilly on Mar 9, 2018 21:30:44 GMT -5
Good evening from NC. Just wanted to wrap up on the amazonite saga. Took them out tonight(3/9), cleaned them up, and they turned out great. Probably not award winners, but I'm pleased with them. Nice, wet look finish. I think with my set-up and mixture, the tin-oxide worked very well. They ran for a week and a half. My only regret is that I didn't let them run in stage 2 as long as I should have. Once they shined up, I could see a few random grind marks, but it's nothing I'll lose sleep over. I'll start checking my rocks better during the stage 2 tumble from now on.
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