ohthatspretty
starting to shine!
Member since March 2018
Posts: 28
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Post by ohthatspretty on Mar 18, 2018 8:25:43 GMT -5
Just looking to see if it makes sense to burnish with ivory in a vibratory tumbler after running with the 1200 aluminum oxide. Any special steps to consider?
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Post by gmitch067 on Mar 18, 2018 9:39:38 GMT -5
Cross contamination of grit is not good, so doing a burnishing rinse going from 1200 grit to polish will definitely not hurt.
(It is a bit involved and time consuming but...) At the end of each run (all stages) I add a little bit of liquid Dawn soap and a lot of water to the vibe and let it loosen up the slurry (!! Put the top back ON after adding the soap to prevent a bubble volcano!!! You Do Not want the water getting down into the MT-10 electrical connections). After 10-15 minutes I then poor the contents out into a colander to rinse the rocks off. I then scrub each rock (individually) with a toothbrush to get the grit out of the cracks and pits. After the 1200 grit run, I transfer each rock to a dedicated "polish" hopper (MT-4) for the polish run.
I now prefer to use Dawn liquid soap in a foam pump (get at any supermarket in the bar soap section) or Polmolive clear no-additive dish soap. I always had problems adding too many shavings of Ivory soap to my burnishing runs... it always managed to glob up and stop the action.
I hope this helps
Glenn
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pizzano
Cave Dweller
Member since February 2018
Posts: 1,390
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Post by pizzano on Mar 18, 2018 11:15:42 GMT -5
I use Dawn also......but not only in the polishing stages........during the last couple of days of the finishing grind cycles 400/600/800 and then during each pre-polish/polish stages.......helps loosen up any thick slurry and quickens clean-ups.
I dry burnish my agates and jaspers in the vibe with medium walnut shell after polish stages, (the Lyman vibe I use came with a nice big bowl just for dry applications).......not all the time. Some stones don't need the extra help (another couple of hours) if they polished up like glass or ice cubes......it's more of a personal preference of mine. But it helps take away any unwanted "sheen" and adds "brilliance" most of the time.
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Post by HankRocks on Mar 18, 2018 11:32:37 GMT -5
I only burnish/wash after Polish or before transferring from an SiO2 stage into an AlO stage. I use Ivory Soap bars shredded with an old kitchen flat hand shredder. Usually use about 1/4 of a bar in the UV-18 and after about 6 to 7 hours the soap shreds have disappeared. Also add a about a tablespoon of Borax.
If I am tumbling very smooth River rocks I sometimes skip the burnishing after SiO2. If it's preforms with lots of pea gravel or bytroidal I will burnish trying to find all the SiO2 hiding places.
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Post by grumpybill on Mar 18, 2018 12:05:44 GMT -5
I don't burnish in a vibe...that's what the AO polish is for. I clean after every stage: extra water and a drop of Dawn for 15 minutes or so, rinse well in a colander, inspect every stone and take an electric toothbrush to any that need it.
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Post by gmitch067 on Mar 18, 2018 17:26:09 GMT -5
An electric toothbrush... Hmmmm... I like that. When it is time to retire my old one in favor of a new, I will instead re-purpose it to my rock tumbling table. Nice. Thank you grumpybill ! I also have an older model water-pic that I use to water blast grit out of any rock pits... That is fun! I usually have to contend with a little blow-back into my face. Lol! (my glasses keep grit out of my eyes) I have a jar filled with Ivory Soap flakes that I shaved off bars using the cheese grater. My trouble is that I kept using too many shavings @hankrocks . I either failed to let it tumble enough to get it into solution. Instead... I probably got it to saturation level leaving a bunch unsolved - making for a difficult clean-out. Before I could fine-tune the quantities, someone came along and pointed me toward the Dawn foaming soap pump... much easier (THANK YOU RTH member!!!).
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Post by grumpybill on Mar 18, 2018 17:49:30 GMT -5
An electric toothbrush... Hmmmm... I like that. When it is time to retire my old one in favor of a new, I will instead re-purpose it to my rock tumbling table. Nice. Thank you grumpybill ! You're welcome. I don't know how much difference there is between electric toothbrushes, but I use a Sonicare and it works well for getting grit/polish out of stones. It throws a lot less slop at you than a water-pic. One thing I've found is that if I apply too much pressure on the stone, it dampens the vibrations and doesn't work as well.
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ohthatspretty
starting to shine!
Member since March 2018
Posts: 28
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Post by ohthatspretty on Mar 18, 2018 18:03:57 GMT -5
The sonicare makes a lot of sense to me. The action of the ultra high frequency should blast the fines out of the pits. Great tip!
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Post by HankRocks on Mar 18, 2018 18:58:39 GMT -5
Have posted before that Ivory is better only because it has no chemical additives that can negatively affect the barrel over a long period of time. Not sure that's true but it's been my go to tumbling soap and it's what I use in shower and bath.
As everyone stated some rocks are more likely to carry over grit to the next stage. I love the River-tumbled rocks as there is almost no place for SiO2 grit to hide. The Round Mountain Chalcedony is either Bytroidal or has a shell of Chalcedony around a a hollow Quartz geode which can be opened during tumbling creating a huge grit trap. The first time I tumbled them did not pay attention and it's turned my polish grey from all the hiding SiO2 and the rocks never polished.
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