motley mongel batch

hey KD i think they all came out great if you seen some of mine you would be proud of those hahahaha ---i realy like that wonderstone,,bet it would make some nice pendents cool swirly colors,, and the sodalite came out real good not alotta dings mine had alot of dings but im gonna try the wheel next time see if i can get rid of them --i like um all nice job --seeya---john

thanks for all the kind comments on the not-so-hot batch, next one will be better, and if not that one, then the one afer that, one day...i will get a real good one. something to strive for. i am not above painting some of that wood clinker with urethane (shine, i'll show you how to shine, g-damiit), i am NOT a purist.

thanks again guys, (and guyettes?)
KD

KD,
Your rocks are beautiful! Why aren't you happy with them? I think you did an amazing job on them and you should be proud!

BE

I seem to have a different take on KD's comments...she said at the start that she is "not altogether unpleased", which means to me that she is fairly pleased with the lot. Maybe it's one of those half-full, half-empty things.

At any rate, I like them. I am intrigued by the close-up sodalite shot. The small rocks in the upper part of the photo appear to be quite translucent. I always thought sodalite was opaque? Translucent blue rocks -- very cool!

yes, some of them were my first practice pieces with the saw. notably the utah wonderstone and the sqaure pieces of (?) jasper.

and yes, rollingstone, half full half empty, not bad, not as good as some. still pretty to me, labor of love thing, not a patch on what i've seen in here. still, onwards and upwards! thanks for all your comments!

KD

Hi KD,,,,

Nice rocks but I agree with you on the quality of the sheen on them.

I know that photo's usually don't do justice to our work but if my eyes are correct the rocks all look like they have a matte finish on them.

One reason, (among many) , that can cause this is the pre-polishing stage.

Oh boy,,,,,here I go again,,,,,,

I was once asked what I use for a pre-polish and my reply was quite long.

If you really think about the tumbling cycle all the steps before the polish are in fqact a pre-polish stage!

I use a 20X and 30X loupe to inspect my rocks as I got through the entire process.

If you take one of your rocks that has the absolutely best shine to it and look at it through the loupe you'll find that the "sheen" is in fact nuthing but a very tight matte finish!!!!

The whole idea of getting the "wet look" is to make each little "hump" in the matte as tiny as possible.

This all starts with the rough grind.The rough grind not only shapes your rocks it gives them a very rough matte finish.

The next grit cycle MUST get the previous rough matte ground away and create a finer matte finish.

This cycle continues right up to the polishing stage and if ANY of the previous "pre-polish" stages haven't done their job you will NEVER get a good sheen to your rocks!

Another reason for a poor finish is mixing rocks of different hardness.

I looked up the rocks in your photos and here's what I came up with:

Aventurine -------------------------------------------7

Amethyst (quartz) ---------------------------------7

Agate (quartz) -------------------------------6.5 - 7

Green Quartz ---------------------------------------7

Granite (quartz + feldspar) ---------------------7

Sodalite ---------------------------------------5.5 - 6

Wonderstone ------------------------------------6.5



You have material which can be as low as 5.5 going all the way up to 7 on the Mohs scale of hardness.

I can't remember and maybe someone can help us out here but if my memory serves me right the scale can be a little deceiving to an ameture (like me) as the difference between,lets say a 6 and a 7 is quite a BIG difference! I "think" the hardness actually doubles between a rock of a 6 and a rock of a 7!

So if your trying to polish rocks varying from 5.5 - 7 you have quite a bit of range in hardness!

A perfect example of this is with obsidian.

If you collect obsidian from the same collecting area but go from one spot to another the obsidian can and most times will differ in hardness therefore making it very hard to polish.This,I believe is one of the reasons people have such a tough time polishing obsidian!

Just a thought KD and I hope you DO NOT take offence in my attempt to give a little constructive criticism!

I really don't think we are really helping each other to our copacity because we don't want to hurt anyones feelings but,,,,,,,,,,,,,

If anyone takes offence to my thoughts and or suggestions P L E A S E P L E A S E P L E A S E
let me know.I am NOT trying to hurt anyone I'm just trying to help.

Tom

Wow Tom , I had not looked at the sheen the way you describe it . But it SURE makes sense.
My question to you is , should we lenghten the prepolish cycle and if so , by how many days , Or should we look at the rocks with a strong loupe and let that decide?
I take it that we should also renew the charge of prepolish grit.

Thanks for your informative writing.

Not offensive at all !!

Jack

Cookie, the rose quartz, amethyst and adventurine are all varieties of quartz, hardness 7. The sodalite only has a Mohs hardness of 5.5, so you might want to keep an eye on that one.

Hi Jack,,,,,

I do "most" (99%) of my prepolishing in my vibe units which it VERY easy to check on what's going on.I just pop off the cover and pluck out a rock and inspect it.I do the same with the other grit stages as well.

I DO NOT EVER recharge the prepolish!!

In a rotary tumbler the grit breaks down in 1/2 about every 7 - 10 days.In other words,if you are using a 220 grit it will break down 1/2 to a 440 grit in 7 - 10 days.

In a vibe unit the same thing happens but at a MUCH faster rate.In most cases it will break 1/2 in about 12 - 16 hrs!!!

Knowing this,we want our rocks to have the finest group of "bumps" as we can possibly get before the polis stage.So,,,if we let our prepolish run for a long period of time so it breaks down in 1/2 and then let it run again for the same amount of time we
"should" be able to see our rocks actually have a fairly nice sheen on them!!If not,,,,,,,back they go for another run.

If you do this you should have some very nice looking rocks when they're finished.

As for the loupe inspection the best way I know of getting use to seeing what you are supposed to is to do a little experimenting.

Try this:

The next batch of rocks you're going to start,take a random piece of the rough you're going to tumble and save it and record the type of rock,the date and the size and amount of grit you're using.

When you are satisfied with the shape of the rocks take one of them and record the sam edata again.Look at the rock with the loupe and put the rock with the rough you saved.

Do this throughout the entire polishing process and you'll have a very good reference for not only "knowing what you're supposed to see with the loupe,but,you'll also have a record of of the type of rock you're tumblig for the next time you tumble the same material!!

Hope this help a little!!

Tom