My Nicest Agates This Year

Rosebud, those are really nice and will be beautiful tumbled and polished. I guess you are chomping at the bit, having rocks to tumble and no tumbler! But, didnt I read that you won one on eBay and are just waiting for it to get there?

WARNING! Unless you are really patient, it will drive you batty waiting for them to get through all those stages to the finished project!

I'm not as experienced at this craft as some others here, but here's my 2 cents for you. I usually wash my rocks in the tumbler with some Ivory soap shavings or Cascade for a couple of hours before I start them in coarse. I don't know if this really helps prevent gas build up when you start tumbling, but I do know that I don't have gas buildup in my barrels. Could be because the washing first helps or I just don't have farting rocks. Once I get my rocks in the barrel and charged with grit, I don't open the barrel again until it's time to recharge, usually 7 days or so. You do need to keep an eye on the barrel for gas expansion. If it looks like the bottom of the barrel has some expansion, you need to "burp" the barrel and release the gas or it will explode. You definitely don't want that to happen - it's a mess to clean up!

Keep your rocks in the coarse grit for however long it takes to get them shaped and the pits, cracks and crevices out of them. Sometimes it takes more than several weeks, but the wait is worth it. Wash them good between stages to prevent any cross contamination, esp. going into the prepolish stage. I wash mine in Ivory shavings or Cascade for a few hours, rinse them off, then add more soap and wash some more. I do that until the rinse water is clear. Sometimes I let them go in the wash for as long as 24 hrs. Just make sure they are really clean before moving them to the next stage. And do this esp. if you are using the same barrel. It's good to have a barrel you use only for polish to help prevent any contamination.

And,that's my 2 cents worth!

llana

Hey Cher,

Those are some beautiful agates . Do you find them around your neck of the woods? If so, you are mighty fortunate.

If you think they look good now, just wait until you get them polished ...

Great finds!

Enjoy,

John

These I found in a gravel pit about 30 miles from where I live. I am lucky that I live in an area where the Lake Superior Agates are relatively common. Have a trip planned for this week, a little further but supposed to be quite a good place. I'm packing my knapsack now. ;D

I feel really fortunate to be able to find these bigger ones but for my project they'll be too big so I am not planning on tumbling these yet. Might even get brave and put them on ebay or use them as trade material. Have to wait and see how I do in the next few weeks of hunting. It is so exciting to find something like this though, you can hear the "WOOHOOO's" for quite a ways off.

lake Superior agates? Those are beautiful!!!

Cookie, great minds think alike! I was also thinking I'm gonna be wanting some of those agates.

Cher, better take TWO or THREE buckets! Better yet, take a truck and fill that sucker up! LOL! Lot of serious rock traders here. We will relieve you of your agates and fill you buckets with all sorts of stuff.

llana

BTW, Cookie, I have the smaller pieces of the quartz you sent me in 60/90 now. Haven't cut the bigger ones yet.

Those Lake Superior Agates are beautiful- great patterns and colors!

If you have any "extras", I'll get in line behind cookie and llana.

Cal