rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
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Post by rollingstone on Aug 12, 2004 17:12:29 GMT -5
Hi all, I've had the tumbler running constantly for 4 months now, and finally have something to show for it. The batch was about 3/4 amethyst, so I'll post the amethyst pics here and the other stuff another time. I have people like James, Puppie, and probably others to either thank or curse for this (okay, I'll make it "thanks!"). I used to run stuff in coarse for 10 days, then move it on. The above folks say, be patient, be patient. So I was, which is very against my nature. Now, in a typical barrel, after about 3 weeks, 1/3 of the stones were ready to move on. After 5 weeks, another 1/3 were ready. And the remaining 1/3...well, those got set aside to come back to sometime in the future. With tumbling stuff for so long, a lot of it got worn away, so I had to combine multiple barrels to get enough for a good load at 120/220 and beyond, thus the overall 4 months of tumbling. Obligatory recipe info: 5 weeks in 60/90 7 days in 120/220 7 days in 600 7 days in SISA 8 days in cheapy CPP polish Here's the pics, starting with a "group photo", and then moving in as close as my old digital camera will allow.     And here's a couple of shots of a some of the stones that had some banding that I like.   Thanks for looking! |
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Post by krazydiamond on Aug 12, 2004 17:39:40 GMT -5
wow, those pics give me a new respect for (a.) amethyst and (B.) patience...
well done, rollingstone!
great shine for "cheapy" polish......had i waited that long i think i would have been tempted to put them in the 'spensive stuff, but you got great results......
SISA? is that a 1000 grit or similar thing?
nice work,
KD
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James
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 876
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Post by James on Aug 12, 2004 18:16:51 GMT -5
Now that's what I call a great batch of tumbled stones! Great shapes, brilliant shine... just perfect. Nice photo's too. What kind of camera are you using?
Well, your patience really payed off for you. Way to go! You can also buy a bench grinder for like $40. It will save a lot of time on those hard to shape angular stones.
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Post by sandsman1 on Aug 12, 2004 18:29:09 GMT -5
wow rollingstone great shape and shine hellofa batch nice job
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Post by cookie3rocks on Aug 12, 2004 19:10:12 GMT -5
Now That's what I'm Talking about! Gorgeous! I'm doing amethyst, rose quartz and green adventutrine right now, thought they could come out of polish today, buy no way. Think I'll back up to 220. What's my problem with quartz? just can't seem to get a decent shine on it. Could it be.... Patience, or the lack there of  Great job! cookie |
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deepsouth
fully equipped rock polisher
He who rocks last rocks best
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,256
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Post by deepsouth on Aug 12, 2004 19:52:17 GMT -5
Beautiful shape and beautiful finish. This proves that patience is a very important ingredient in tumbling rocks
Thanks rollingstone
Jack
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Post by Cher on Aug 12, 2004 20:41:27 GMT -5
Ooo those are gorgeous. Looks like there's quite a few that would make great pendants. Where did you get your amethyst?
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Post by BearCreekLapidary on Aug 12, 2004 21:16:12 GMT -5
Holy smoke! I can see myself in that batch  Thanks for sharing the photo's ... those are gorgeous! John |
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Post by connrock on Aug 12, 2004 21:56:33 GMT -5
VERY nice!! You called the polish "cheap",,,,don't look cheap ta me!! Thanks,,,,,,,,, Tom  |
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Banjocreek
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since March 2003
Posts: 1,115
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Post by Banjocreek on Aug 13, 2004 0:48:08 GMT -5
Absolutely Beautiful!!
Tremendous patience and shine!!
Great Job Rolling Stone.
I look forward to see what you complete in the future.
BRAVO!!
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JKowalski33
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2004
Posts: 451
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Post by JKowalski33 on Aug 13, 2004 0:53:08 GMT -5
So what is SISA?
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Post by puppie96 on Aug 13, 2004 1:23:20 GMT -5
This is just a great, really impressive lot of amethysts. It makes me smile that you credited me, since mine have never looked that good, although right from day one, I had amethyst pieces in all my mixed batches and they came out well in terms of polish, etc. The problem I've had since then is with getting a nice shape and with the fracturing that seems to result if you don't get a nice shape. As you showed, patience and extended coarse grinding is the answer.
A big downside of using a vibe part-time, as I do, is that you lose patience for the long-haul in the barrel, and that's what it takes to get really good rounded shapes, a vibe won't do it.
Right now I've got so much rock from the trip that I keep plotting how (in what order) I'm going to work on it, which I'm most excited about, etc. I really want another (larger) tumbler at this point, but I am meeting opposition....
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rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
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Post by rollingstone on Aug 13, 2004 3:24:18 GMT -5
Thanks everyone for your very generous comments!
KD and JKowalski33:
I'm not 100% sure about SISA. I believe it is aluminum oxide, and is touted as a pre-polish for rotary tumblers. I think it is very similar to Tripoli, but is coarser. It seemed to make things smoother than the 600 silicon carbide grit, but it didn't give any shine to the stones, so is probably very much like 1000 grit.
James:
My camera is an old Olympus, model 460. I bought it in December 2001, maybe it was cutting-edge back then, now it is rather outdated. It was Olympus' first 2.1 megapixel camera in a mid-price range, and I've taken *tons* of photos with it, and it has served me extremely well, but it's really yesterday's technology now.
Rosebud:
I got the amethyst rough at a local lapidary/bead store. I love amethyst, and this store rarely has it, so I snapped up a bunch when they got some in this spring.
Puppie:
You showed incredible patience with a batch of emerald rough awhile back, and that was an inspiration for me. As for the amethyst fracturing, yes, that is a peristent problem (also for rose quartz and petrified wood, in my experience). I tried to combat this by adding plastic pellets, even some pellets during the coarse grind stage, then progressively more at later stages. Even then, I had some stones fracture during final polish, but that was a small part of the overall batch, so wasn't a serious issue.
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Post by connrock on Aug 13, 2004 9:13:45 GMT -5
A lot of times material that you mentioned, (amethyst/quartz),has fractures in it before it ever hits the tumbler. The only way to avoid these fractures is to either cull the real bad ones,break the fractured rocks until you get rid of all the fractures (makes for a lot of very tiny rocks) or buy quality rough. I somettimes laugh at the various tumbling instructions on the web and in books when they say to make sure you buy quality rough. If you really want quality rough you have to buy cutting rough which can put a real hurtin on your pocket book! If you happen to find a source that sells you quality tumbling rough with little or no waste,(pits,fractures,loads of matrix,etc.) you better not loose theit address or web site!! A lot of people consider tumbling as kind of a "rock recycling".They cut the good material and throw the "crap" in the tumbler.This is NOT a way to get quality polished gems!! Remember,,,,,,, If you start out with junk that's what you'll end up with!! Tom |
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llanago
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,714
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Post by llanago on Aug 13, 2004 9:31:54 GMT -5
Tom,
At the risk of offending you, I just have to jump in here and say that this statement is rather insulting.
If you start out with junk that's what you'll end up with!!
There are several people here that have tumbled driveway rock, which I am sure some people consider junk, with beautiful results.
Maybe I am just cranky this AM, but I get really sick of hearing and seeing this statement.
llana
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Post by puppie96 on Aug 13, 2004 20:27:54 GMT -5
While it's true that the tumbler sized pieces are scrap, mainly because of size, it's certainly not true that bought tumbler rock is "trash." I just visited The Rock Shed in person, where Shawn just throws his small scrap rocks into his front yard. You are walking among his displays on top of a pile of aventurine, pet wood, rose quartz, agate, and everything else you've ever thought of to throw in a tumbler. You can pick up whatever you want and he'll sell it to you for $3/pound. I'm quite happy with "pick my own" trash, thank you. Shawn, by the way, said that he doesn't sell this stuff online because he considers it "trash." I said if he wanted to unload some at a price he would get a lot of happy customers here.
Now here I am with tons of rocks that were "self picked" out there in the field, as they say. I can't wait to see if I've got anything! I need more or bigger tumblers!
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Post by connrock on Aug 13, 2004 23:20:05 GMT -5
Hi Llana,,, Nahhhh you didn't offend me,,,LOL I too have tumbled driveway rocks here in CT and that's what I got,,,,tumbled driveway rocks,,,,pretty but still driveway rocks. I say "here in CT" because driveway rocks differ from place to place as do other materials we tumble.In CT the driveway rocks are to say the least very blah!In other places maybe driveway rocks are more "attractive" but NOT here! If your driveway rocks are worthy of tumbling,,,,knock yourself out but if I send you some of mine i'm sure you WONT go through the bother of tumbling them!!Maybe you won't even throw them in "your" driveway!!LOL I'm not trying to offend anyone in this group or the dealers some may buy from.I'm sure that there are good dealers like The Rock Shed where puppies buys rough or redwoodrocks who's right here in our group but there ARE dealers that WILL sell you junk!! Maybe you haven't been into tumbling and buying rough long enough to have been "burned" by a greedy dealer but when you go "shopping" in "new waters" be careful!! I was at the East Coast Gem,Mineral and Fossil Show today and some of the material there was out of this world but some of it was JUNK!!What was really a joke was that the junk was more more expensive then the good stuff,,,,,now "that's" greedy!!People were buying the junk problbly because it cost more,,,,,dunno but they were buying it. Some years ago I got burned with junk but still tumbled it.It took more time,patience and money to polish then good material would have and when it was finished I still had junk!! I was just trying to help others so they wouldn't have the same dissapointment as I did!! If I offended you or ANYONE else i'm VERY sorry and i'll watch what I say in the future. Tom |
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llanago
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,714
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Post by llanago on Aug 13, 2004 23:31:00 GMT -5
I was kinda grumpy this AM! Since I have heard and read that more than one place, I shouldn't have taken it out on you! So, my apologies!
Drrveway rock here is blah too. I tried to tumble some, but gave up.
I have been fortunate that I haven't gotten burned. But then I have only ordered rock unseen from one place since I started tumbling. That was Astrogallery. I got a great bunch of rocks, but others here got screwed. Needless to say, I will never order from them again.
We have a great rock shop about 30 miles from here, so unless I want something I probably can't afford anyway, I get all my rocks there.
After hearing puppies report on the Rock Shed, I would really like to go there! But SD is just a bit far to drive for a rock! LOL!
llana
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llanago
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,714
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Post by llanago on Aug 14, 2004 8:40:18 GMT -5
Rollingstone, I was so busy fussing at Tom yesterday, I didn't even tell you what a beautiful batch of stones you have there! What a fabulous shine. May be a cheapie polish, but it sure got the job done and done well!
They are all really pretty, but I esp. like the one on the bottom right of the last picture. It's neat with that facture line kinda like flower petals and a different color. That would make a KEWL penant.
llana
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Post by puppie96 on Aug 15, 2004 4:31:31 GMT -5
Rollingstone,
Well, I'm glad I was an inspiration to you for patience. HA! I'm totally impatient and if I weren't, I'd get better results! The emeralds were kind of different. I had no problem getting a beautiful polish on them. All the time I put in was in an effort to keep "improving" them -- basically see how far I could push it to get the matrix off.
And speaking of patience and long term efforts, I got my rubies/saphs out of the barrel and took a look, first time since early June. I actually have gotten many that polished. Still working on getting pictures from the West up here so the rubies have got to wait.
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