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Post by fernwood on Jul 8, 2018 9:20:38 GMT -5
When moving on to phase II of my mad tumbling scientist experiment, I decided to mix rough tumbled Apache Tears with a variety of cabs. Checked yesterday and everything looks great. The tear sizes ranged from about 3/8" to 1.5". The largest cab is a 2.5" Pudding Stone. None of the tears were damaged by the cabs. Letting everything continue for a few more days. Mixed used slurry, medium grit, kitty litter and fully tumbled gravel for this batch. The slurry is kind of thick. Doubt they will all go into pre-polish together, but might move them on to a mix of fine grit and pre-polish.
Have no idea why this combo is working well.
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surreality
starting to spend too much on rocks
is picking up too many rocks at the beach again
Member since January 2012
Posts: 217
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Post by surreality on Jul 8, 2018 9:59:32 GMT -5
I'm curious to hear how this comes out, so please keep updating the progress on this batch! I've been noticing that a lot of the beach stones 'clink' with a sound more like glass than the clunk or clack of stone, which has me wondering what those in particular might actually be, and they're cracking a lot in the rotary as of last cleanout in ways the quartz isn't, and it sounds like it's similar to what's described in the apache tears thread. (Sadly I can't tell which are which at the outset because everything is a big crusty lump of mystery rock in a bucket.)
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Post by fernwood on Jul 8, 2018 10:28:51 GMT -5
surreality Certain quartz type stones are more prone to cracking when tumbled. Amethyst is one. It looks great in progress, but if roughed up by harder stones in polish, will develop cracks. Thinking about using leather pieces as a filler medium next time during pre-polish and polish. Maybe trying cleaning the "crusty lump" to get a better idea of what the stones are.
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surreality
starting to spend too much on rocks
is picking up too many rocks at the beach again
Member since January 2012
Posts: 217
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Post by surreality on Jul 8, 2018 11:04:20 GMT -5
I'd have to give them all a muriatic acid bath, probably, which the husband has strictly forbidden. (It's calcified crusty ocean stuff; it's acid or the dremel, even an week long soak in vinegar doesn't dent it. Shells will bubble, this stuff just sits.) The more generic quartz tends to be obvious and either super craggy, or very pre-rounded. It's the agate/jasper/chert/chalcedony/fossilized-mystery-things that tend toward bumpy-lump-ness. The more rounds of these I'm running in the rotary, the more I'm pining for a trim saw for both trimming some lumps/splitting some odd shapes up some, but also just to saw some through to see what is actually under there on some of the larger pieces that could work at a smaller size. One type of generic brown lumpy bump, for instance, indistinguishable wet or dry before it hits the tumbler from any other generic brown lumpy bump, is road cone orange underneath with transparent olives under that -- others that look the same end up looking like blue and grey porcelain. I suspect I need a lot more cushioning in with things in general.
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Post by fernwood on Jul 8, 2018 12:41:32 GMT -5
OK, I lied, lol. On a whim, checked barrel again today. Glad I did. Almost everything was ready to move on to next state. Doing a 24 hr. run with Borax now. Just posting 1 photo of all the cabs and all the Apache Tears. Oh, and a Laker going along for the ride. Removed 3 other Lakers. Will add them to another medium batch. The cabs all The Tears allat The Laker laker Really wishing I had a trim saw. This would make some nice cabs. Full album: www.flickr.com/photos/145230675@N04/albums/72157698368928534
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