Getting a good polish on Coquina, Leopardskin Jaspers
Aug 27, 2018 18:21:12 GMT -5
fernwood likes this
Post by dakeeper on Aug 27, 2018 18:21:12 GMT -5
Hi all,
I got into tumbling about 8 months ago, have been all over the internet regarding tumbling tips and tricks, and am very pleased to have recently found and joined this forum! I have a Lortone 33b (2 3lb barrels) and the Thumler AR-2 (2 3lb barrels). After making what I've learned are very common mistakes on this site and others, I've finally gotten a good, un-bruised polish on several mohs hardness 7 items I've tried. But in venturing into some other items, I got some Kambaba Jasper from Shawn at therockshed.com, and some Coquina, Turquoise, and Leopardskin "jasper" from GemsByMail (Shawn doesn't carry that). Note that the turquoise jasper is not the turquoise mineral. After multiple tries with standard jasper recipies, I can get them smooth but I cannot get a polish on them. A bit of searching on this forum tells me that maybe none of these are really jaspers, and at least the Coquina, Turquoise, and Leopardskin items may be much softer (4-6 MOHs vs 7). The Kambaba appears to be harder (6.5-ish), but it too won't polish. Has anyone had success getting a polish on these types of rocks in a rotary tumbler, and if so what was your secret? At the very least, for the softer stones it looks like I may need to add the step of 1000 Grit Aluminum Oxide between the pre-polish and the polish, but I wanted to check in to see if the forum might have suggestions. For example, is Aluminum Oxide polish the right polish for something softer?
For reference, here are the links to the rock, if that helps:
Coquina: www.gemsbymail.com/Tumble-Mix-Rough-Jasper-Sea-Fossil-1-LB-p297.html
Turquoise: www.gemsbymail.com/Tumble-Mix-Rough-Jasper-Turquoise-1-LB-p43.html
Leopardskin: www.gemsbymail.com/Tumble-Mix-Rough-Jasper-Leopardskin-1-LB-p253.html
Kambaba: www.therockshed.com/crushed/kambabaj.jpg
Thanks in advance for the help!
I got into tumbling about 8 months ago, have been all over the internet regarding tumbling tips and tricks, and am very pleased to have recently found and joined this forum! I have a Lortone 33b (2 3lb barrels) and the Thumler AR-2 (2 3lb barrels). After making what I've learned are very common mistakes on this site and others, I've finally gotten a good, un-bruised polish on several mohs hardness 7 items I've tried. But in venturing into some other items, I got some Kambaba Jasper from Shawn at therockshed.com, and some Coquina, Turquoise, and Leopardskin "jasper" from GemsByMail (Shawn doesn't carry that). Note that the turquoise jasper is not the turquoise mineral. After multiple tries with standard jasper recipies, I can get them smooth but I cannot get a polish on them. A bit of searching on this forum tells me that maybe none of these are really jaspers, and at least the Coquina, Turquoise, and Leopardskin items may be much softer (4-6 MOHs vs 7). The Kambaba appears to be harder (6.5-ish), but it too won't polish. Has anyone had success getting a polish on these types of rocks in a rotary tumbler, and if so what was your secret? At the very least, for the softer stones it looks like I may need to add the step of 1000 Grit Aluminum Oxide between the pre-polish and the polish, but I wanted to check in to see if the forum might have suggestions. For example, is Aluminum Oxide polish the right polish for something softer?
For reference, here are the links to the rock, if that helps:
Coquina: www.gemsbymail.com/Tumble-Mix-Rough-Jasper-Sea-Fossil-1-LB-p297.html
Turquoise: www.gemsbymail.com/Tumble-Mix-Rough-Jasper-Turquoise-1-LB-p43.html
Leopardskin: www.gemsbymail.com/Tumble-Mix-Rough-Jasper-Leopardskin-1-LB-p253.html
Kambaba: www.therockshed.com/crushed/kambabaj.jpg
Thanks in advance for the help!