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Post by miket on Nov 6, 2018 15:32:49 GMT -5
I took these out today and I'm pleased with the results, in general. They polished up nicely, but there are a few things that I learned. First, the garbage in, garbage out rule. Second, a lot of them have many pits and cracks. Some were left that way on purpose (not wanting to tumble the rock away), some were due to my impatience. I tried to get some good closeup pics of my favorites but I wasn't pleased with how they came out. I'll try to get some, I would like to post them so I can get some feedback and tips- other than the pits and cracks part, I know about those! I did this mostly as an experiment. I borrowed the tumbler and wanted to see if I had interest in tumbling or just collecting Fairburns. And the results are in, I'm definitely hooked on tumbling!
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saxplayer
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since March 2018
Posts: 1,327
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Post by saxplayer on Nov 6, 2018 15:52:59 GMT -5
I took these out today and I'm pleased with the results, in general. They polished up nicely, but there are a few things that I learned. First, the garbage in, garbage out rule. Second, a lot of them have many pits and cracks. Some were left that way on purpose (not wanting to tumble the rock away), some were due to my impatience. I tried to get some good closeup pics of my favorites but I wasn't pleased with how they came out. I'll try to get some, I would like to post them so I can get some feedback and tips- other than the pits and cracks part, I know about those! I did this mostly as an experiment. I borrowed the tumbler and wanted to see if I had interest in tumbling or just collecting Fairburns. And the results are in, I'm definitely hooked on tumbling! Mike - I think you did great! I have come to the conclusion if I have very rare rock or nice specimens, I'll spend some extra time for pits and flaw removal with the tile saw. Otherwise, I'm doing most the "repair" and correction with stage 1 tumbling as long as needed. I don't have the time to tile saw everything, as much as I would like. I also don't mind the more natural "flaws" in the rocks of some.. so I'm in the 25/75% boat (25% tile saw) to fix flaws. I do pre shape a lot on the saw, but this is going to go down dramatically in the colder months here now that I can't hook my hose outdoors. Grant
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Post by miket on Nov 6, 2018 16:29:22 GMT -5
I took these out today and I'm pleased with the results, in general. They polished up nicely, but there are a few things that I learned. First, the garbage in, garbage out rule. Second, a lot of them have many pits and cracks. Some were left that way on purpose (not wanting to tumble the rock away), some were due to my impatience. I tried to get some good closeup pics of my favorites but I wasn't pleased with how they came out. I'll try to get some, I would like to post them so I can get some feedback and tips- other than the pits and cracks part, I know about those! I did this mostly as an experiment. I borrowed the tumbler and wanted to see if I had interest in tumbling or just collecting Fairburns. And the results are in, I'm definitely hooked on tumbling! Mike - I think you did great! I have come to the conclusion if I have very rare rock or nice specimens, I'll spend some extra time for pits and flaw removal with the tile saw. Otherwise, I'm doing most the "repair" and correction with stage 1 tumbling as long as needed. I don't have the time to tile saw everything, as much as I would like. I also don't mind the more natural "flaws" in the rocks of some.. so I'm in the 25/75% boat (25% tile saw) to fix flaws. I do pre shape a lot on the saw, but this is going to go down dramatically in the colder months here now that I can't hook my hose outdoors. Grant Thanks Grant. I started sawing some on the next batch I'm putting in, so hopefully I can avoid some of the mistakes from this first time. I don't really have any rare specimens yet (other than Fairburns) and everything I tumble so far is self-collected. As far as nice specimens go, I'm still learning about those. Again, thank you for the compliment.
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Post by MsAli on Nov 6, 2018 17:33:01 GMT -5
Not bad for your first batch and you will get better. I like the wood Flaws are ok, however, I see what looks like grit in the cracks and pits. My only advice would to try to get that out as much as possible
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Post by miket on Nov 6, 2018 17:48:30 GMT -5
Not bad for your first batch and you will get better. I like the wood Flaws are ok, however, I see what looks like grit in the cracks and pits. My only advice would to try to get that out as much as possible Thank you. Yes, there was even more grit (polish) in the rocks. I tried a toothbrush, but it didn't seem to work. Any suggestions?
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Post by MsAli on Nov 6, 2018 17:54:01 GMT -5
Not bad for your first batch and you will get better. I like the wood Flaws are ok, however, I see what looks like grit in the cracks and pits. My only advice would to try to get that out as much as possible Thank you. Yes, there was even more grit (polish) in the rocks. I tried a toothbrush, but it didn't seem to work. Any suggestions? I scrub with a toothbrush until I make sure I have any grit out before moving on to the next stage. I rarely ever move a rock on that has pits, cracks though I know others here use a water pic also, but I haven't got one yet The biggest thing is not to let them dry in between stages. Once that grit is dry, it isn't going anywhere
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Post by miket on Nov 6, 2018 17:58:34 GMT -5
Thank you. Yes, there was even more grit (polish) in the rocks. I tried a toothbrush, but it didn't seem to work. Any suggestions? I scrub with a toothbrush until I make sure I have any grit out before moving on to the next stage. I rarely ever move a rock on that has pits, cracks though I know others here use a water pic also, but I haven't got one yet The biggest thing is not to let them dry in between stages. Once that grit is dry, it isn't going anywhere I didn't let them dry, I think the biggest issue was moving them on too soon. Thanks for the tips!
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agatemaggot
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2006
Posts: 2,195
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Post by agatemaggot on Nov 6, 2018 21:29:58 GMT -5
Has anyone tried using an ultrasonic cleaner unit for removing traces of grit from cracks and pits in their tumbles ? I use one for cleaning pennies I recover with my metal detector. The pennies minted after 1983 are made of Zinc and they don't do well when they come in contact with snow - melt products, I hunt a lot of city curb areas. The ultrasound removes all traces of corrosion from the pitted areas and would probably do a good job of shaking the grit out of cavities in rocks also ! They can be bought on E-Bay dirt cheep and would save a bunch of time and hand work.
I turn in $50.00 + worth of pennies every winter and with the sonic cleaner it's still fairly time consuming and can't see why it wouldn't work on rocks just as well, I have used it on Arrowheads after the tooth brush method and when using a new, clean solution you can see a cloud of embedded dirt literally POP off the point when I hit the start switch !
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rodeodan
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2010
Posts: 213
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Post by rodeodan on Nov 7, 2018 14:31:24 GMT -5
great work!
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Post by miket on Nov 7, 2018 15:20:40 GMT -5
Thank you. Maybe I'm too hard on myself, but when I compare it to some of the results I've seen on RTH it shows me that I have a lot to learn and a long way to go! But I'll get better...
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Post by rockjunquie on Nov 7, 2018 16:08:31 GMT -5
I think you did a killer job! I don't tumble, so I can't offer any help with that, but from a purely visual response without knowing squat about tumbling, I think the wood is especailly great and the others look good, too.
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Post by Pat on Nov 7, 2018 16:20:29 GMT -5
I’m not a tumbler, but think they look great!!
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Post by miket on Nov 7, 2018 16:33:58 GMT -5
I think you did a killer job! I don't tumble, so I can't offer any help with that, but from a purely visual response without knowing squat about tumbling, I think the wood is especailly great and the others look good, too. Thanks Tela! Yeah, I learned a quite a bit on this batch and I'm going to shoot for better results next time. I think the wood turned out nice, too
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Post by miket on Nov 7, 2018 16:34:27 GMT -5
I’m not a tumbler, but think they look great!! Thank you, Pat!
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Post by Garage Rocker on Nov 7, 2018 17:12:52 GMT -5
That wood looks great! You definitely got the shine on those rocks. Now you can mess around with your process to dial in the particular result you want.
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Post by miket on Nov 7, 2018 17:33:14 GMT -5
That wood looks great! You definitely got the shine on those rocks. Now you can mess around with your process to dial in the particular result you want. Thank you. Mostly what I'm concerned with is the leftover grit and maybe I'd like less cracks and pits- which I will conquer thanks to the helpful advice from the pros here on RTH
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,547
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Post by tkvancil on Nov 10, 2018 13:40:42 GMT -5
They all look great. Way better than my first attempt, nicely done. Really liking how the wood came out.
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Post by miket on Nov 10, 2018 15:09:56 GMT -5
They all look great. Way better than my first attempt, nicely done. Really liking how the wood came out. Thanks! I had a bunch of great people helping 😀
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mossyrockhound
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2011
Posts: 1,314
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Post by mossyrockhound on Nov 10, 2018 18:57:36 GMT -5
You did great! I like the detail you can see in the wood.
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Post by miket on Nov 11, 2018 5:58:35 GMT -5
You did great! I like the detail you can see in the wood. Thanks!
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