WilliamC
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2003
Posts: 416
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Post by WilliamC on Sept 30, 2003 19:58:20 GMT -5
Greetings All, As of last Saturday I have finished my first batch of orthoclase feldspar through the first stage. It seems to be a bit softer than the aventurine so I'll have to watch that I don't lose too much by leaving it tumble for too long. I also have more of the green aventurine ready for the 220 grit but I have to wait until I get some of the blue to this stage as well to make a full barrel. I really must get some of those plastic pellets. So right now I've got 1 load of orthoclase feldspar and one load of blue aventurine in 46/70 grit, one load of my sons rocks in 60/90, and one load of blue aventurine in 60/90. This Saturday I'll wash everything off, sort the loads that were in 60/90 to get the pieces which are ready for 220 out (the ones that are shaped to my satisfaction and are uniformly smooth), and move the other two loads to 60/90. Friday I'll be getting some more 46/70 grit and some 80 grit, 5 lbs each, so I'll have enough to get lots of rock through the coarse stages So basically everything is going well with the tumbling and I will be keeping all 4 barrels going constantly for the next few months. Now if I can just get that QT12 I'm wanting...eventually. Keep 'um rolling! WilliamC
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WilliamC
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2003
Posts: 416
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Post by WilliamC on Oct 4, 2003 7:05:23 GMT -5
Greetings All, Just an update on what I'm currently tumbling. I washed everything in all 4 barrels but didn't do any sorting this time. I set up one barrel of orthoclase feldspar in 60/90, one barrel of blue aventurine in 60/90 (I have some really big pieces in this load with pea gravel as a filler and it needs some more shaping), my sons rocks mixed with some agates back again at 60/90, and a new load of the flame agate at 46/70. I have a load of blue/green aventurine and orthoclase feldspar ready to go into 120/220, but I decided to let that sit for a bit until I get some more loads through the coarse grit. Right now I have grit that is 46/70, 60/90, 120/220, 220, 400, and 600. I don't think I'll be so compulsive as to do each load through all 6 grits, but I can experiment a bit and see what works best for a given type of rock. Someday, someday, if I ever get a 40-pounder, I will have to already know the right combination of grit/time for a given rock to make efficient use of it and not waste my supplies and effort. Someday WilliamC
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DurboRox
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2003
Posts: 12
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Post by DurboRox on Oct 5, 2003 11:03:44 GMT -5
I just put a load of lacy agate into the tumbler this morning
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Red
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2003
Posts: 12
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Post by Red on Oct 5, 2003 16:04:11 GMT -5
Howdy, Just returned home from the Portland Regional Gem & Mineral Show (Hillsboro, Oregon); first rock show since I was a kid. It was a fun time—anyone on this forum go? There were many amazing specimens on display and for sale as well as some good faceting/wire wrapping demos. I couldn’t leave without picking up something to play with/admire, so I returned with some fossilized coral from Florida (really cool) and a five lb. Bag of Montana agates for a reasonable price. The agates are tumbling in 60/90 as we speak! My Oregon beach agates moved to the 120/220-barrel of my QT66. I am looking forward to the results. As an Oregonian, I sheepishly admit that the Montana agates look more amazing than the Oregon agates in the rough (makes sense that they are Montana’s state rock (along with the sapphire)—if I had to decide between agates and Oregon’s thundereggs, I would still have to go with our state rock). I also have a vibratory hopper full of some interesting metasediments from a local river; I am interested to see if their cool patterns take a polish (might be boring to those who are not into “less that semi-precious” rocks).
“There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge…observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; experimentation verifies the result of that combination.” -Denis Diderot.
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Robert
off to a rocking start
Member since April 2003
Posts: 15
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Post by Robert on Oct 5, 2003 17:14:32 GMT -5
Hello Red
I have just started a tumble of rock picked up on the beach at Gold Beach Oregon. My son was in Gold Beach, surfing. So I asked him to go to the mouth of the Rouge River and picked up some interesting looking river and beach rock. Looks like he came home with some agate , quartz and maybe even a couple little pieces of Jade. Anyway it all went in a tumbler. Now the fun begins. I would be interested in hearing how your Oregon agate tumble is going. Robert
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James
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 876
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Post by James on Oct 19, 2003 22:46:25 GMT -5
I just started 2 of 3 loads of Queensland agate from Australia. 5 lb's total. I got this stuff for $40 at www.thegemshop.com. The rock is beautiful. Colors range from yelloeish/green to deep red. Some pieces are banded and others are plain and resemble carnilian. I can't wait to see how they will turn out. Here's a pic of the rough for ya. Sorry about the poor quality of the lighting. I'll do a good photo shoot of the finished product.
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WILDONE
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2003
Posts: 13
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Post by WILDONE on Oct 19, 2003 23:29:15 GMT -5
I have no idea what I am tumbling, I have a batch of stones I found in Barstow in a Grit called fine(second tumble) and a batch of a pink Quartz looking stuff I found up in the Wrightwood mountians going in the grit called coarse(first tumble) I am really new to tumbling. I bought the Grit on E-Bay it came in 4 1LB. bags, coarse, fine, pre-polish and polish. I have 4 bbls so it worked out good. I still have a hard time identifying what I am finding, but it sure looks pretty. I will post some pictures on a web site and maybe someone can tell me what it is.
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WilliamC
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2003
Posts: 416
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Post by WilliamC on Oct 28, 2003 15:46:06 GMT -5
Greetings All,
Well I've got three tumblers to work with now, two QT66's and one QT12. I've got a load of blue aventurine/flame agate going in the QT12 in a first run of 46/70 grit, one barrel of one QT66 has leopardskin jasper in second run with 60/90 grit, the other barrel of the QT66 with a mix of blue aventurine, red orthoclase feldspar, and flame agate in the third run with 120/220 grit. This morning I took down the other two barrels of the other QT66, one has a mix of green and blue aventurine and orthoclase feldspar which is now ready for 600 grit, and the other a mix of the same now ready for 220. AND, I finally broke up some of the rainbow obsidian, I think I'll start a load of it tonight with 120/220 grit, obsidians a bit softer and should shape up quicker than the other stones I've done so far. It's fun having 5 different things going at once, and I've reached a point with it where it's enough to keep me busy without being a burden. Of course that's not going to keep me from buying more machines and making it a burdern, but I'm thinking that will be ok as long as it's a profitable burden. Time will tell...
WilliamC
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Djinjuice
starting to shine!
Member since March 2003
Posts: 47
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Post by Djinjuice on Oct 28, 2003 23:49:31 GMT -5
OK, I am still fooling with those emeralds. I also tossed in some ruby and sapphires, and that schorl I had. The schorl is finally taking some shape, smoothing out the edges. The rubies are coming out pretty cool , a few are showing stars, and about 5 are fairly translucent and a dark pink color. As for the sapphires, 1/2 are a muddy color, a couple are showing pink, and 3 are showing blue. One of the blue ones is absolutely beautiful, it is a couple of shades lighter than a cobalt blue, and looks to be a couple of carats in size. I am excited about that one ! ;D The emeralds are great, about 6 translucent ones, a couple of those are about the size of a marble. A couple pieces are an odd blue green with white marbling, really interesting, gonna turn those into a pair of earrings !
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mrflake
having dreams about rocks
Member since August 2003
Posts: 58
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Post by mrflake on Oct 29, 2003 6:50:30 GMT -5
The flint,tiger eye, hematite and beach stones have all been put into a second barrel of 22 grit, but the carnelian and especially the emerald are taking some work and are still going in the 80 grit along with a top up load of emerald and some "car park gravel". Trouble is having only one machine it could be some time before the 220 grit barrel gets started. off topic for a moment, I have started making silver bracelets using the spiral coil link method, has anyone ever come a cross a site that gives chain designs where no soldering is required?
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Post by docone31 on Oct 29, 2003 7:25:31 GMT -5
Look under gold-filled wire. You will find a plethora of sites on wire wrapping. Good luck and just wait untill you see what can be done.
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Post by hermatite on Oct 29, 2003 10:09:25 GMT -5
I have a book on making wire jewelry that shows you how to make a variety of chains by weaving wire and by using rings with no soldering. It's called "Creative Wire Jewelry" by Kathy Peterson. Once my current (okay FIRST) batch is done, I hope to incorporate some of the nicer pieces into wrapped bits. I have this idea to stretch woven wire over rocks...don't know if it will work. Anyway, the book's available on amazon...I got mine at the library. I'm not sure if it's what you're looking for but it piqued my interest.
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Post by hermatite on Oct 29, 2003 10:16:29 GMT -5
Okay...but the BETTER books...and the one I meant to refer to (just checked my reference shelf here) is "Great Wire Jewelry: Projects and Techniques" by Irene From Peterson. Sorry for the previous misdirect. There are plenty of good websites and books out there though.
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mrflake
having dreams about rocks
Member since August 2003
Posts: 58
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Post by mrflake on Oct 29, 2003 12:25:22 GMT -5
thanks for the references guys, so far most of the info I have found has been related to making chain mail armour, which is similar but not quite what I am looking for if you see what I mean. Going site checking now.
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Post by docone31 on Oct 29, 2003 17:20:13 GMT -5
A good trick with wire, is to make 10mm loops in a continous chain that goes the perimeter of the stone to be wrapped. Secure the tag ends and make a pendant loop at the top. Bend the loops over the top, and bottom of the stone. Makes a simple and good looking wrap. I never liked the loop making machines. They have built in limits. Meantime, look up Goldfilled Wire, there are a gazillion of wire wrap sites with tutorials.
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mrflake
having dreams about rocks
Member since August 2003
Posts: 58
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Post by mrflake on Nov 27, 2003 18:27:38 GMT -5
Well I have to admit defeat for the ime being, over two months ago I started this thread with the contents of my barrel at that time. I have taken eveything out and started fresh with a barrel of various quartz's. I have become so fed up with the lack of change in some of the rocks that I am going back to basics. The ruby and emerald are doing very little, progress is painstakingly slow and I would hoped to have seen a major difference in two months, but no very little. Another problem is the "quality" of the stones, many have surface cracks and it is obvious that these go very deep on many rocks, is it worth bothering with these or would it be better to crack them and get to more solid smaller pieces? Does anyone here bother at all to tumble an obviously cracked rock? Hope yours are all going better than mine, still it has given me a lot of time to mess with silver wire, currently messing with Viking stitching! Cheers
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Post by puppie96 on Nov 28, 2003 1:34:48 GMT -5
Mr. Flake, that sounds really discouraging!! I am really new to tumbling, but got hooked quickly and jumped right to emeralds/sapphires/rubies. In my limited experience (2 weeks maybe?) I think the vibratory tumbler (which I picked up along the way) is the way to go with the sapphires/rubies; it seemed nothing happened in a week in the barrel but now there's visible progress daily. Many of the stones are rounding off and starting to show a lot of color. My big problem now is figuring out when to get them out and move on to a finer grind. I'd really like to see some polish of course! But many of the stones still have surface scoring or pits. I can see I'm losing stone but it often seems to be coming from the clean part, not the matrix. I've started pulling a lot of them out, waiting to have enough to try the next stage. I'm afraid to put the emeralds in the vibrator because they seem a lot more brittle and crumble and I don't think they could take it -- though I had one emerald "boulder" which is white with pale green through it -- a little smaller that a golf ball -- it seems pretty solid so for an experiement I threw it in with the rubies. Checked a while ago and it was making visible progress with no apparent damage. Meanwhile, the rest of that batch of emeralds is still in the barrel, and from time to time I've been fishing out the gravel and removing anything resembling green clean crystal -- I'm sure they'd get eaten alive if I left them there. I'm making it up by the seat of my pants and I am totally consumed by it. Isn't that strange?
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mrflake
having dreams about rocks
Member since August 2003
Posts: 58
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Post by mrflake on Nov 28, 2003 12:09:54 GMT -5
Puppie, don't be discoraged, there must have been something I was doing wrong, I just looked into the bowl of slurry that I had not discarded yet from the abandoned tumble the silcone carbide grit was still fresh as a daisy, for some reason nothing was grinding (any one explain this?) The mixed quartz that I put in last night are already rounding on the edges and los ing their crisp lines. I must have goofed big time with the emeralds and rubies. I did get some small clean crystals but it was the larger stuff that would not succomb. I have gone back to the quartz just to get some good results with less agro, I need something to start using in jewellry.
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SirRoxalot
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 790
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Post by SirRoxalot on Nov 28, 2003 14:06:49 GMT -5
Rubies and emeralds, which are actually the minerals corundum and beryl, are very hard: corundum is 9 and beryl is 8 on the Mohs scale. Diamond is 10, so this is really hard stuff. A month of tumbling really isn't going to do a lot to minerals with a hardness of 9. Another time-consuming mineral to tumble is agate, which is quartz, but a very tough microcrystalline form, taking 3 weeks in rough grind.
(The Mohs scale isn't quite as simple as I'm portraying it, but that's another lecture; suffice it to say that outside of this board most folks don't tumble corundum and beryl, it just doesn't make sense. As for finding that the stuff doesn't look like much, bear in mind that rubies and emeralds are some of the most precious of all gemstones, much rarer and more valuable than diamond, so don't expect much for $10 a pound, think more along the lines of $1,000 a carat!!!)
Tumbling hard stones is guaranteed to try your patience, a horrible way to kick off a fantastic hobby. Any inexpensive pocketbook on minerals available at your local bookstore will list hardness, you can also get the info on the web very quickly. Start with something softer, like deep green microcline feldspar, AKA "amazonite", or other cool color-change feldspars like labradorite or "moonstone", or deep blue sodalite. They'll shape up nicely after a week or less in the rough grind. Get them at your local rockshop - a great place to see a wide variety of rocks and pick up a ton of information.
As for tumbling rocks with open cracks, don't do it. Garbage in, garbage out, spend some time grading your rough before you waste grit and time tumbling it. Pieces like this can sometimes be pulled apart with finger pressure, or give it a tap with a hammer, using eye protection. Use a chisel-tip prospectors hammer, not a claw hammer. Open cracks will carry grit over to the next stage, possibly ruining the whole run, and even if you get it polished it might not survive rough handling. Imagine it falling apart after you give it to a loved one, or sell it... oi!
That should answer your questions. If you've any others, post away.
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Noah
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2003
Posts: 102
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Post by Noah on Nov 28, 2003 15:00:29 GMT -5
I've been doing Lap type work with rubies, sapphires and emeralds. One thing I've always noticed with Ruby in particular is its intense hardness. I would have to agree that considering tumbling a rock of this caliber takes more patience than most people care to give. Plus as was said earlier on this post its just not worth it....people pay hundreds of dollars close to thousands for these precious stones. As I've been told by various people don't try and jump in at the top...build yourself a ladder...Monstone is a great rock to start with!
-Noah-
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