More Polish... or Something Else? (feat. K'NEX turntable!)
Feb 29, 2020 0:30:47 GMT -5
hummingbirdstones and RocksInNJ like this
Post by Benathema on Feb 29, 2020 0:30:47 GMT -5
A few weeks ago when the big honkin quartz came out the big'n came out with a nice polish and the smaller ones got bruised up on the edges. I picked out a bunch of the smaller ones I liked and added them with the clear quartz, carnelian, and amethyst to my 3 lb barrels in 120/220 SiC. So they did a week in that, then a week in AO prepolish, and just tonight finished a week in AO polish.
Side note: within the range of "smalls" in with the big quartz the smallest (jelly beans) were nicely polished, and then as the size increased there was more bruising. That fits with ye olde posts is which jamesp discussed similar results.
Okay, so here's my deal. These are wonderfully smooth, probably the smoothest batch I've come out with yet. However, I'm not entirely happy with the quality of the polish. I can see the big quartz shining away from across the room, but these are dull. Standard operating procedure of cleanliness going into the polish, cushioned with ceramics, a load of sugar... all that good stuff. Babied them at cleanout, rubbed on the pant leg to see if burnishing would do anything (nerp).
It's been a while since I've ran the 3 lb barrels so I cant quite remember what a good recipe for time is. I've peeked at a few stones this size that went through polish in the 3 lb barrel many months ago and they're basically the same dullness, and I'm overwhelmingly certain they only had a week in polish. The tennis ball sized chunks of tiger's eye, blue lace, and others have the nice polish on them and were ran in 3 lb barrels. My spidey sense is tingling as I recall previous topics. The big hammers (relative to barrel size) seem to be immune to BS and take a nice polish and receive effectively no bruising. The smalls are the jerks... or can be, at least.
So my question(s) is/(are): Should I give them another week? Did I run them too long? Is this an instance where they need to be checked daily?
I doth awaitith thoust's wisdomith, and will hereby leave the 3 lb barrels on standby until then.
(I'll show off my goofy turntable soon)
Side note: within the range of "smalls" in with the big quartz the smallest (jelly beans) were nicely polished, and then as the size increased there was more bruising. That fits with ye olde posts is which jamesp discussed similar results.
Okay, so here's my deal. These are wonderfully smooth, probably the smoothest batch I've come out with yet. However, I'm not entirely happy with the quality of the polish. I can see the big quartz shining away from across the room, but these are dull. Standard operating procedure of cleanliness going into the polish, cushioned with ceramics, a load of sugar... all that good stuff. Babied them at cleanout, rubbed on the pant leg to see if burnishing would do anything (nerp).
It's been a while since I've ran the 3 lb barrels so I cant quite remember what a good recipe for time is. I've peeked at a few stones this size that went through polish in the 3 lb barrel many months ago and they're basically the same dullness, and I'm overwhelmingly certain they only had a week in polish. The tennis ball sized chunks of tiger's eye, blue lace, and others have the nice polish on them and were ran in 3 lb barrels. My spidey sense is tingling as I recall previous topics. The big hammers (relative to barrel size) seem to be immune to BS and take a nice polish and receive effectively no bruising. The smalls are the jerks... or can be, at least.
So my question(s) is/(are): Should I give them another week? Did I run them too long? Is this an instance where they need to be checked daily?
I doth awaitith thoust's wisdomith, and will hereby leave the 3 lb barrels on standby until then.
(I'll show off my goofy turntable soon)