robindesbois
off to a rocking start
Member since June 2020
Posts: 2
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Post by robindesbois on Jun 21, 2020 17:50:56 GMT -5
I’m at the polish stage of my first attempt to polish rocks. I have a Lortone rotary I tucked away in a cabinet at the school where I teach. I was told it had been in there 20 years. The box was unopened. I live in the 4 corners area so stones abound. Went out with my 10 year old daughter and gathered a bunch that had been shaped by Mother Nature - lots of sand and wind out here - and set the machine to work. Started with Medium grit, then pre-polish, and now I’m on the polish stage. I saw something on the internet about using corn to help cushion the stones. My father-in-law is a farmer in the Midwest so last time there I grabbed a couple handfuls of dry feed corn. I’ve added that to the polish grit and set it to tumbling. However, I cannot find anything about adding corn on the forum. Anyone tried this? Am I about to make a real mess? Cheers
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stonemon
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2017
Posts: 1,024
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Post by stonemon on Jun 21, 2020 20:27:06 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum!
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Post by manofglass on Jun 21, 2020 20:45:10 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum from Michigan
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Post by knave on Jun 21, 2020 21:17:22 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum from Wisconsin!
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Post by aDave on Jun 21, 2020 22:22:26 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum from Southern CA.
Get the corn out of your mind. You're not finding it on the forum as it's not usual media with rotary tumbles.
Ask your questions in the tumbling side of house. You'll get set straight.
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Post by knave on Jun 21, 2020 22:36:47 GMT -5
I’ve heard of dry tumbles using corn cob media in a vibratory tumbler, never tried it myself.
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Benathema
has rocks in the head
God chased me down and made sure I knew He was real June 20, 2022. I've been on a Divine Mission.
Member since November 2019
Posts: 703
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Post by Benathema on Jun 21, 2020 22:52:01 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum.
Check for dry polishing methods. I believe there's a pinned tutorial link that describes using dried corn cob.
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billdean
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 153
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Post by billdean on Jun 22, 2020 0:20:50 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum from Michigan X2
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pizzano
Cave Dweller
Member since February 2018
Posts: 1,390
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Post by pizzano on Jun 22, 2020 8:26:28 GMT -5
I’m at the polish stage of my first attempt to polish rocks. I have a Lortone rotary I tucked away in a cabinet at the school where I teach. I was told it had been in there 20 years. The box was unopened. I live in the 4 corners area so stones abound. Went out with my 10 year old daughter and gathered a bunch that had been shaped by Mother Nature - lots of sand and wind out here - and set the machine to work. Started with Medium grit, then pre-polish, and now I’m on the polish stage. I saw something on the internet about using corn to help cushion the stones. My father-in-law is a farmer in the Midwest so last time there I grabbed a couple handfuls of dry feed corn. I’ve added that to the polish grit and set it to tumbling. However, I cannot find anything about adding corn on the forum. Anyone tried this? Am I about to make a real mess? Cheers Dried corn cob is generally used as a dry burnishing or cleaning media for jewelry and copper/brass shell casings..........used as a wet media it is worthless. It will work dry in either a rotary or vibe tumbler, but really breaks down rapidly. If your only trying to "cushion" stones while wet rotary polishing, plastic beads work well for some folks.
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robindesbois
off to a rocking start
Member since June 2020
Posts: 2
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Post by robindesbois on Jun 22, 2020 8:53:20 GMT -5
Many thanks for your advise and welcome.
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kyoti
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2020
Posts: 542
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Post by kyoti on Jun 23, 2020 9:08:21 GMT -5
Welcome from Texas! Cushioning media ( ceramic media and plastic pellets) are usually used if you are tumbling soft rocks or rocks that are prone to shattering or chipping. For normal hardness rocks like agates and jaspers, you can follow the normal 4 stage tumbling recipes. Check out the rock tumbling section of the forum for some recipes and tips. There are some great videos on youtube too that helped me get started.
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Prov
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2020
Posts: 116
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Post by Prov on Jun 23, 2020 23:18:27 GMT -5
Welcome from Texas #2!
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