charlie2020
off to a rocking start
Member since August 2020
Posts: 1
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Post by charlie2020 on Aug 23, 2020 10:47:19 GMT -5
This is my first go at polishing rocks. After the polish I had a lot of polish deep in the pores of the rocks. I read that tumbling in borax is a good way to clean it off. Unfortunately, all it did is de-polished them. Is this normal and I just gullible? What’s the secret here? If borax is bad, how do I clean the polish out of the rocks? For the rocks that need to be “re-polished”, what stage do I restart at?
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Post by knave on Aug 23, 2020 10:52:06 GMT -5
Go back to 120 or so and see if you can get the pores ground out.
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,549
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Post by RWA3006 on Aug 23, 2020 14:20:09 GMT -5
How hard, or soft are the rocks? What kind of stone is it?
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Post by victor1941 on Aug 23, 2020 20:59:09 GMT -5
I wonder if your rinse also loosened grit in the crevices and then scoured the rock faces.
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Post by fernwood on Aug 24, 2020 7:39:46 GMT -5
I wonder if your rinse also loosened grit in the crevices and then scoured the rock faces. Agree. When I tumble rocks with crystal vugs, I use a toothbrush to clean first. Then place them in the Borax tumble.
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gatorflash1
spending too much on rocks
Active in Delaware Mineralogical Society, Cabchon Grinding and Polishing, 2 Thumlers B's and a UV-18
Member since October 2018
Posts: 375
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Post by gatorflash1 on Aug 27, 2020 7:30:51 GMT -5
Why were you unable to get them tumbled in Stage 1 to remove the pits, etc? That is where 99% of the rock tumbling work is done and until they are properly tumbled smooth I don't move on to the other steps. I'm not being critical. I'm just curious as to your process. I use a little borax in my later stages with agate, quartz, jasper, and similar hardness rocks and have never experience surface dulling. I'm pretty nutty about doing a super wash/tumble between the later stages to try to get the rock super clean. Any rock at the end of a stage that doesn't look good goes back into that stage or a prior stage if it has been broken, chipped, etc. rocktumbler.com/blog/phooey-my-stones-didnt-get-a-nice-polish/
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,709
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Post by Fossilman on Aug 27, 2020 9:19:39 GMT -5
I clean clean clean through all stages before moving on to the next grit.. I never use borax, not a fan, but I do use Ivory soap after the polish stage, it really makes the stones shine.. Sometimes it is a do over when tumbling material..
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Post by rmf on Aug 27, 2020 9:55:23 GMT -5
This is my first go at polishing rocks. After the polish I had a lot of polish deep in the pores of the rocks. I read that tumbling in borax is a good way to clean it off. Unfortunately, all it did is de-polished them. Is this normal and I just gullible? What’s the secret here? If borax is bad, how do I clean the polish out of the rocks? For the rocks that need to be “re-polished”, what stage do I restart at? Borax did not cause the problem. A polish is a result of sanding the surface so fine and uniform that the eye can't see the pits. If you take a well polished rock and look at it with a lot of magnification you will see just how bumpy the surface is. Did you put the rocks in with Borax and water and tumble? So the question is how full was the barrel and did you have any cushioning (plastic pellets, wood, ceramics, many small rocks) in your barrel? Next questions. what is the diameter of the barrel? How hard are the stones? How long did you tumble?
These all affect the outcome. the greater diameter the farther rocks fall in the drum so you need material to soften the blow. If the stones are softer or large crystaline they tend to chip easier. This is why tumbling the same type of rocks together is a good Idea in tumblers with a bigger diameter than a 3# barrel. How long did you tumble 15 min or 4 hrs. You may have tumbled too long.
If your rocks are well rounded drop back to 220 grit tumble at half length(4 days not 7) then try the 600 grit(fine). this time add a bit of borax to each grit. this will help the grits to clean out of cracks or vugs easier. be very pedantic about cleaning the rocks and drum between grits. In the polish also use a little borax with the polish.
Make sure you drum is about 80% full when you start the polish cycle. To answer the original question the loss of polish is probably from the rocks beating themselves in the drum. Knocking off the polish by hammering the surface together. You may see more frosting around the edges if this happened.
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Post by greig on Aug 27, 2020 12:39:48 GMT -5
All good advice. My two cents is borax won't cause your rocks to dull. ie. it might not help, but won't hurt.
You probably had contamination released from the crevices or one of the rocks smashed and had sharp edges. The simple solution is to take it back one or two steps and run again.
For sure, don't let your rocks dry out between stages and make sure your barrel is clean. I typically clean my barrel and rocks before step 3 and especially step 4 - - and then run for a half hour with just clean water before cleaning again and adding my grit/polish. Sometimes, I am quite surprised how grey the "clean rock" water got, which means I had something that was still dirty.
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Post by stephan on Aug 27, 2020 17:26:29 GMT -5
I wonder if your rinse also loosened grit in the crevices and then scoured the rock faces. That's what I'm thinking too
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,561
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Post by jamesp on Aug 27, 2020 19:55:03 GMT -5
Is charlie2020 responding to the efforts to help him ? Oh Charlie, are you out there ? Heck. I'll throw my 2 cents in regarding my experience. Before I used a vibe I ran my homemade rotary at a fast speeds for several reasons. No need to discuss the reasons for this discussion. I will say If I did not thicken the slurry with a lot of sugar the polish was terrible at higher speeds on hard Mohs 7 stone. Straight water created a strong clacking sound and polish is difficult to achieve with such banging. A matte finish occurred. Thicken slurry by adding sugar to a warm Aunt Jemima consistency and the polish was incredible. The only change made. Maybe Charlie is not running enough smalls or is tumbling some larger rocks causing damaging banging behavior.
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