skye
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2020
Posts: 13
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Post by skye on Sept 13, 2020 14:02:40 GMT -5
Hello! I need a lot of help. so i’m new to rock tumbling and I just recently purchased a lot of rocks to tumble. For my first batch I tumbled tigers eye. it took me about 5 weeks to fully tumble, but for some reason there is this like white foggy film that is staying on the rocks when it’s dry, but goes away and is completely shiny when wet. I dont know why this is happening because I am using ceramic media when tumbling and I polished the rocks for 1 week. someone please tell me what i’m doing wrong 😣
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Post by amygdule on Sept 13, 2020 14:33:30 GMT -5
The white foggy film is polish/slurry residue that needs to be cleansed with a Borax/Ivory soap Burnish before you let them Dry.
After I polish a load of rocks, I tumble them in "Spic'n'Span" for a few hours to get them Shiny.
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skye
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2020
Posts: 13
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Post by skye on Sept 13, 2020 14:42:32 GMT -5
I just put some ivory soap in my tumbler for about 30 minutes but it still is very foggy, how long should I do this for and should I also have borax in there as well?
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 766
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Post by lordsorril on Sept 13, 2020 14:45:28 GMT -5
Rock tumbling is not as easy as it seems...In addition to the possibility that it may be leftover residue: It is also possible that your rock(s) did not spend enough time in pre-polish/polish and/or not enough grit was used at different stages to facilitate a final shine.
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skye
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2020
Posts: 13
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Post by skye on Sept 13, 2020 14:52:15 GMT -5
What do you suggest that I do? I was tumbling tigers eye and they are so beautiful I don't want them to go to waste
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 766
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Post by lordsorril on Sept 13, 2020 14:55:22 GMT -5
What do you suggest that I do? I was tumbling tigers eye and they are so beautiful I don't want them to go to waste They definitely won't go to waste. Just takes a little more effort. Tiger-eye is mohs 7 hardness--so it will lose very little mass if you move it back to the pre-polish stage and then run it through polish again.
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skye
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2020
Posts: 13
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Post by skye on Sept 13, 2020 14:57:14 GMT -5
I will try that! thank you
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skye
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2020
Posts: 13
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Post by skye on Sept 13, 2020 14:58:22 GMT -5
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skye
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2020
Posts: 13
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Post by skye on Sept 13, 2020 14:58:52 GMT -5
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skye
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2020
Posts: 13
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Post by skye on Sept 13, 2020 14:59:27 GMT -5
This is what they look like currently
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 766
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Post by lordsorril on Sept 13, 2020 15:00:52 GMT -5
I will try that! thank you You're welcome! I should also mention (since you are new) that a lot of people use The Rock Shed polish that can be found here Rock Shed Grit some tumbler kits come with odd polishes that do not work very well...
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 766
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Post by lordsorril on Sept 13, 2020 15:05:52 GMT -5
It is tough to tell with tiger-eye photos, but, if you feel any texture on the frosted surfaces I would back them up to Stage 2 (120/220) until the stones are completely smooth before moving them to pre-polish.
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skye
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2020
Posts: 13
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Post by skye on Sept 13, 2020 15:08:10 GMT -5
It is tough to tell with tiger-eye photos, but, if you feel any texture on the frosted surfaces I would back them up to Stage 2 (120/220) until the stones are completely smooth before moving them to pre-polish. I will try that now! thanks again
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Post by amygdule on Sept 13, 2020 15:16:37 GMT -5
Looks like you need more coarse grinding to smooth out the rough edges.
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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 Sept 13, 2020 15:27:16 GMT -5
Hi Sky - I'm glad you joined the forum and are pursuing this great hobby. Did you read the book Modern Rock Tumbling? I recommend it for all newbies. It was a great help to me I can tell you. Looking at the pictures it appears that your TE has many little pits and scratches. These all need to be ground off in the initial stage 1. Your rock should not have any imperfections that will allow the later tumbling slurry to make a home. Here are some links that may be of assistance. rocktumbler.com/book.shtmlrocktumbler.com/rough/tiger-eye.shtml
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skye
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2020
Posts: 13
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Post by skye on Sept 13, 2020 15:40:56 GMT -5
Thank you all so much!
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Enigman
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2013
Posts: 163
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Post by Enigman on Sept 16, 2020 20:04:59 GMT -5
This is what they look like currently What you have there is "edge damage". It is caused by excessive impacts with other stones possibly due to insufficient media in the load, too much water, or too large of media. That will never polish out. You need to back up a stage or two to either the 500 grit or 120/220 grit stage, run with plenty of small media pebbles or ceramic until the edge damage is removed and then move forward again to the next and polish stages.
Also, the thing about polishing is that it is something you do until it is glossy rather than for a set amount of time. If it comes out in 7 days and it's hazy (excluding edge damage) then reload and polish some more. Repeat until glossy.
BTW, what machine are you using?
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Post by pauls on Sept 17, 2020 1:22:52 GMT -5
This is what they look like currently What you have there is "edge damage". It is caused by excessive impacts with other stones possibly due to insufficient media in the load, too much water, or too large of media. That will never polish out. You need to back up a stage or two to either the 500 grit or 120/220 grit stage, run with plenty of small media pebbles or ceramic until the edge damage is removed and then move forward again to the next and polish stages. Also, the thing about polishing is that it is something you do until it is glossy rather than for a set amount of time. If it comes out in 7 days and it's hazy (excluding edge damage) then reload and polish some more. Repeat until glossy.
BTW, what machine are you using?
I agree about the bruising and enigman's solution, it should be easily fixed by backing up a couple of stages and redoing them with lots of cushioning material, some people use aquarium gravel.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Sept 18, 2020 5:27:13 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum skye. If using a rotary tumbler the barrel should be at least 2/3 full of rocks. Preferably 3/4 full. Under filling the barrel to say 1/2 full will bang the rocks up and cause this type of frost/bruise damage. There is a fine line between under filling and overfilling the barrel that will bruise damage rocks. And be sure to add water to just below the rock level in the barrel. If you have any large rocks in the batch say 2.5 to 3 inches or larger they can cause bruises too if barrel is under filled. Adding smaller rocks as mentioned like aquarium gravel or ceramics helps protect rocks from bruising. This is a classic case of bruising/frosting. I would think that your tumbler is making some strong rattling noises for this amount of bruising to occur. If you by chance are using a vibratory tumbler be sure to fill it to the manufacturer's fill line. It would help if you share a photo of the entire batch of rocks so the members can see the whole batch. Also let them know if you are using a rotary tumbler or a vibratory and what model it is.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Sept 18, 2020 15:36:41 GMT -5
I agree with jamesp and Enigman, those rocks took a beating. I also suspected an under filled barrel, a lack of ceramics, or both.
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