Cody
starting to shine!
Member since September 2020
Posts: 27
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Post by Cody on Sept 27, 2020 20:50:02 GMT -5
Over the week I came about some beautiful pieces of Leland blue. I can't find anything substantial online about tumbling slag, at least nothing consistent. I've heard the more turquoise pieces are softer and tend to fracture easily, and I'm just generally unsure how to polish such a large variety of pieces. Any help would be appreciated! Here's a pic of the pieces I brought back from Leland, Michigan.  |
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dkurtz
having dreams about rocks
Tumbling to de-stress from my work. :)
Member since February 2010
Posts: 66 
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Post by dkurtz on Sept 27, 2020 22:30:13 GMT -5
That looks cool......
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jamesp
Cave Dweller 
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,601
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Post by jamesp on Sept 28, 2020 6:04:49 GMT -5
Nice slag glass Cody. Welcome to the forum. Many rock tumbling hobbyists tumble obsidian. The tumbling process for obsidian, glass and slag is all the same. I tumble a lot of glass. I modified a vibratory tumbler for the finishing and polishing task. But many folks have success using a Lot-O for finishing and polishing glass and obsidian. Some use a UV. If you want to shape it you are best using a rotary. Most of your findings could benefit from a rotary tumbler to remove nature's damage and round off some of the shape issues. Then move to a vibratory tumbler for steps in the 220-500-1000-polish range. Fair warning that glass is sensitive to frosting and bruising when tumbled. My glass world www.flickr.com/photos/67205364@N06/sets/72157689895637020 |
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Cody
starting to shine!
Member since September 2020
Posts: 27
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Post by Cody on Sept 28, 2020 7:03:20 GMT -5
Nice slag glass Cody . Welcome to the forum. Many rock tumbling hobbyists tumble obsidian. The tumbling process for obsidian, glass and slag is all the same. I tumble a lot of glass. I modified a vibratory tumbler for the finishing and polishing task. But many folks have success using a Lot-O for finishing and polishing glass and obsidian. Some use a UV. If you want to shape it you are best using a rotary. Most of your findings could benefit from a rotary tumbler to remove nature's damage and round off some of the shape issues. Then move to a vibratory tumbler for steps in the 220-500-1000-polish range. Fair warning that glass is sensitive to frosting and bruising when tumbled. My glass world www.flickr.com/photos/67205364@N06/sets/72157689895637020Thanks for the info! I don't have a Lot-O tumbler or vibratory tumbler yet, just a lortone rotary tumbler. I hope I'm fine with just that? To add to this, I do have some ceramic medium. I read online about a method for rotary tumbling apache tears using 1 pound medium to 1 pound of stone/glass, not sure if this is valid information or not but it seems like an option. |
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,601
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Post by jamesp on Sept 28, 2020 12:32:28 GMT -5
Nice slag glass Cody . Welcome to the forum. Many rock tumbling hobbyists tumble obsidian. The tumbling process for obsidian, glass and slag is all the same. I tumble a lot of glass. I modified a vibratory tumbler for the finishing and polishing task. But many folks have success using a Lot-O for finishing and polishing glass and obsidian. Some use a UV. If you want to shape it you are best using a rotary. Most of your findings could benefit from a rotary tumbler to remove nature's damage and round off some of the shape issues. Then move to a vibratory tumbler for steps in the 220-500-1000-polish range. Fair warning that glass is sensitive to frosting and bruising when tumbled. My glass world www.flickr.com/photos/67205364@N06/sets/72157689895637020Thanks for the info! I don't have a Lot-O tumbler or vibratory tumbler yet, just a lortone rotary tumbler. I hope I'm fine with just that? To add to this, I do have some ceramic medium. I read online about a method for rotary tumbling apache tears using 1 pound medium to 1 pound of stone/glass, not sure if this is valid information or not but it seems like an option. I have polished glass/obsidian in a rotary but it was a long time ago. I am not sure what recipe to use for the rotary. Just beware it must be tumbled gently with plenty of smalls in the 500-1000-polish steps. I suggest filling your barrel to 80-85% full. |
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Post by Mel on Sept 29, 2020 17:04:09 GMT -5
I polish broken glass (nothing as fancy as jamesp , sadly), and I use plastic pellets for those most times (tumbling in a small Thumler). I use plastic with glass solely because I'm lazy and I don't care if I mix up pellets from coarse with fine, or whatever, since I'm just aiming for foggy glass. If you're going for mirror finish, you'll probably be pickier  I tumbled with ceramic cylinders too but that was months ago. Batches look the same to me. With your slag, I'd probably go ceramic just for the extra abrasive. |
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Cody
starting to shine!
Member since September 2020
Posts: 27
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Post by Cody on Oct 10, 2020 13:01:47 GMT -5
Thanks for the tips everyone! I decided to follow a tutorial on how to polish apache tears with a rotary since I don't have access to a vibratory. No fractures, no breaks or shattered pieces and I'm moving onto the 7 day rapid polish tumble!  |
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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 17, 2020 20:38:01 GMT -5
That is beautiful stuff!
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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 Nov 25, 2020 15:33:30 GMT -5
Thanks for the tips everyone! I decided to follow a tutorial on how to polish apache tears with a rotary since I don't have access to a vibratory. No fractures, no breaks or shattered pieces and I'm moving onto the 7 day rapid polish tumble! What is the round media you show in the photo? |
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Cody
starting to shine!
Member since September 2020
Posts: 27
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Post by Cody on Nov 26, 2020 6:21:35 GMT -5
Thanks for the tips everyone! I decided to follow a tutorial on how to polish apache tears with a rotary since I don't have access to a vibratory. No fractures, no breaks or shattered pieces and I'm moving onto the 7 day rapid polish tumble! What is the round media you show in the photo? Just ceramic media, I believe I got bags of them from Amazon. |
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heathersharmony
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2021
Posts: 1
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Post by heathersharmony on Sept 21, 2021 5:54:33 GMT -5
What was the tutorial you mentioned?
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nursetumbler
Cave Dweller
Member since February 2022
Posts: 992 
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Post by nursetumbler on May 24, 2022 8:57:03 GMT -5
CodyHi I know that this thread is over a yr old and I hope you are still on here to ask. How did your Leland Blue turn out? I have the opportunity to buy some and am wondering if it will be a waste of my time and money? I am a Michigan native myself 🙂
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