rockfrog
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since February 2021
Posts: 114
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Post by rockfrog on Mar 14, 2021 14:24:22 GMT -5
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 875
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Post by lordsorril on Mar 14, 2021 15:32:17 GMT -5
Hey! Great job on your first tumble! Looks a heck of a lot better than my first tumbles did... Of course most people don't recommend running mixed hardness batches, but, I think it is good experience to see what happens when you are starting out. I see green opal! Good job, brave soul. I cross my fingers whenever I run it--I have all sorts of issues with this material and the quality of the rough varies greatly. Labradorite is another tricky material-the ones with the splintery cracks were probably a little bit unstable to start with and just needed some more tlc in the earlier stages and lots of cushioning in the final stages.
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rockfrog
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since February 2021
Posts: 114
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Post by rockfrog on Mar 14, 2021 17:09:37 GMT -5
Hey! Great job on your first tumble! Looks a heck of a lot better than my first tumbles did... Of course most people don't recommend running mixed hardness batches, but, I think it is good experience to see what happens when you are starting out. I see green opal! Good job, brave soul. I cross my fingers whenever I run it--I have all sorts of issues with this material and the quality of the rough varies greatly. Labradorite is another tricky material-the ones with the splintery cracks were probably a little bit unstable to start with and just needed some more tlc in the earlier stages and lots of cushioning in the final stages. Yeah I started this batch before finding RTH so I just bought a mixed bag of roughs to start with because I was excited and they were just so pretty lol. The next batch is going to be the same hardness for sure. I put in 4 pretty big pieces of green opal and one shattered pretty early on, leaving me with a bunch of chips/shards. Another broke but the two pieces were big enough to move forward and they barely made it, and still another piece was full of cracks when finished but I'm not going to run it through again because it's small and I'm pretty sure it would just break. But I did get one nice piece so I'm happy Thanks!
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,113
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Post by stefan on Mar 14, 2021 17:11:15 GMT -5
Great first efforts! Mixed hardness stones did the fracturing. You may not have noticed it before burnish but it was there. Also did you cushion your burnish run? It is hard to have patience when first starting out but looks like maybe a little longer in course grind on some of the stones would have helped. Also what polish did you use? It might just be the lighting but it looks like some of the stones are still a bit pitted and I'm wondering if your polish did what it was supposed to do. Overall I would be pleased as you had dang good results with a difficult mixed batch- oh and Love the Labradorite flash you captured!
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rockfrog
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since February 2021
Posts: 114
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Post by rockfrog on Mar 14, 2021 17:51:06 GMT -5
Great first efforts! Mixed hardness stones did the fracturing. You may not have noticed it before burnish but it was there. Also did you cushion your burnish run? It is hard to have patience when first starting out but looks like maybe a little longer in course grind on some of the stones would have helped. Also what polish did you use? It might just be the lighting but it looks like some of the stones are still a bit pitted and I'm wondering if your polish did what it was supposed to do. Overall I would be pleased as you had dang good results with a difficult mixed batch- oh and Love the Labradorite flash you captured! I did include cushion in the burnish run. I stopped the course grind earlier than others would have because I wanted to save the softer stones from completely disappearing, but as stated above I won't be doing such a mixed hardness batch like this again. I honestly kinda like the more natural shapes in the end with the jasper mostly because I'm not bent on perfectly round stones, but yes some would've benefitted running longer in the course. I used Aluminum Oxide polish. Thanks!
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Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,512
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Post by Brian on Mar 14, 2021 18:19:19 GMT -5
That one piece of labradorite really looks great with that color!
Overall, that looks like a pretty good batch for your first one. As everyone has said those mixed batches are tough. Our first batch was also a mix that included green opal. The green opal is pretty, but it is a pain, too. I don’t even remember if we had any in our final polish due to breakages. I’d like to try that stuff by itself just to see what may be possible with it.
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Post by jasoninsd on Mar 14, 2021 19:24:33 GMT -5
Great looking batch for your first tumble! I really like the Yellow Jasper - that turned out really nice!
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