waterboysh
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2021
Posts: 386
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Post by waterboysh on Jul 16, 2021 14:32:29 GMT -5
I'm still a relative noob when it comes to tumbling. First few batches were just mixed rough. Currently have a lot of bahia agates going in my 6 lb barrel. But I really wanted to try my hand at some Turritella Agates because I really like the idea of a rock with fossils in it. My 4 year old likes it too. I ordered just a small batch of these and have been running them in 60/90 in a Lortone 3 lb barrel. I'm having a hard time deciding when to pull them out of the course stage. It seems like no matter how long they go, there will be areas that are really rough. Here are a couple of examples. One side looks decent, but the end is still really rough Here's another example. One side is not perfect, but decentish. Flip it over and the other side is horrible. I get the feeling that this is just a more difficult rock to work with. I have some pieces that are really small that look great. By really small I mean pebble sized. None of the larger ones have really come close to finishing the course stage and most of them have been going for at least a month at this point. If anyone has any tips on what to do with these rocks or advice on when I should just say enough is enough and move them on anyway I'd appreciate it.
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Post by Peruano on Jul 16, 2021 16:22:59 GMT -5
You are trying to do something very difficult, because the matrix holding the fossilized shells in place is of varying hardness and the matrix is distinct from the shells embedded in it. Often one edge (closest to the top of the original bed of rock) is softer and less compact than the lower levels. Not being a rotary tumbler I can't tell you when to stop, but it may be time to move to higher grits and count on smoothing the edges that are crumbling away after you are done and have a good polish on the overall stone. I'll try to attach a photo of a stone I polished with a cab machine recently, but even when working that way, nature sometimes determines the shape of the finished product. You can see a gritty texture at the top of the second photo where the matrix is less dense and thus harder to polish than the rest of the specimen. Such is life!
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Post by jasoninsd on Jul 16, 2021 19:08:35 GMT -5
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Post by perkins17 on Jul 16, 2021 19:40:42 GMT -5
I have some that are in the polish stage right now (also rotary) and mine were already in a shaped slab. You could grind the rough parts smooth if you have access to grinders or a rock club. You could also use a rock saw or wet tile saw to cut the rough parts off. Hope that helps.
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thebeef
having dreams about rocks
Member since September 2020
Posts: 62
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Post by thebeef on Jul 17, 2021 1:43:31 GMT -5
I used a Dremel to get sone parts off of the batches I did. Some will always have really rough areas or will fall apart. I have found that it needs longer in rough than I anticipate to take a fairly uniform shape, but that it will eventually and it'll be satisfying.
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Post by Bob on Jul 25, 2021 20:37:54 GMT -5
This is not good beginner material. Some batches of rough are just cruddy; others are tighter and tumble well. Some good pieces are delicate and for me spend months in 220 grit.
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waterboysh
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2021
Posts: 386
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Post by waterboysh on Jul 28, 2021 10:05:43 GMT -5
This is not good beginner material. Yeah, I probably shouldn't have gotten it. There were small pieces in the mixed rough I got to start with and I really liked it so ordered a small batch of just it. I did read about it being challenging so I have been erring more on the side of caution and I think making it take longer than it should by making the tumbling action a little less aggressive. I have been pulling out rocks from course that I wouldn't normally and once I get enough, I'll probably run everything in 120/220 for quite a bit longer than I normally would. I honestly don't have high hopes that I'll end up with good rocks when I'm done and I'm probably looking at several months time before they are finished.
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Post by perkins17 on Jul 28, 2021 10:23:16 GMT -5
This is not good beginner material. Yeah, I probably shouldn't have gotten it. There were small pieces in the mixed rough I got to start with and I really liked it so ordered a small batch of just it. I did read about it being challenging so I have been erring more on the side of caution and I think making it take longer than it should by making the tumbling action a little less aggressive. I have been pulling out rocks from course that I wouldn't normally and once I get enough, I'll probably run everything in 120/220 for quite a bit longer than I normally would. I honestly don't have high hopes that I'll end up with good rocks when I'm done and I'm probably looking at several months time before they are finished. I did this material for the first time recently as well. It was kind of rough when I finished but has a pretty good shine. My polish was kind of uneven because of the matrix.
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waterboysh
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2021
Posts: 386
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Post by waterboysh on Oct 1, 2021 13:12:34 GMT -5
I have some that are in the polish stage right now (also rotary) Do you have any pictures? I need some motivation... lol. It's been 2.5 months since I first posted this, which means I've been working on these Turritella Agates for about 4 months now. I moved them all to 120/220 5 weeks ago and after a month in that stage, about 1/2 of them were starting to look decent. So I took those out and continued the rest in 120/220. I've been doing this stage for 2 weeks at a time and recharging after 1. I suspect it'll be at least another 1 - 1.5 months before I feel like they are all good enough to move onto the next stage. I was surprised with how much smoother they got in medium grit though considering many of them still had fairly large rough areas. It did make me excited to see the finished product.
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Post by Rockindad on Oct 1, 2021 17:56:04 GMT -5
We did a couple of pounds +/- in early summer. The majority of the material we had took a very high shine. Even so, as you can tell in the picture, there may still be pitting in the matrix between the shells due to differences in hardness. Pay attention to what Peruano says in his second sentence. We bought blocks of this material that were 3-4" thick, there was a noticeable difference in the material from top to bottom. This is the last (finished) piece we have as my son gave the others away, not sure why he kept this one as others were much better, maybe because of the little druzy area. Look forward to running more of this but will probably slab the best of it.
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Post by perkins17 on Oct 1, 2021 18:15:17 GMT -5
I have some that are in the polish stage right now (also rotary) Do you have any pictures? I need some motivation... lol. It's been 2.5 months since I first posted this, which means I've been working on these Turritella Agates for about 4 months now. I moved them all to 120/220 5 weeks ago and after a month in that stage, about 1/2 of them were starting to look decent. So I took those out and continued the rest in 120/220. I've been doing this stage for 2 weeks at a time and recharging after 1. I suspect it'll be at least another 1 - 1.5 months before I feel like they are all good enough to move onto the next stage. I was surprised with how much smoother they got in medium grit though considering many of them still had fairly large rough areas. It did make me excited to see the finished product. Sure! I'll post them soon.if I don't, send me a pm because I probably forgot! 😂
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Post by perkins17 on Oct 1, 2021 18:44:23 GMT -5
Alright here it is in all it's glory. I did tumble it for long enough in stage one. I think this was my second Lortone 33b batch.
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Post by perkins17 on Oct 1, 2021 18:45:08 GMT -5
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Post by jasoninsd on Oct 1, 2021 19:14:20 GMT -5
OMG! What's the rock and what's the carpet!?! That is the BEST color match I've ever seen! LOL You did get a good polish on those.
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Post by perkins17 on Oct 1, 2021 20:45:54 GMT -5
OMG! What's the rock and what's the carpet!?! That is the BEST color match I've ever seen! LOL You did get a good polish on those. lol. 😂 I thought the same think when I went for the picture!
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Post by fernwood on Oct 2, 2021 5:01:07 GMT -5
I have tumbled some individual Turitella shells with OK results. Almost everything that was a combo of shells and matrix had pitting.
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Post by rockjunquie on Oct 2, 2021 7:19:23 GMT -5
Great camouflage.
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Post by perkins17 on Oct 2, 2021 9:23:05 GMT -5
Great camouflage. Total accident! I should become a photographer... 😂🤣
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waterboysh
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2021
Posts: 386
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Post by waterboysh on Dec 12, 2021 12:37:48 GMT -5
Just posted a new thread with pictures. These things were a pain. It took around 6 months total. I think most went about 2 months in coarse. Then I decided to just move everything to 120/220 because I felt like the coarse was grinding away to much of the matrix and leaving them just as rough. They were probably in medium grit for about 2 months as well. After that, pre-polish and polish stages went like normal, though I did run each stage with a little more ceramic that usual and for a week longer than usual. Overall though I'm happy with how they turned out. It's actually really cool to hold something in your hand that you can look at and say "Here's the remains of a living creature that lived 50 million years ago." Does anyone have suggestions for other fossil rocks that might not be as much of a pain to tumble? If this Florida boy ever makes it to Michigan I'm going to load up on Petosky stones.
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quartzilla
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2020
Posts: 1,237
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Post by quartzilla on Dec 12, 2021 15:17:25 GMT -5
Perkins I think you got chameleon stone and not turitella.
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