asclepius
off to a rocking start
Member since July 2021
Posts: 4
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Post by asclepius on Jul 26, 2021 23:18:21 GMT -5
After 50 years, I have returned to rock tumbling.
My father bought a rock tumbler in the 1960's. He was inspired, I think, by the ball mills at the ceramic factory where he worked that made aluminum oxide powder. There were softball to baseball sized steel ball media in the mill and aluminum oxide material to be pulverized. a by product was 1/2 to 1 inch not quite spherical balls of aluminum oxide. He brought them home by the ton. We used them everywhere: in the driveway for gravel, in concrete, as fill. He also bought a rock tumbler and began polishing river rocks. As a child, I was amazed that common rocks would come out looking like jewels. I bought one a couple of months ago, and I am in the final polish stage of my first batch. Can't wait to continue in the old man's footsteps in this hobby. I even have a plan (in my mind only) to make a larger unit that can tumble fist sized stones. But one step at a time. I'll do it by the book for a few rounds before going off on my normal deep end tangent. I live in Vancouver, Washington; lots of pretty minerals lying about here.
Take care, and stay well, all of you.
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catskillrocks
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2008
Posts: 1,270
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Post by catskillrocks on Jul 27, 2021 20:10:14 GMT -5
Welcome from western New York. Looking forward to seeing your finished batch.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Jul 27, 2021 21:56:44 GMT -5
Welcome from Northern Arizona! Looking forward to seeing your finished stones.
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Post by perkins17 on Jul 27, 2021 22:04:16 GMT -5
Welcome!
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Post by jasoninsd on Jul 27, 2021 23:59:05 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum from South Dakota! Awesome legacy to continue. I liked reading the history. I've tumbled a few fist sized pieces and they're extremely satisfying when they're done! I look forward to seeing your results!
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asclepius
off to a rocking start
Member since July 2021
Posts: 4
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Post by asclepius on Sept 9, 2021 16:59:03 GMT -5
Finished with a batch. Still trying to figure out how to upload a file. Short answer: They are shiny!
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Sept 9, 2021 17:57:05 GMT -5
Finished with a batch. Still trying to figure out how to upload a file. Short answer: They are shiny! You can use any photo hosting site or you can sign up for a Cloudinary account (free). Here's the tutorial on how to set it up. It takes a little while to get through it, but then it works like a charm.
Looking forward to seeing your shiny rocks!
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