waterboysh
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2021
Posts: 369
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Post by waterboysh on Oct 20, 2021 9:38:47 GMT -5
I've got several pounds of red and gold Tiger's Eye from The Rock Shed that I'll be putting into my QT6 soonish for course. Probably not for several more weeks though; I'm waiting for the Bahia and Crazy Lace agates to finish up. 1. I do not have any more Bahia or Crazy Lace agate to add each week to keep the level of rocks correct as I lose mass and I take rocks out for stage 2. I don't want to add the Tiger's Eye to it. Curious what y'all recommend for keeping the rock level from getting to low. 2. I've read that Tiger's Eye can bruise pretty easily (why I don't want to run it with the current batch of agates). Should I use any media in stage 1 to help with this? I actually have a few pounds of mixed rock from The Rock Shed that was advertised as "tiny". I got it because it was on clearance and was only something like $1.50 per pound and the size is about 1/4". It's some pretty small stuff, but I've been using it in place of ceramic for stage 2 with good results. I'm considering throwing in a few handfuls into stage 1 with the Tiger's Eye if it would help. 3. Those are the only specific questions I have really. If anyone has any tips they'd like to throw out for Tiger's Eye, I'm all ears. Or eyes I guess since this is a forum
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Post by perkins17 on Oct 20, 2021 10:06:07 GMT -5
I've got several pounds of red and gold Tiger's Eye from The Rock Shed that I'll be putting into my QT6 soonish for course. Probably not for several more weeks though; I'm waiting for the Bahia and Crazy Lace agates to finish up. 1. I do not have any more Bahia or Crazy Lace agate to add each week to keep the level of rocks correct as I lose mass and I take rocks out for stage 2. I don't want to add the Tiger's Eye to it. Curious what y'all recommend for keeping the rock level from getting to low. 2. I've read that Tiger's Eye can bruise pretty easily (why I don't want to run it with the current batch of agates). Should I use any media in stage 1 to help with this? I actually have a few pounds of mixed rock from The Rock Shed that was advertised as "tiny". I got it because it was on clearance and was only something like $1.50 per pound and the size is about 1/4". It's some pretty small stuff, but I've been using it in place of ceramic for stage 2 with good results. I'm considering throwing in a few handfuls into stage 1 with the Tiger's Eye if it would help. 3. Those are the only specific questions I have really. If anyone has any tips they'd like to throw out for Tiger's Eye, I'm all ears. Or eyes I guess since this is a forum I haven't had issues with running tiger eye on a vibratory tumbler however, rotary gives more room for bruising. I recommend adding ceramics in stage two to keep up the volume level. Hope that helps and happy tumbling!
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waterboysh
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2021
Posts: 369
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Post by waterboysh on Jan 21, 2022 16:21:02 GMT -5
Most of my tigers eye is ready for stage 2. Or at least I think it is. It's all smooth, but most of it has a layer of hematite on the top and bottom. I'm not sure if I should grind that all off or leave it. Will the hematite shine up? What's under it exactly?
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lparsons
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2020
Posts: 276
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Post by lparsons on Jan 22, 2022 16:42:48 GMT -5
I’ve tumbled both red and gold tiger’s eye that had a layer of hematite. Mine never got shiny and seemed brittle. It chipped off unevenly during tumbling. If I ever do more tigers eye I’ll probably grind that stuff off before tumbling.
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waterboysh
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2021
Posts: 369
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Post by waterboysh on Jan 22, 2022 23:31:23 GMT -5
Yeah, that's what I decided to do too. I used my new Dremel and ground down the tops of and bottoms of a good number of them and then threw them back in coarse. I think the vast majority will be ready to take out after this week. Pretty excited about them. I love how Tiger's Eye looks. My 4 year old is excited too. Each week when we do our clean out, he grabs some and puts them over his eyes and runs around the garage roaring.
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victor1941
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2011
Posts: 1,978
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Post by victor1941 on Jan 23, 2022 20:03:16 GMT -5
Waterboysh, do you have tiger eye or tiger iron? If tiger eye grind off the top and bottom, shape as needed and then tumble. Good tiger eye or tiger iron polishes well in my vibe but keep an eye out for undercutting in the coarse stage.
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waterboysh
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2021
Posts: 369
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Post by waterboysh on Jan 23, 2022 22:56:09 GMT -5
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victor1941
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2011
Posts: 1,978
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Post by victor1941 on Jan 24, 2022 12:34:09 GMT -5
Waterboysh, I work with a vibe for mostly finishing cabs and do not have rotary experience with the high quality material that you are working. If this were my material I would use a flat lap and smooth all the sides until I had the shape desired. Remove all flakey material on the top and bottom and then tumble. I use a vibe with a four step grit to polish cycle and maintain the volume with the addition of small media from The Rock Shed. I am also sure Shawn from The Rock Shed will also answer your questions and provide guidance.
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waterboysh
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2021
Posts: 369
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Post by waterboysh on Jan 24, 2022 13:33:31 GMT -5
I would use a flat lap and smooth all the sides until I had the shape desired. Remove all flakey material on the top and bottom and then tumble. I use a vibe with a four step grit to polish cycle and maintain the volume with the addition of small media I wish I had room somewhere for a flat lap. That's why I eventually decided to get a Dremel. I started the Tiger's Eye in coarse about 2.5 months ago. As of about 2 weeks ago, almost everything was "done" with coarse as far as shaping goes. I almost started them all in medium in the Lot-o last week, but hesitated. I had a single small piece of Tiger's Eye somehow get separated from the rest and went all the way through polish with a separate batch of rocks. It came out looking really good, except for the very top of it didn't shine up at all. I'm really glad this happened because it's what prompted me to start wondering about all the ones I had already pulled out of coarse thinking they were done. So I went out and saw that like 75% of them had the same thing on the top and/or the bottom bottom. So I got them wet. These spots were almost hydrophobic; they barely looked shiny even when wet and the water ran off quickly, leaving them looking dull again a lot faster than the rest of the rock. This was when I decided to get a Dremel and spent some time grinding this off. Here is the one that caused me to decide to get a Dremel.
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victor1941
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2011
Posts: 1,978
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Post by victor1941 on Jan 24, 2022 15:45:38 GMT -5
Waterboysh, the polish looks acceptable and shows a good start. If I am understanding what I see the cab is a cracked or has unfilled fiber on left end and possibly a wider band (pinkish rose) that might also be porous. You can use the Dremel for shaping and polishing but use a very high quality mask because of silicosis. Please remember this material is not what I work and others are far more knowledgeable than I am.
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