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Post by holajonathan on Nov 4, 2021 12:00:15 GMT -5
I've done that...inadvertantly...as well as the metal dopstick! LOL *The layer of flesh still attached to the freeform grinds right off...the same is when the flesh is (was) attached to your finger and it hits the grinding wheel! LOL I haven't had to use fingernail clippers since I started cabbing without dop sticks. Good for removing callouses from fingertips as well. That is a beautiful set of cabs. I absolutely love the variety in the flint & the others ain't too shabby either. And finally here's another + vote for that amazing polish! Thank you. The flint is all over the map with colors and patterns. Outstanding! Love the cabs and quality of the pictures Thanks, Greig. Your YouTube channel is one of the reasons I got excited about rocks a few years ago, so your compliment means a lot. Although you clearly have some rock tumbling skills, it is your passion for rocks and positive, adventurous attitude that I enjoy most about your videos. Truth be told, I'm a better at taking photos than making cabs. (Don't tell anyone.) I've been interested in figuring out how to take cab photos with accurate color and details while also showing off the polish a little bit. My best setup is indoors, on a solid white background, near a bright window, either on a cloudy day or out of direct sunlight. I look at the screen of my cell phone while spinning the cab around to see which angle looks best. When I am getting bad reflections no matter how I spin it, I stick a coin or something else small under the white paper towel to prop up the cab on one side and change the angle a bit. That's about all there is to the photos. These were taken with my 4 year old Samsung smart phone, so nothing special about the camera itself. Super Cerium is my go to polish. I love it. It does the grabby thing real good when the polishing pad starts drying out. That's when the polishing actually happens.
Years ago there was this huge controversy over the Bielby layer. Don't know if you've heard of it or not. Anyway, one side said it was bunk and the other side swore by it. Turns out it actually does happen, just not how Bielby thought it did.  I have found that most hard agates take an amazing shine with diamonds alone. With Montana moss agate, for example, I'm not sure that the polish gets any better after the 3000 grit diamond wheel, provided that absolutely all scratches were removed starting with the 280 resin wheel. (If I missed fine scratches, cerium or ao polish will sometimes remove them without having to go all the way back to the 280 resin). But with softer or grainy or fibrous rocks, like the blue tiger's eye, a hot grabby polish on felt or raw hide absolutely, positively, polishes via a different underlying mechanism than fine diamond abrasives. With the blue tigers eye, I've tried all the way up to 50,000 grit diamond and the fibrous texture is always visible even though the surface is shiny and feels perfectly smooth. But a grabby polishing pad charged with cerium or AO, started damp and run until dry and hot, polishes by deforming the surface, making it look like surface imperfections have been melted away. The rock is not literally melting and the surface is not literally flowing, but that is how it looks. My understanding is that the surface is being deformed or smeared at a molecular level, which is completely different from how diamond abrasives + lots of water creates a polish -- via progressively smaller scratches. I read a long and technical, but very good article about this. I'll post a link if I can find it. Thanks. Glad you like them.  |
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Nov 4, 2021 12:22:05 GMT -5
I have found that most hard agates take an amazing shine with diamonds alone. With Montana moss agate, for example, I'm not sure that the polish gets any better after the 3000 grit diamond wheel, provided that absolutely all scratches were removed starting with the 280 resin wheel. (If I missed fine scratches, cerium or ao polish will sometimes remove them without having to go all the way back to the 280 resin). But with softer or grainy or fibrous rocks, like the blue tiger's eye, a hot grabby polish on felt or raw hide absolutely, positively, polishes via a different underlying mechanism than fine diamond abrasives. With the blue tigers eye, I've tried all the way up to 50,000 grit diamond and the fibrous texture is always visible even though the surface is shiny and feels perfectly smooth. But a grabby polishing pad charged with cerium or AO, started damp and run until dry and hot, polishes by deforming the surface, making it look like surface imperfections have been melted away. The rock is not literally melting and the surface is not literally flowing, but that is how it looks. My understanding is that the surface is being deformed or smeared at a molecular level, which is completely different from how diamond abrasives + lots of water creates a polish -- via progressively smaller scratches. I read a long and technical, but very good article about this. I'll post a link if I can find it. There are absolutely certain stones that you can't polish with an oxide slurry. One thing to remember when polishing something fibrous like tiger eye is to polish with the grain and not against it. Helps to prevent the fibers pulling up. Diamond polish is great and I use it when necessary, but just a kiss with cerium after diamond will get rid of the haze that diamond leaves sometimes.
You have the basic molecular level thing right. Lots more technical than my brain can remember. I just know it works and that's good enough for me.  |
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CLErocks
spending too much on rocks
Member since October 2021
Posts: 342
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Post by CLErocks on Nov 4, 2021 17:49:00 GMT -5
 They're all great, but this one? WOW. Again. Inspired to buy a cabbing machine for X-mas. I just started tumbling in August. This is THE rabbit hole I'm headed down. |
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Post by holajonathan on Nov 4, 2021 18:18:49 GMT -5
I have found that most hard agates take an amazing shine with diamonds alone. With Montana moss agate, for example, I'm not sure that the polish gets any better after the 3000 grit diamond wheel, provided that absolutely all scratches were removed starting with the 280 resin wheel. (If I missed fine scratches, cerium or ao polish will sometimes remove them without having to go all the way back to the 280 resin). But with softer or grainy or fibrous rocks, like the blue tiger's eye, a hot grabby polish on felt or raw hide absolutely, positively, polishes via a different underlying mechanism than fine diamond abrasives. With the blue tigers eye, I've tried all the way up to 50,000 grit diamond and the fibrous texture is always visible even though the surface is shiny and feels perfectly smooth. But a grabby polishing pad charged with cerium or AO, started damp and run until dry and hot, polishes by deforming the surface, making it look like surface imperfections have been melted away. The rock is not literally melting and the surface is not literally flowing, but that is how it looks. My understanding is that the surface is being deformed or smeared at a molecular level, which is completely different from how diamond abrasives + lots of water creates a polish -- via progressively smaller scratches. I read a long and technical, but very good article about this. I'll post a link if I can find it. There are absolutely certain stones that you can't polish with an oxide slurry. One thing to remember when polishing something fibrous like tiger eye is to polish with the grain and not against it. Helps to prevent the fibers pulling up. Diamond polish is great and I use it when necessary, but just a kiss with cerium after diamond will get rid of the haze that diamond leaves sometimes.
You have the basic molecular level thing right. Lots more technical than my brain can remember. I just know it works and that's good enough for me. Good reminder regarding the fibrous materials I don't remember (and probably never fully understood) the science of rock polishing. The important take away for me is that there is more than one way to polish a rock, and that wet diamonds and almost dry oxides are doing something different to the surface of the rock. Many materials will polish well with either approach, but some work much better with one or the other. Not knowing this is a good way to drive yourself crazy -- trying to polish obsidian with diamond wheels, for example. Not gonna happen. |
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Post by holajonathan on Nov 4, 2021 18:20:41 GMT -5
They're all great, but this one? WOW. Again. Inspired to buy a cabbing machine for X-mas. I just started tumbling in August. This is THE rabbit hole I'm headed down. Chatoyant materials can be quite eye catching. It really does look like the photo -- at least at the right angle. If you buy a cab machine I will send you a slab from the same piece of rough and you can make your own blue bling. |
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