badrock
starting to shine!
Member since January 2022
Posts: 30
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Post by badrock on Jan 30, 2022 19:58:22 GMT -5
I'd thought I'd share my tumbling activities. About 90% of these rocks were bought, while the rest were picked up while we were camping in the Mojave last November. The idea is to grind (Step 1) the rocks with the QT12s and use the other tumblers to take it from there. Being picky, not much has come out of the QT12s, therefore the QT6 is grinding (not it's designated job). Maybe I need a Flat Lap or something to fix the rocks first? I bought a cheap tile saw. The box is sitting at my front door. It has moved 2 feet since delivery. Maybe when it gets warmer, I'll trim some rocks. Please share what are you tumbling and your rock adventures? No need to share any trade secrets or locations. Just, in general...
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brybry
Cave Dweller
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Member since October 2021
Posts: 1,220
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Post by brybry on Jan 30, 2022 20:45:34 GMT -5
Bahia Agates Rainbow Ledge Agate Local brecciated quartz & Jasper Little bit of leopard skin Jasper Carnelian nodules Polychrome Jasper
That's what I remember throwing in at the moment.
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Post by perkins17 on Jan 30, 2022 20:53:32 GMT -5
I am tumbling the worldwide tumbling contest rocks this year (lake lahontan agate) and some random saw scraps. When I really get going, I tumble quartz, agates, pet wood, and random fine grained hard stones. I do pre grinding on the machine in my avatar. Tile saws are a great way to get started grinding/cutting. Good luck and I hope this helps!
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badrock
starting to shine!
Member since January 2022
Posts: 30
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Post by badrock on Jan 30, 2022 22:15:52 GMT -5
Perkins17,
My wife, when rock hunting, picks up pretty rocks. Usually quarts. She likes Amethyst. I pick up the ugly rocks, so that's why I chose my user name. My rocks have never turned out perfect...nature. I'm going to tumble a (one) Lake Lahontan Agate, stating that with humor, later to see what happens. We're out of the contest. I've spent so much time trying to figure out what the black rocks are. Still at a loss... Thanks for the vote on the tile saw. That's helpful.
Brybry, I've got Rainbow Ledge rocks rolling as well. Mine are yellow, black, and white. Not sure if they are Jasper or Agate. If they come out decent I'll post some photos. Bahia Agates. Not sure how to tumble those. The banding is internal or I suppose they have to be cut? Looks like a great variety!
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 865
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Post by lordsorril on Jan 30, 2022 22:31:09 GMT -5
Spinning as of: 30 Jan 2022 Granite/y/ish (local: MA, NH, CT) Grey Feldspar (local) Assorted Quartz-ites-(local) Sandstone (Home Depot) Utah Wonderstone (Ebay) Agate-larger pieces (mostly UT-Ebay, and Brazil-Kingsley) Fossil Rock (Mexico-TRS-shaping for dry polish vibe run) Petrified Wood (AR-Ebay) Assorted Jasper (GemsByMail) Yellow Quartz (Astro Gallery)
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Post by manofglass on Jan 30, 2022 23:20:05 GMT -5
I am tumbling lots of glass
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Post by fernwood on Jan 31, 2022 4:50:22 GMT -5
I have WI Moonstone, a mix of agates, fossil and jaspers from across the USA and Lavic. Hope to check them this week, as some have been unchecked for over 1.5 years. Just an experiment I was doing, lol. After that, I will probably only continue with the Moonstone and mix.
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jimmie
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2021
Posts: 233
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Post by jimmie on Jan 31, 2022 8:04:06 GMT -5
Got 4 six pounders going. Mostly Mexican agates, Agua Nueva ,laguna, moctezuma, laguna lace , crazy lace and some other assorted agates. Some Moroccan seam, bay of fundy seam agates etc. Just cleaning out thumler of the same stuff.trying to get all my Mexican stuff done, at this point I’ll have to live to 120 yrs old!
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quartzilla
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2020
Posts: 1,237
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Post by quartzilla on Feb 1, 2022 7:37:09 GMT -5
I got a bunch of stuff spinning now. Stage 1: Mixed batch of Goff’s/Hackberry wash material self collected in a 6lb.
Mixed batch of wood, swali agate, desert jasper, and others in a 6lb.
Mixed batch of agate,wood,and quartz supplied by my oldest sun he picked up at a friends ranch; there are dilapidated cabins here that have rock gardens of material from who knows where. These are in a 4lb barrel.
Batch of material from the 2022 tumbling contest in a 3lb barrel.
Swali agates in a 2lb Nat Geo. Man that thing spins fast.
Stage 3: Mixed batch of Goffs/Hackberry wash agate,jasper,etc self collected in a 3 lb barrel.
Final polish: mixed batch of my sons ranch stones. These are in a Diamond Pacific Mini Sonic.
All above batches sprinkled liberally with clear, smoky, and rose quartz smalls.
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Post by HankRocks on Feb 1, 2022 8:19:37 GMT -5
Model B - 500 AO Pre-polish - Heniz 57 batch of Agate and Jasper. Must be 20 or more different materials.
Model B - Coarse stage 60/90 SiC- Another Mixed batch
Model B - Coarse stage 80 SiC - Batch of 100+ Pre-formed Pendant Stones and 40 - 50 Small Brazilian Slabs
UV-18 - Polish Tin Oxide - Mixed batch of Mule Creek Apache Tears and Arkansas Quartz(broken and damaged crystal)
(not a tumbler, but the 20 inch Vibe Lap) Coarse run, Brazilian Halves, a both halves of a nice crystal cavity Choya, and 2 pieces of Petrified Wood
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waterboysh
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2021
Posts: 386
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Post by waterboysh on Feb 1, 2022 11:48:20 GMT -5
Currently in my rotary tumblers, I have a 6 lb barrel running various Jaspers, two 3 lb barrels running various quartz, and a 3 lb barrel running the rest of my Tiger's Eye. It's fun being able to run so many barrels in coarse now that I've got my Lot-o.
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lparsons
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2020
Posts: 276
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Post by lparsons on Feb 1, 2022 17:29:46 GMT -5
In my Thumlers AR-12 I’m tumbling Dead Camel Mountain Jasper Red Lightening Agate Mexican Crazy Lace Picture Jasper , red Tiger Eye And miscellaneous “dirt road finds” In my vibe I have all of the above except the Dead Camel Mt. plus unakite 🤗
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brybry
Cave Dweller
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Member since October 2021
Posts: 1,220
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Post by brybry on Feb 1, 2022 18:44:23 GMT -5
Perkins17, My wife, when rock hunting, picks up pretty rocks. Usually quarts. She likes Amethyst. I pick up the ugly rocks, so that's why I chose my user name. My rocks have never turned out perfect...nature. I'm going to tumble a (one) Lake Lahontan Agate, stating that with humor, later to see what happens. We're out of the contest. I've spent so much time trying to figure out what the black rocks are. Still at a loss... Thanks for the vote on the tile saw. That's helpful. Brybry, I've got Rainbow Ledge rocks rolling as well. Mine are yellow, black, and white. Not sure if they are Jasper or Agate. If they come out decent I'll post some photos. Bahia Agates. Not sure how to tumble those. The banding is internal or I suppose they have to be cut? Looks like a great variety! My rainbow Ledge are going to be long rollers. I have reds, yellows, maybe orange and a couple other colors. Calling it rough would be akin to saying swiss cheese may have a hole or 2 in it.
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Post by michigander2005 on Feb 1, 2022 18:51:22 GMT -5
QT66 shut down 3A wife is using for her worldwide tumbling rocks Lot-0 has Lake Superior stuff in atm 500AO
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notfragile
off to a rocking start
Member since August 2021
Posts: 19
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Post by notfragile on Feb 1, 2022 22:28:54 GMT -5
The QT 12 has assorted agate and jasper, plus a few chunks of sodalite. I got lazy about keeping everything separate and just tipped all the plastic bags of stone into a 5 gallon bucket, and refill the QT 12 barrel with random handfuls.
Off the top of my head, there's poly jasper, bloodstone, green moss agate, sagenite agate, Montana moss, Owhyhee picture jasper, Noreena jasper, Mexican lace, Brazilian and Botswana agate. There's more, I'm sure but the Ardbeg isn't helping my memory any.
My Mini-Sonic is currently empty, the QT 12 is not keeping up...although to be fair it would keep up if I wasn't such a nitpicky perfectionist about getting the coarse grind just right. I'm considering adding another rotary tumbler, if I can find something decent that's actually in stock.
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Post by vegasjames on Feb 1, 2022 22:39:34 GMT -5
Vibe tumbler has copper-silver ore. Won't take a high shine since it is too soft but tumbling cleans off the softer dolomite, calcite and limonite leaving more of the colorful copper and silver minerals.
Rotary tumbler has colored chalcedonies, candy rhyolite and low grade fire agate. Had some interesting quartz in there as well, but took it out and will re-run that by itself with grit this time. I normally do not tumble with grit or polish. I let the stones naturally polish in the tumble and use all the small chips from breaking up the stones to help with cleaning crusts off the stones.
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electrocutus
spending too much on rocks
Member since October 2020
Posts: 333
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Post by electrocutus on Feb 2, 2022 10:04:46 GMT -5
I just finished rotary tumbling blue/green aquamarine for the very first time and I got a great shine. I'm kind of in love with that stone now :-)
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