Recent Bigger-ish Tumbles (05/22).
May 11, 2022 19:11:33 GMT -5
quartz, hummingbirdstones, and 8 more like this
Post by Benathema on May 11, 2022 19:11:33 GMT -5
I have had a few bigger stones come out in the past few weeks. Figured I should share some pictures. Decent spread here.
Chunk of white quartz from CO, found in an area that is known to produce a lot of crystals.
Smokey quartz from CO. Plucked this out of the ground myself. It actually had part of a crystal on the side, but wasn't super spectacular when it was rough. Lots of fractures and chipping. Hard, but not tough. Eventually just pushed it though the finishing steps because I couldn't get it to stop chipping.
Different angle on the smokey quartz.
Rose quartz I got at a shop in CO. It also likes to fracture and is a bit of a pain. Chunks were breaking off of this one every couple weeks. It's a lot smaller than when it started because of these things.
Jasper with little pockets of agate from a desert in Utah. Finicky material with lots of fractures.
Picked this up at a local rock store. Mushroom Jasper. I've been told it's a rhyolite. Tumbled okay.
Local WA river find, cant tell you what it is, other than "cool." Seems softer, didn't take a high-gloss shine.
Red Jasper from WA. I nearly got all the surface imperfections ground off. Pretty shiny.
Yellow Jasper from WA. Near perfect surface finish on this one, high gloss.
Another WA river find. I cant tell if it's petrified wood or not. It has grain/banding, but not sure. Either way, it was hard and tough. It's been in the tumbler forever trying to grind down the knicks on the side. Took a good polish.
A chunk of pet wood from WA. This one started off looking sun bleached, mostly white. After a week in the tumbler it brought out the dark contrasting bands. It only spent a couple weeks in the coarse grind. I don't like tumbling pet wood to dust. There's something about it starting as an organic material, then trying to preserve some of that natural look. It polished up really well, just the angle here doesn't show off many of the reflections.
Edit:
Another WA pet wood I forgot about
And uh, to add to the excitement. In keeping with keeping it interesting... These 6 stones were finished at the same time in the same 12lb barrel. No bruising. Stepping up the throughput game.
Chunk of white quartz from CO, found in an area that is known to produce a lot of crystals.
Smokey quartz from CO. Plucked this out of the ground myself. It actually had part of a crystal on the side, but wasn't super spectacular when it was rough. Lots of fractures and chipping. Hard, but not tough. Eventually just pushed it though the finishing steps because I couldn't get it to stop chipping.
Different angle on the smokey quartz.
Rose quartz I got at a shop in CO. It also likes to fracture and is a bit of a pain. Chunks were breaking off of this one every couple weeks. It's a lot smaller than when it started because of these things.
Jasper with little pockets of agate from a desert in Utah. Finicky material with lots of fractures.
Picked this up at a local rock store. Mushroom Jasper. I've been told it's a rhyolite. Tumbled okay.
Local WA river find, cant tell you what it is, other than "cool." Seems softer, didn't take a high-gloss shine.
Red Jasper from WA. I nearly got all the surface imperfections ground off. Pretty shiny.
Yellow Jasper from WA. Near perfect surface finish on this one, high gloss.
Another WA river find. I cant tell if it's petrified wood or not. It has grain/banding, but not sure. Either way, it was hard and tough. It's been in the tumbler forever trying to grind down the knicks on the side. Took a good polish.
A chunk of pet wood from WA. This one started off looking sun bleached, mostly white. After a week in the tumbler it brought out the dark contrasting bands. It only spent a couple weeks in the coarse grind. I don't like tumbling pet wood to dust. There's something about it starting as an organic material, then trying to preserve some of that natural look. It polished up really well, just the angle here doesn't show off many of the reflections.
Edit:
Another WA pet wood I forgot about
And uh, to add to the excitement. In keeping with keeping it interesting... These 6 stones were finished at the same time in the same 12lb barrel. No bruising. Stepping up the throughput game.