markb
Cave Dweller
Member since May 2022
Posts: 472
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Post by markb on Aug 10, 2022 19:13:28 GMT -5
Well, I finally got my first polished batch out of the vibe and here it is. As a whole they look a lot shinier in person and better from a distance, but the pics show every crack, line, chip and hole. I learned a lot along the way, so I guess that's what counts most. Most of the keepable Haul Not so crowded and on different background. Some conglomerates (much shinier in person and the pet wood was stunning, but you can't tell that here) The not so good ones (maybe redo's or "nopes") The ones I had high hopes for, but no go!
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Aug 10, 2022 19:49:43 GMT -5
Good job on your first batch! Got some really shiny ones in there.
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Post by jasoninsd on Aug 11, 2022 18:56:24 GMT -5
Really great first batch Mark!! I think the polish looks great on a lot of those. Some of the "nopes" look like they're softer material...and some porous...which might not polish well.
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markb
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Member since May 2022
Posts: 472
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Post by markb on Aug 12, 2022 1:27:14 GMT -5
Good job on your first batch! Got some really shiny ones in there. Thanks Robin
I'm now sorting through all my rocks and separating out the possible nopes. Garbage in, garbage out as they say. That seemed to be the first hurdle I had to learn to get over, that not all rocks I like are going to tumble well.
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markb
Cave Dweller
Member since May 2022
Posts: 472
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Post by markb on Aug 12, 2022 1:44:32 GMT -5
Really great first batch Mark!! I think the polish looks great on a lot of those. Some of the "nopes" look like they're softer material...and some porous...which might not polish well. Thanks Jason
The funny thing about the nopes is the top roundish grey one has sparkely bits in it which stayed in tact, and the rest partially shined up. Maybe it can be saved in a longer polishing run, but for now it lives in our "cool rocks found but left in their natural state" basket. The bottom one Beth rescued from being tossed out because she likes the look of a partially polished stone, where some of the host is left natural. She has plans for several larger pieces we have for me to accomplish this somehow, but I don't know how yet. Maybe on a cab machine, which I don't have. The ones that surprised me most were the naturally polished by nature stones which I thought would turn out great, but they didn't so well. Go figure. Maybe in the future I'll just leave them as is. One thing for sure, my nopes basket outside is getting fuller by the day. One thing I really enjoy with tumbling is the new patterns and colors in some rocks that gets revealed as they tumble. Makes for some interesting stuff.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2022 9:36:46 GMT -5
markbReally nice batch Mark!! My 6 yo son decided to run a batch and they were almost all duds that didn’t take a shine but he had a great time choosing which ones went in and it was fun. It’s all a learning process. I really like your conglomerate and petrified wood ones. Who likes the tan group in the top in the first picture you or Beth?! You guys have a lot of those! Are they Quartz?
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markb
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Member since May 2022
Posts: 472
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Post by markb on Aug 12, 2022 11:36:45 GMT -5
markb Really nice batch Mark!! My 6 yo son decided to run a batch and they were almost all duds that didn’t take a shine but he had a great time choosing which ones went in and it was fun. It’s all a learning process. I really like your conglomerate and petrified wood ones. Who likes the tan group in the top in the first picture you or Beth?! You guys have a lot of those! Are they Quartz? Thanks ashleyMy goal is to polish rocks and some day get similar results to yours! I hope to have more pet wood polished soon, but I’ve got to get a saw first. It will happen in time. The tan/yellowish ones I picked up somewhere recently, maybe Mexican beach pebbles, aka Baja area river rock. Some have shiny specks in them, some are translucent, some are opaque, and some are flaky, pitted and scratched and probably headed for the nope basket. Although, I may experiment with them and throw them into an 80 grit tumble to see if they want to change, or if they are just going to remain stubborn, which will determine their fate for sure. I don’t really know if they are a quartz or not. I know quartz is quite common in many places, but my eye tends to pick up on jaspers and agates mostly out here. I’ve heard many folks claim that the whitish colored minerals found in stones out here that is not agate is a form of chalcedony, which I believe is partially composed of quartz. When I think of quartz, I think of a more crystalline formed substance. But that may be incorrect, I just don’t know. I’m sure someone on here, though, will.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2022 15:40:29 GMT -5
markbIt really is the material. I should show you the last batch. There were only a handful that took any kind of shine. But it’s still fun. I’m not the best at id’s. But from what I understand jasper, agate, chert, and chalcedony are all forms of quartz. With jasper, agate and chert being forms of chalcedony which is microcrystalline Quartz, or in generic terms tiny crystals of quartz. rocktumbler.com/blog/what-is-agate-jasper-chalcedony/
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lucy
having dreams about rocks
Becoming obsessed with rocks
Member since June 2022
Posts: 52
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Post by lucy on Aug 12, 2022 17:37:03 GMT -5
Nice, markb!! My first batch is in 500 AO, so I can partially relate to your excitement!
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markb
Cave Dweller
Member since May 2022
Posts: 472
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Post by markb on Aug 12, 2022 17:55:00 GMT -5
Nice, markb !! My first batch is in 500 AO, so I can partially relate to your excitement! lucyThanks! I'm thinking the UT-10 vibe is louder than the Lotto, but I have no evidence to prove that. Maybe because we live such quiet lives it just seems loud. When it got to polish stage it seemed VERY LOUD, which freaked me out a bit. Are you using media in your 500 tumble? markb
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lucy
having dreams about rocks
Becoming obsessed with rocks
Member since June 2022
Posts: 52
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Post by lucy on Aug 12, 2022 18:31:22 GMT -5
I don't have a vibe, but I'm enjoying my Lortone 3a. I'm using plastic pellets, and I've loaded a whole lot of them in this stage. I'm tumbling self-collected quartz. Some say it has "boring" colors, but I'm in love with the process and the magic of seeing what was previously hidden before the tumbling process.
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markb
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Member since May 2022
Posts: 472
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Post by markb on Aug 12, 2022 23:19:55 GMT -5
I don't have a vibe, but I'm enjoying my Lortone 3a. I'm using plastic pellets, and I've loaded a whole lot of them in this stage. I'm tumbling self-collected quartz. Some say it has "boring" colors, but I'm in love with the process and the magic of seeing what was previously hidden before the tumbling process. lucyYou go girl, that’s what it’s all about!
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Post by jasoninsd on Aug 13, 2022 20:03:43 GMT -5
Really great first batch Mark!! I think the polish looks great on a lot of those. Some of the "nopes" look like they're softer material...and some porous...which might not polish well. Thanks Jason
The funny thing about the nopes is the top roundish grey one has sparkely bits in it which stayed in tact, and the rest partially shined up. Maybe it can be saved in a longer polishing run, but for now it lives in our "cool rocks found but left in their natural state" basket. The bottom one Beth rescued from being tossed out because she likes the look of a partially polished stone, where some of the host is left natural. She has plans for several larger pieces we have for me to accomplish this somehow, but I don't know how yet. Maybe on a cab machine, which I don't have. The ones that surprised me most were the naturally polished by nature stones which I thought would turn out great, but they didn't so well. Go figure. Maybe in the future I'll just leave them as is. One thing for sure, my nopes basket outside is getting fuller by the day. One thing I really enjoy with tumbling is the new patterns and colors in some rocks that gets revealed as they tumble. Makes for some interesting stuff. Oh yeah...the old "You can do it honey!" line! LOL
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dshanpnw
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2020
Posts: 1,078
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Post by dshanpnw on Aug 14, 2022 18:08:22 GMT -5
It never seems to fail that the high hopes rocks disappoint the most, but then you have just the opposite with the surprises. When I think of quartz I think of crystals, however, most quartz that I find is the white opaque type that I just leave. Clear quartz crystals is what I want to find. Quartz comes in many forms as Ashley and you mentioned. I find a lot of red jasper with a white quartz breccia, meaning, a mix of red jasper (micro-crystalline quartz) with white quartz, and the white is much softer. So hardness of the quartz also determines if it is jasper, chert, "quartz", and so on. google search description- Cryptocrystalline quartz Cryptocrystalline silica -- rock composed of extremely fine silica (quartz) crystals -- is known by a variety of different names (generally based on differences in translucence, color, texture, or presumed geological origin) including chert, chalcedony, jasper, agate, flint, and petrified wood.
then there is macrocrystaline quartz, the difference between micro and macro should be obvious, micro being much denser. Crypto being extremely compact molecules.
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