ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Dec 22, 2016 9:58:51 GMT -5
Wow, that's beautiful!
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Dec 22, 2016 9:54:18 GMT -5
txrockhunter, are you tumbling your rocks "whole" or do you usually cut them in half? I've noticed on a bunch of your pictures (and Garage Rocker) that there appears to be a nice flat surface. Just curious if you do anything to prepare your material for tumbling. I've just been throwing the rocks I bought from you in whole since they were already a nice size.
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Dec 21, 2016 15:23:23 GMT -5
osuguy0301, just wanted to bring your attention to this excellent thread. Welcome to the Lot-O family!
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Dec 21, 2016 9:13:16 GMT -5
You are going to LOVE that combo! Congrats.
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Dec 20, 2016 15:20:34 GMT -5
Nice batch of rocks. And if this is granite, even better. I seem to get a bunch of undercutting when doing granite. And my quartz always seems to be a bit "pitted". I would say good job on having the patience to wait for these to be nicely rounded. And, please, post some pictures of your tumbling equipment.
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Dec 19, 2016 22:49:06 GMT -5
Great batch. That #5 is amazing!
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Dec 19, 2016 16:19:04 GMT -5
Soo pretty, gratz ChicagoDave . I am doing a batch of granite,if they look half as good as your granite piece I will be happy. I see you use Borax in multiple stages. I see others suggest plastic pellets. Which is better? EDIT: mine will be 100% tumbled. I once tried using plastic beads in my rotary. I threw them all away after my first batch! I do not use anything in my rotary unless I'm running the obsidian. Then I include a bunch of mixed size ceramics. I think the Borax in the Lot-O is just to make a nice slurry. I really don't know how the borax would perform in the rotary.
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Dec 18, 2016 12:14:59 GMT -5
napoleonrags,yes. Cleanout after each stage. I actually have a barrel for each step, but only because I bought an extra Lot-O with 2 barrels. I think that is very unnecessary, but it's also nice. At the end of each stage I squirt in some Dawn and add a capful of water. I let this run for about 20 minutes. I then dump everything into a colander and give it a good rinse. Then into the next barrel. And this picture jasper came from the Rock Shed. It gets nice and shiny. Not as mirror shiny as some of the agates, but shiny enough. And thanks everyone for the positive messages!
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Dec 18, 2016 11:18:31 GMT -5
I don't really measure the water. I just keep it a little wetter than I normally run it during the other stages. So a few extra sprays and I don't need to add anymore.
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Dec 18, 2016 10:16:42 GMT -5
Those r great! Please share the details of your methods??? Here are the steps these went thru: 46/70 SiC in my QT-66. Weekly cleanouts. Pulled rocks when ready. 2 tablespoons 120/220 SiC for 2 days in Lot-O 1/2 teaspoon 500 AO + 1 tablespoon Borax for 2 days in Lot-O 1/2 teaspoon 1000 AO + 1 tablespoon Borax for 2 days in Lot-O 1/2 teaspoon Polish + 1 tablespoon Borax for 2 days in Lot-O 2 tablespoons Borax as a final burnish for 5 hours in Lot-O
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Dec 17, 2016 22:43:35 GMT -5
Yep, you definitely have it figured out. Those are great. Great job on the Apache tears, especially since they we mixed in with everything else. That Mary Ellen jasper is my favorite. The last one looks like granite to me. Undercutting is common with granite. The apache tears and obsidian were (rotary) rough tumbled together by themselves (and some ceramics). They were then added to everything else for the rest of the stages in the Lot-O. I always seems to "damage" about 50% of my obsidian each time I run a Lot-O batch. I always get a few pieces that have chips by the time final polish rolls around. I just touch them up on the flat lap and set them aside for the next batch. Next time I run apache tears in the Lot-O, I will add them on the second day of my 120/220 grit cycle. Many of them seem to have turned in to pea gravel from the size they were after pulling them from the rotary.
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Dec 17, 2016 19:56:31 GMT -5
Well, here is finished batch #4. I think I've fully got my process figured out for the most part. Photos are what you would expect with overhead fluorescent lighting and a cell phone with no depth of field! Thanks for looking. Group shot Top half Bottom half Apache tears Mahogany obsidian I think this is jasper Picture jasper Brecciated jasper Not sure what this is. Part of it shined up nicely. Part of it is very dull. Owyhee jasper This is my first piece of Mary Ellen jasper from toiv0 - plenty more rolling Not sure what this is, but it undercut badly. I still like it. I think it was in a box from Sabre52
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Dec 16, 2016 14:14:53 GMT -5
Kosher salt is about 20 grams per tablespoon. Thumler says their barrels are about 1.3 gallons, which is about 5 liters. So to change the freeze point of that amount of water to -2C (or about 28F), you would add about 1 cup of salt. Of course that assumes no rock and grit. So I would suggest adding 1/3 cup of salt to your barrel and see if that helps.
Or wait until spring!
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Dec 15, 2016 17:58:02 GMT -5
A guy walks into a bar. The guy behind him ducks.
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Dec 15, 2016 17:54:49 GMT -5
If you were only wearing jorts
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Dec 15, 2016 16:55:44 GMT -5
Very nice. And great job on the pictures. I like the "bead scrap".
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Dec 15, 2016 14:35:11 GMT -5
Also from Google:
"The mass of NaCl is about 60gm/mole. When the Na and Cl separate, that makes about one mole total dissolved ions in 250 cc, or about 4 moles per liter. You get almost 2°C reduction for each mole/liter. "
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Dec 15, 2016 14:32:02 GMT -5
Wow, great prizes. Makes me wish I was around last year to enter.
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Dec 15, 2016 14:28:48 GMT -5
7,8,14,17 - really enjoying this batch. Each time I go back and look I see another one I like. Beautiful shine and always look forward to your posts! I'm just about to switch over to final polish in the Lot-O so I should have a batch posted this weekend. Maybe I'll wait a few days so everyone forgets how awesome these are!!!!
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Dec 14, 2016 22:08:25 GMT -5
Nice batch. I'm having a hard time keeping all my purchases apart. Bought so many mixed boxes of rocks from numerous people on this board. I like the dedication some people have to remembering who they traded/bought from! When I remove rocks from the flat rate boxes they come in, I put them in cheap plastic shoe boxes. I've started throwing a scrap of paper in with a the name of the person they came from. It's still hard to keep them all straight though. I do the same thing (you can kinda see it in my avatar photo). But I get excited and throw a couple of everything in each barrel. Soon I'm all confused again. Oh well, makes for nice mixed batches! I keep saying I'm going to dedicate one barrel, but never get around to it.
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