ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Sept 6, 2017 17:14:42 GMT -5
I killed my PB account out of spite. I was looking thru some of my old posts and thought this one would be a good one to repost the pictures. I saw a few people asking about tumbling obsidian recently so I'm also bumping this hoping it helps with their progress!
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Sept 5, 2017 8:02:39 GMT -5
This is a great system and is the same thing I do when cleaning out the barrels each week. I checked everything wet and if it was ready to move on, I placed it on a piece of cardboard to dry out. I then gave each of those rocks one final inspection before moving them to the next stage. The "garbage" group got to be bigger as I got more picky about what gets to return to the tumblers.
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Sept 4, 2017 9:34:32 GMT -5
Welcome to the board. Be sure to post some of your faceting work in that section!
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Sept 4, 2017 9:33:21 GMT -5
Great batch! Love the tiger eye. Also see a little unakite hiding in there - which is a favorite of mine. I can't help with an ID on anything. If it came from my mixed boxes I sold it was a huge collection of all kinds of things!
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Sept 4, 2017 9:28:55 GMT -5
I was quite happy with how they turned out. I think I replaced one of the rocks in the picture with another one right before sending in - I don't quite remember. Good luck to everyone!
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Sept 3, 2017 22:41:11 GMT -5
And here is the rough...
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Sept 3, 2017 22:39:10 GMT -5
Here's my finished rocks...
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Aug 30, 2017 6:20:57 GMT -5
Most of my rough was bought from The Rock Shed. Great place. I've bought good stuff from Kingsley North also.
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Aug 30, 2017 6:18:25 GMT -5
I say throw them all in together and see what happens. Check the progress once a week and pull out nicely rounded stones and replace with new rough. If you see something getting beaten up or disappearing rapidly go ahead and remove it also. This will quickly teach you what works best.
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Aug 29, 2017 21:11:07 GMT -5
I'm wondering if anyone has a large stash of faceting rough that they would like to sell some pieces from. Maybe you thought you would get into faceting but never got the time. Maybe you've moved on to the nice stuff and have a bunch of CZ lying around from when you were a beginner. I'm just starting out so I don't really know what is best for a beginner, but I'm open to any suggestions. Let me know what you have and how much you need for it. I have all kinds of rocks big enough for slabbing if someone wants to work a trade also. Thanks!
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Aug 29, 2017 21:02:19 GMT -5
Nice first stone. It's a great thrill to take that first one off the dop and see what you've created. My usual procedure with quartz is 600 to 1200 on metal laps to cerium on a tin lap. Your jump from 1200 to 50K is a huge one and I'm not surprised it took a long time to bring up a polish. Many folks who polish quartz with diamond only complain about the difficulty of getting a top polish. I prefer oxide polishes for quartz and several other gems like garnet. But every cutter has their own method. Developing a knack to avoid overcutting facets on entry-level machines like the one you used comes with practice. More expensive machines with digital depth meters help a lot but a heavy hand can still lead to overcuts. It's all practice. I couldn't believe how quickly the P2 cuts went in (and then some). So the second time I tried to do even less and still killed them. At that point I stopped paying so much attention to the caliper and more to what each cut looked like. Since I just bought a used Raytech Shaw I think this is going to help with not trusting all the dials so much and learning how to see more of what is happening.
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Aug 27, 2017 15:05:49 GMT -5
Looks really nice. How long did it take to cut the stone and polish it from start to finish? It was a 2 day class from 9am until 4pm each day. Take out the time we went over all the directions, lunch and general chit-chat and I would say maybe 8 hours total.
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Aug 27, 2017 7:04:52 GMT -5
Thanks! I am very excited and can't wait to start cutting. I was actually looking at this machine to purchase new since I've heard such good things about it and how it really teaches you to pay attention to the details. So this offer was quite timely.
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Aug 26, 2017 19:30:36 GMT -5
Dave has a faceting machine headed his way!!
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Aug 26, 2017 15:24:06 GMT -5
I wanted the faceting machine. Not the cabber
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Aug 25, 2017 18:46:00 GMT -5
Fingers crossed...
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Aug 25, 2017 8:54:59 GMT -5
I would be interested in this machine. I'll send a PM with some more info in a bit. Thanks!
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Aug 24, 2017 8:14:51 GMT -5
6, 7, 11, 16 are my favorites. Thanks for posting pictures again. Seems like you have the whole process down now.
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Aug 23, 2017 18:27:46 GMT -5
Great batch and shine. Really like the two shown in picture #5. And extra points for self collected. Thanks for sharing!!
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Aug 23, 2017 11:03:19 GMT -5
What steps are you using to tumble? I would like to suggest that these rocks could be greatly improved by leaving them in the course grit until they are nice and smooth. Unless this is the look you're going for. If so, tumble away.
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