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Raw material before 80 grit tumble - Started on Date Tues May 20th |
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Took the lids off after 40 hours continuous tumbling - the larger pictures show that the 80 grit is still present (dark areas in
the grey) so no recharge needed at this point. |
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Already after just 40 hours the pictures show how the pitting on the Carnelian has decreased and all of the sharp edges of the
quartz have been eroded. |
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This is how the barrels look at Monday 26th May, 6 days after the project started. Notice how smooth the liquid is now - smooth
grey with no dark patches (see the upturned lids) - this shows that there is very little grinding strength left in the 80 grit. |
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In the sieve after a quick rinse, you can see how the batches are shaping up. Notice that I have not used plastic pellets on
the Carnelian, this is because I want maximum grinding on the large nodule in the barrel. |
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Both of the batches are coming on at closer inspection. At this stage I feel that most of the grit had broken down after 4
days, so I will recharge the barrels in 4 days rather than wait for 6. I went sea fishing to be truthful and so they had to wait a couple of days!!! |
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This is how the barrels look now after the recharge - notice how the grit is sharp and shining in the water, you can see clearly
how it breaks down to nothing in just a few days and why its wise to recharge if you want faster results. |
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By Friday the 30th May, the stones are now at the stage where almost all of the pitting has gone, but the shapes themselves
are still a bit too bulky for my liking. So I am putting them back in an 80 grit for another 4 days. They will probably need another two full cycles in addition to this at 80 grit before they are
appropriately shaped. The nodule has hardly changed at all :( |
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By Monday 2nd June
- this is how the stones look. Still not done - but close now - 1 or two more tumbles at 80. Don't forget that the carnelian is just to grind the Nodule down - so they will be at 80 for a long time yet as there is not much impact on the large sample sofar.
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OK, the date Friday June 20th - one month into the tumble, and I have done two more 80 tumbles on each of the barrels.
I removed the nodule and added more small carnelian chunks to the mix because it just wasnt grinding fast enough - a larger tumbler is needed so I will get one this coming week. The stones are going in 220 grit
now, and then into 400. After this I will photograph them again, however there will be very little difference in them. On the right, you will notice that I have separated the carnelian into two types,
the ones on the bottom are more rounded than the top ones which have only done two 80 cycles. I have decided to go with this and will polish them this shape, as I think its actually quite effective to have a few more
"angular" rocks in the collection. |
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I gave up on these - they were all chipped. |
The carnelians are now complete, but having been away for a while (I switched off my tumbler) - the Quartz are not yet complete -
the polish cycle takes a week or two longer for those. The carnelians "are not bad" I give myself a 7 out of ten for them - I admit that if I left them in polish a bit longer they may come out with more of a shine
- but not much different than they are now. Quartz barrell is on the tumble now. |
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