Random pieces

[rylan 32]

Just curious if any of these mean anything. Have  equipment ordered and been doing research when I can. Somebody be honest if I post too much and annoy people. I know pics are hard to determine anything. Thank you.

[Morlock 1,643]

What type of equipment are you talking about? None of them would be lapidary material imho.

[rylan 32]

I would likely tumble most of them. I love the looks of a lot of these and I’m not very patient. I will buy a cab grinder and just polish enough so I can look at them from my desk and probably not finish any. I honestly appreciate any advice/criticism, I need and will heed it, Thank you.  

[Haderly 99]

The striped one in the single photo looks similar to prairie agates. Really hard to tell from pictures especially without knowing the location. With small beach/river pebbles it is almost impossible to ID from pictures even knowing the location. It never hurts to start with a cheap tumbler and see if you enjoy polishing rocks. They will look better polished than dry and you won't be out a bunch of money if you decide that it is not something you want to do.

[Haderly 99]

The middle one in the 7th picture looks like Llanite which comes from Texas. Looking closely yours is probably not Llanite but could be something similar in makeup.

[rylan 32]

Thanks Haderly. Lake Superior, Marquette county 

[Haderly 99]

Then prairie agate would fit. If you find any Lake Superior agates you may hold off on polishing them. The LSA purest collectors like them more in their natural state. Some do an oil treatment to make the colors stand out without physically altering them.

[Haderly 99]

10 minutes ago, rylan said:

Thanks Haderly. Lake Superior, Marquette county  

You have lot of good stuff to collect in your area with a little research.  

[rylan 32]

You made my day

[rylan 32]

Start

[rylan 32]

First cut, freezing, 32f, old tile saw lol

[rylan 32]

Sorry 

[rylan 32]

Republic mine, polished with a woodworker random orbit sander with a really worn out 150 grit lolol

[rylan 32]

Sorry if I’m annoying 

[BMc 1,026]

Rylan: Don't worry about being annoying. It seems to be a desirable prerequisite to post on this site. Otherwise, many of us would have been kicked off long ago.

Myself included, I'm sure.

[rylan 32]

Thanks B

[Haderly 99]

14 hours ago, rylan said:

Sorry if I’m annoying 

You will be fine here. The only people that get annoying are the ones that think they know everything and refuse to listen, learn and research. There are plenty of knowledge people here that are happy to help with questions. 

[Diggingd 36]

Those pieces will look really good fully polished up! Would be great either on a stand or a garden! 

[Bedrock Bob 3,962]

All of the material you have posted will take a good polish and look great. Some have pits that will cause problems in a tumbler. Most look nice and solid but keep an eye out for cracks. Pits and cracks are about the only thing that will prevent a good polish on material like that.

Once you get some grit you can use it to polish up larger pieces. The woodworking tools are just fine down to about 220 grit. Then you need to make your own disks (leather works good) and use a paste made from the various grits to bring up a finish on the surface. You can finish soft stones like fluorite in just a few minutes with no more than a tablespoon of grit and an old belt. You can polish hard materials like that too it just takes a lot more time and elbow grease. 

The stones that you are finding are pretty common as far as rocks go but are the cat's meow for tumbling. There are many rare and beautiful minerals out there but good old fashioned jaspers and agates are IMHO where the magic is really at. Our brains actually have special receptors tuned to this stuff. It makes us happy on a chemical level. Some of yours are fossils and have retained the shapes and patterns of sea life so that is cool too. 

Around big lakes and oceans the stones have had a bazillion years to weather. Only the most durable and solid pieces are left and they have already been shaped for you. Most of the cracked stones have fallen apart and many have been rounded perfectly. It is easy to collect a charge of worthy stones. Depending on the size tumbler you have you may need to keep it all pretty small. a 1.5# barrel will polish little pebbles the size of your thumb. You might put one the size of a golf ball in there but that might be pushing it. In a bigger drum you can put a lot bigger rock. I can do one the size of a baseball and 4-5 the size of hens eggs in a 15 # drum. So keep in mind there is a size consideration. You will need more than you think you need and smaller than you think you need. At least that is my experience.

Be particular. Only select the most beautifully patterned pieces of the appropriate size for your tumbler. Only select a few larger stones and keep the majority smaller pieces. Go ahead and throw in an appropriate amount of tiny ones just to give the charge a good variation of sizes. Use plenty of plastic or ceramic pellets for cushion and filler.  Then use corn syrup, dish soap, jello or corn starch to build a thick slurry. Good slurry is as thick as good quality house paint.

If you get the size variation right, fill the drum to the proper level, and get a nice thick slurry built up you hardly need grit at all and the stones tumble themselves. If you have thin slurry, too many or too few stones in the tumbler, or all your stones are the same size you can tumble forever and never get them rounded up. So there are a few little tricks to successful tumbling.

When you get your tumbler post it! And the stones you intend to tumble as well. 

 

[rylan 32]

 Thank you again for the help. I should have put a coin down to compare size.  Going to experiment some more