Rock tumbling and jewelry making (Not RC related)

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I really like that palm wood. Great lookin' piece. (y)
I don’t think I’ll find another one like it. Must’ve been some weird combination of events over millions of years that made it that way, so unique and interesting looking. Trying to figure out how to clean the thin layer of chert off the outside so the color of the petrified wood shows. It’ll be a challenge, but I think I have an idea how…

I am failing on polishing these Jasper, but I’m not giving up because this is what I’m learning on. I’m going to perfect my method with this set of rocks. This will be the fourth attempt to polish them and the the mirror like finish I am shooting for is eluding me. I’m thinking that I’m contaminating the polish somehow, maybe. I also probably used too much polish. Maybe too much or too little water and I had a few extra stones in there I should’ve left out.

So I cleaned up everything extra good, made sure to not overload it , put one single tablespoon of 1500 aluminum oxide grit, and one single tablespoon of borax, which helps build the slurry that is so important to get a good polish. It’s been running for the last 24 hours and seems to be churning far better than it was before. The slurry is perfect I think. I’m only giving it 3-four squirts of water from my spray bottle every 2-3 hours this time (7 at bedtime). I’ll clean it out tomorrow afternoon and hopefully have the shine I’m s looking for🤞

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Love the three tone bottom left of the group shot. They are all awesome!
Thanks!!
The one dead center or the one below it?

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Looking incredible dude!! How much mass have they lost, do ya think, since you gottem? 40%?
Closer to 60% because I stopped before they were near perfect. Would have taken another 10%+ to get rid of the rest of the little imperfections. But I like my rocks being shaped like rocks. Not just round, smooth, shiny things. So I try to find that happy medium. If I can just get the final polish stage down.

Petrified wood can be a Hail Mary more then other rocks. Sometimes it barely takes anything and other times you have to tumble seven cycles or more in course alone. A lot of rocks are like that though. Man, I still have so much to learn lol. This is the true ‘figure poop out’ year for this hobby. Can’t wait to get the 17lb tumbler in a couple months. I’ll be able to do more and also bigger rocks. The big pieces of prettified wood I’m most excited about.
 
I made this set for my wife earlier as a little bday present. Took about 2.5 hours so I’m getting faster. I used Japanese saltwater pearls and sterling silver half hard wire. I still struggle with these a bit with hand wrist, upper back and neck pain. The half hard was was even more difficult. The Japanese pearls are very nice!

I need to start doing other designs but I’m trying to at least get decent at some basics while getting stronger in my neck area. I’ll break out some of my more colorful agate gemstone beads soon. I’ve been looking at her different outfits for going out, thinking what I can do to make matching sets. I’ve a couple other folks projects in the works was well and need to finish those up.

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I made this set for my wife earlier as a little bday present. Took about 2.5 hours so I’m getting faster. I used Japanese saltwater pearls and sterling silver half hard wire. I still struggle with these a bit with hand wrist, upper back and neck pain. The half hard was was even more difficult. The Japanese pearls are very nice!

I need to start doing other designs but I’m trying to at least get decent at some basics while getting stronger in my neck area. I’ll break out some of my more colorful agate gemstone beads soon. I’ve been looking at her different outfits for going out, thinking what I can do to make matching sets. I’ve a couple other folks projects in the works was well and need to finish those up.

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What kind of hardness are those pearls/ how do you hold onto them & drill the holes so perfectly? Especially thru the narrow ends?
 
What kind of hardness are those pearls/ how do you hold onto them & drill the holes so perfectly? Especially thru the narrow ends?
Pearls are relatively soft, and one of only two natural organic gemstones. The other being Amber. Fortunately, they come drilled. I also got some that are only half drilled for putting on post for earrings. Drilling them would not be difficult though. I would use the same diamond bit that I would use for quartz or other gemstones on the end of a Dremel extension.

These were a very nice saltwater, cultured pearl from Japan. More expensive than standard freshwater pearls, but worth it. I also got some smaller Edison freshwater pearls which are cultured in the same way as the Japanese ones are, just a single pearl per oyster, so they come out round and with a much thicker shiny part, called ‘nacre’. Regular freshwater pearls have like 20 to 30 in each oyster and thinner nacre. Nacre is what the oyster makes pearls out of.
 
I made this set for my wife earlier as a little bday present. Took about 2.5 hours so I’m getting faster. I used Japanese saltwater pearls and sterling silver half hard wire. I still struggle with these a bit with hand wrist, upper back and neck pain. The half hard was was even more difficult. The Japanese pearls are very nice!

I need to start doing other designs but I’m trying to at least get decent at some basics while getting stronger in my neck area. I’ll break out some of my more colorful agate gemstone beads soon. I’ve been looking at her different outfits for going out, thinking what I can do to make matching sets. I’ve a couple other folks projects in the works was well and need to finish those up.

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Those look beautiful!!! Great job!!! (y) 😁
 
BOX OF AGATES.
I received a box in the mail and it’s full of beautiful agates from Minnesota! Thank you so much @Rowdyray!! I have seen a lot of videos on Lake Superior type agates and I am so excited to get started on these. The timing is perfect because the small, fast tumbler will be available later today. Agates will take a while to tumble because they are hard, but it will be very much worth it.

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BOX OF AGATES are in the tumbler. They fill the small, fast tumbler perfectly so I’ll do the entire course run, and one medium run, in this little tumbler. It should take 2 months or more. Then I’ll switch it over to the vibratory tumbler for the pre-polish and polish stages.

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We have 75 acres on our farm .
With a large running creek that runs thru entire property.
I’m weird , and am constantly looking at rocks !
The place is littered with them .
Big Rocks
Little Rock’s
You name it …
I don’t know the nomenclature of rocks except
“ooooh shiny”
and
“holy chit arrow head”
But I’ve been keeping an eye out for some cool ones to send you since our conversation.
My oldest took the petrified wood and others into his geology teacher, he was/ is so excited about them . Rock hobby is very interesting. Keep up the good work !
 
We have 75 acres on our farm .
With a large running creek that runs thru entire property.
I’m weird , and am constantly looking at rocks !
The place is littered with them .
Big Rocks
Little Rock’s
You name it …
I don’t know the nomenclature of rocks except
“ooooh shiny”
and
“holy chit arrow head”
But I’ve been keeping an eye out for some cool ones to send you since our conversation.
My oldest took the petrified wood and others into his geology teacher, he was/ is so excited about them . Rock hobby is very interesting. Keep up the good work !
That’s great man! Sounds like a beautiful property you have. Nothing weird about looking at rocks. There’s some thing inherently interesting about them. I call it the Easter egg syndrome, or ‘what’s inside’?

The best way to look at rocks is to have a spray bottle with you or a bucket of water so you can get them wet. Brings out way more detail than when they’re dry. If you ever find one that you have questions about, shoot me a picture. That is really cool about your son bringing the rocks I sent to school. Really cool 😊
Wait, do you have shiny rocks on the property? Often time that means agates! Definitely want to see some pictures here. Or send me a small box of your favorites lol. I’ll send some back, plus a few others, to you when they’re done months later.
 
I think I figured out what I was doing wrong with the vibratory tumbler during the polish stages.These mini petrified wood slabs are finally done and turned out pretty nice I think. Not perfect but still good. The next batch I do will be better. Many of these I cut way to thick or crooked, so they’re not quite good enough for making jewelry. They are really interesting and pretty though. I’ve enjoyed giving them away to people that I’d sold or given something here on the forum 😊

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This pile of mini petrified wood and agate slabs took over 5 hours straight on the tile saw yesterday. I’m getting better at cutting them, some of them are quite thin and most of them are even. I put 2/3rds into the vibratory tumbler with 500 grit last night. I should have put in 220 grit so will have to do it over probably to get all the saw marks off. Most of what I cut was petrified wood, but I’m starting to do some of the chalcedony and agate type rocks we’ve found (first two pics below). Cutting all these rattles to the core, my hand are super fuzzy feeling today as it sets off the neuropathy I have. Totally worth it though 😅

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This pile of mini petrified wood and agate slabs took over 5 hours straight on the tile saw yesterday. I’m getting better at cutting them, some of them are quite thin and most of them are even. I put 2/3rds into the vibratory tumbler with 500 grit last night. I should have put in 220 grit so will have to do it over probably to get all the saw marks off. Most of what I cut was petrified wood, but I’m starting to do some of the chalcedony and agate type rocks we’ve found (first two pics below). Cutting all these rattles to the core, my hand are super fuzzy feeling today as it sets off the neuropathy I have. Totally worth it though 😅

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Get enough practice and you can get a job in the deli. :)
 
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