We polished landscape rocks and the results were surprising!
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- Опубликовано: 17 окт 2024
- This was our first attempt at polishing rocks. We didn't really know what we were doing so we got our test rocks from parking lot landscapes and were pretty surprised by the results.
The first "roughing" stage was done in a harbor freight rotary tumbler for about two weeks using some National Geographic grit purchased on Amazon.
Step two we moved the rocks over to the Lot-O vibratory tumbler using 220 silicon carbide grit for about another week.
Step 3 was in the Lot-O using 500 grit aluminum oxide grit for another week or so and we probably could have just stopped there because the polish stage really doesn't look like it did much.
Polish stage was in the Lot-O with 8000 grit aluminum oxide polish for about 3 days.
We did a burnishing between stage 3 and the polish stage, and did another one after the polish.
The end results were interesting and gave us some ideas for what to try in our next attempts.
Thanks for watching!
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Wow! Your first attempt with road gravel looks better than the stuff that I buy from rock tumbler supply houses.
Haha, thank you! I was pleasantly surprised with the results. We're in Utah now doing some rock hounding to mail back some stuff to tumble so I'm hoping we get some more good results 👍 thanks for watching!
Funny, I’m on step three with random landscape rocks too! I went around the neighborhood and picked out Agate. This will be fun.
Always fun to see what comes out! We just got back from Albuquerque and mailed ourselves a bunch of fun rocks. Can't wait to see what we get once they get here!
Hey I found similars up here in Vancouver Island north even in the road gravel. Flower porphyry, red and green jasper, Dallasite, epidote and banded iron, they are on the beaches too. I walk slower and pick up now that I know about it :)
That's awesome, we're slowly figuring out which ones will shine up but being in Florida, there's not a lot of places to find good rocks so we borrow them from landscaping beds mostly 🤪
Nice 👍
Thanks! Glad you liked it.
Hhhhh me and my mate started collecting too and found so many of the same as you. We are in UAE, the MIddle East. We got so excited and went hunting for more around the entire town. Please, when you find out....what they are, post it up 😊
We were pretty excited to see how these turned out. We have another batch in there now that we were a little more selective with. I'm hoping we get some good ones! We just got back from Rockhounding in Utah and got some amazing rocks that we'll be putting in next so keep an eye out for that video! Thanks for watching! 😁
You super glue in the cracks and repolish that’s what we used to do in the countertop business sometimes it chips out and then you have to reapply the glue. But it polishes up really nice.
Oh wow there's an idea! Definitely worth a try. Maybe we'll give it a shot on the batch I'm tumbling now. Keep an eye out for another video and I'll post the results. Thanks! 👍👍
I have to admit some rock envy we done have those in Alabama. Great polishing job.
We don't have them in Florida either... But we have become great at finding businesses who use them for landscaping. You'd be amazed at some of the rocks they use! 😁
Have you run these through a borax cycle? Sometimes those fractures are showing up because there's some grit in the seam. Overall, these look really good.
Hey thanks for the suggestion. I did a burnishing with dish soap for about an hour. I'm thinking I'll try another run with borax to see if it helps😁👍
Good job , dosent look like obsidian to me , looks like banded chert maybe , thanks for sharing
It very well could be! I love that these videos give me a way to hear from people who know what they're talking about! Thanks for the feedback I'll have to check out chert and learn a bit more about it 😁👍
The yellowish rock at 4:49 is agate a variety of chalcedony. Aka Orca agate.
Certain types of media like ceramic pellets or plastic pellets will help cushion the rocks and keep them from crashing into each other in the barrel. You can get the media from your local rock shop or online. Usually, the same place you buy your polish. Anyway, that will stop more fractures from developing or getting worse.
We actually did use ceramics in this one, but maybe the wrong ratio? I also adjusted the positioning of the dowel on my Lot-O tumbler as it's seen others do, maybe in getting too much movement now. 🤔
I like to use aquarium gravel. I find some nice tiny rocks in them too
@@kingdonta9707 nice, I bet there's some good ones
I’m in Indiana, our landscape rock looks nothing like yours, but I have had some very pleasant surprises though, cushioning is key for cracking and bruising, good job for your first batch
@@tone-starfire it's interesting how different areas have different landscaping rocks. Not sure where they get their rocks in Florida but we're in Utah now and the rocks here are super different too. Still fun to see what you get, we have about 100+ pounds of rocks to ship back home. 🤪
I'm in Utah, a good portion of them look like they could be petrified wood. I know in some parts their are pigeons blood agate's, where their's just specs of red in otherwise colorless rocks.
Awesome, we actually just got back from Utah and shipped about 80 lbs of different rocks back to polish. Found a bunch of petrified wood there that were excited to try polishing. Thanks for the feedback!
The characteristic you are pointing out in the rock at 3:47 is called under cutting which is simply softer material cutting more and deeper than the harder portions of the material.
Thanks for the comment! We're starting to get an idea for what will undercut before tumbling but still figuring it out. We're getting better at figuring out which rocks to pick up but still get surprised. Thanks for watching! 😁👍
The purple one is opalized fluorite
After finding what I assume is a fossilized turtle skull in river rocks. I will always look
That would be an awesome find! 👍
You in south Fla, we have same landscaping… the rock that didn’t shine so well, all bumpy black/ brown underneath I cut one open, it looks so cool, I put a pic on Reddit if your interested I’ll give info
We're in the Tampa Bay area. We've had plenty that we tossed aside that didn't polish up as we went through the stages but we're getting a little better at figuring out which ones work and what doesn't. I'm sure it will be a lot of trial and error. I'd like to see what you were working with though if you want to send the link👍
these look like Iowa rocks (to me)... stuff found in limestone and sandstone, presumably? Lots of chert, quartz crystals, chalcedony (sorta) - all of which are varieties of colored quartz, which is why they polished so amazingly. I'd guess the rough ones in the middle of the video might be quartzite. I have some dark ones like that that came from coastal California but I have no idea what they are.
I've wondered where they picked them up. I noticed that the bag of Vigoro pea gravel I bought had all similar types of rock so I'm thinking they must get it from the same location. When we were in Utah the gravel beds had very different rocks in them. I'm starting to lock down which ones polish up the best and have become a bit more selective when collecting. Thanks for the feedback!
My friend some of the rocks appear to be opals or opal and potchi
I would acid treat some of them I would watch a matrix opal treatment video from andamooka Australia
That would be interesting! Which rocks were you thinking were the opals? Thanks for the comment😁👍
There is plastic tumbling media of different shapes and densities that should be used when tumbling rocks. The media will cushion rocks and helps prevent rocks striking others and cracking them or leaving hard strike chipping happening inside the drum.
@@electrichellion5946 I haven't tried the plastic yet, heard mixed reviews about it and looks like it's a pain to separate from the stones so I've been using ceramic. Is plastic the way to go?
I love them does look like some petrified wood
@@jamielynnpresgraves5240 very possible, we found about 20 lbs of petrified wood in Utah recently so we're planning on doing a batch soon. Hope it turns out! 👍
I believe the blackish one at 5:35 is Lepidolite.
Thanks for all the responses! I had to go back and rewatch the video to see which ones you're talking about. I appreciate the help identifying them 😁👍
I transferred some hotel landscaping rocks from Miami FL to AR.
Haha, usually the direction of travel goes the other direction for rocks since Florida is 99% sand. :)
6:02 brown rock is an agate I believe. It might be interesting to cut it in half.
Cut it lengthwise. Great polishing.
Great feedback! I think a trim saw is next on the list for lapidary equipment! We have a lot of rocks if love to cut and polish!
what makes you think this is agate? I don't see any concentric bands or anything
Good night how you polish
Good night,how you an what useto,clean stone
Thanks! I'm finishing a video soon that shows each step but there are videos of each stage on my page.
My guess that greenish one is a green jasper?
Very possible. Strange to find Jasper completely surrounded by sandstone but I guess it could happen?
@@LearninRocks absolutely.
I've found it in contact zones with marble
@@LearninRocks have you done a hardness test to compare it to known minerals?
@@LearninRocks also
I suspect those blue ones to be saphire
@@IzySly-g4h no, I'm afraid to scratch it now. Should have done it pre polish🫤
Those 2 rocks you were guessing were mahogany obsidian definitely are NOT mahogany obsidian. I don't know what they are. Obsidian is volcanic glass & it is soft. If it had been obsidian, it would've had all kinds of chips in it from tumbling it with much harder stones or would've been shattered to pieces. It also would have been much shinier, like glass. Also, mahogany obsidian is a reddish-brown to rusty orange-brown (ie. mahogany color) with black specks and splotches all over it. Your stones look blackish-grey with yellowy-orange veins. Not at all what mahogany obsidian looks like.
@@robloxislandsbyfeathersong thanks for the info, still trying to identify a lot of these rocks but have gotten a lot of good help from people for several of them. Thanks for watching🙂
Not obsidian
It's funny how wrong I am on most of these! It's been a learning process for sure, but luckily everyone has been really helpful in figuring out what I get! Thanks!