I bought some mine rough saphires and am currently running them through the first stage of tumbling. Any ideas as to how long per stage it will take to get a good polish on these? All input to this will be welcomed. Thanks.
The bad part about tumbling is the NOISE!!!!!!!!!! we are soon to be moving and I am so THRILLED to have a steel garage NOT attached to the house. I can tumble til the cows come home and not have to worry about the stupid noise YAY ME! Good luck! I'm sure they will turn out beautifully!
You have to tumble grind and polish any rock with an abrasive that is harder than the rock you are tumbling. Look for a corundum abrasive. Corondum is non-gem grade sapphire.
You may need diamond to do a final polish if there are 'gemmy' areas on some of the sapphires. If there aren't any 'gemmy' areas of clear gemstone material - just opaque - it really is incorrect to call it sapphire. The correct name would be corundum, the mineral name.
Thanks mylegacy-treasures. Most are just corundum but there are "gemmy" areas in some. I tumbled them in the first step for (2) weeks and they are now in the 2nd step. These things are as hard as woodpecker lips. LOL
useing a rotary tumbler it should take about a week on each stage of grit. starting with a coarse grit of 60-90 then a medium of 150-250 and a then a fine grit of at least 600. Clean every thing VERY well between steps and I recomend a separate barrel for polishing as any grit carried over will contaminate the polishing process, I use cerrium oxide with polishing pellets on most stones, this last step could take longer but no step should take more than 10 days max. Check your tumbler once a day (it may leak and need more water or have other problems)Good luck, let me know how it comes out. I started with a small tumbler and have worked my way up to a 24" diamond saw and a "Genie" grinder polishing unit. I hope to get a faceting unit soon.
Thanks Digs. They are now on the pre-polish stage and I have a batch of quartz on their 2nd stage of tumbling. Quartz here in La. is small, broken up and unfaceted. Millions of years worth of being pushed down here from up north I suppose. I'll let you know how the sapphires come out. (Fingers crossed)
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