Thank you for this. You’re right, there’s not a lot of information out there about this so this was really appreciated. Have some -ites that I’m dying to try this on as soon as I have a free tumbler.
Fantastic series of videos! We are embarking on our first time with fluorite. Our next step is dry polish. Can the corn cob/polish media in the barrel be re-used? We keep our other media types with the same grit and barrel. In other words, after we have removed our stones and rinsed them for the next step, we also clean the ceramic or plastic we used with that grit level and put it back in the barrel to be used again but only with that grit level to avoid cross contamination. Don't know if that's a good idea or not since we are new to this. We have 2 double barrel 3.5 lb Chicago tumblers and one Lortone 3.5 lb. We only use the Lortone for dry polishing or burnishing. With the two double barrel tumblers, we can theoretically have 4 different steps going at the same time - theoretically. Doesn't always work out though.
thats cool , a friend wants me to try and do some noble serpentine for him ,i think its a 4 mohs , any idea if it would work on that i think , im try it anyway lol thanks
Great tutorial, thanks! Could you use corn meal instead of crushed corn cob as the main media? I know if it s much finer texture, but I think it would help spread the polish powder quite nicely.
great video . Thank you - I have a question for you Shannon- I have been carving for 20 years , stone at first /& now (for health reasons )Tagua nut , it's also known as vegteble ivory . Moh's hardness 2.5-3 ? (not sure) . I have buckets full of cracked pieces ,a little bit smaller than your angelite .I just want to smooth them off & put a slight polish on them .and later make irregular shaped beads with them . I think the corn would work , what type of Machine & polish would you recommend?
It seems to work! My calcite and banded onyx have a better shine then when polished wet. Some of my stones have little cracks on the edges and the rice powder really sticks to it. Corn cub does this too? (Same with the piece of selenite I added has all over. I'm guessing thats shy selenite cant be tumbled.) Thankyou for this method! :D
@@theyellowvanadventures9487 you know that makes sense now that I think about it since they make glue out of rice. I thought that wouldn't happen with it dry but that's why you gotta test things sometimes. Good to know not to try that though. Thanks. I have been asking if like wheat husks, or the chaff off of some type of grain would work. I've heard of people using stuff like that to clean brass in a vibratory tumbler.
Has anyone tried this in a vibratory tumbler? I’m just afraid of it being too aggressive and getting some bruising and chipping going on. I have 5 lbs of fluorite from the Rock Shed, and have never tried a soft stone. Seems like it would be gentler in the rotary, but the vibe is just so much faster if I can use it.
I'm just guessing here, but after all that soooo careful because they're a soft stone, When you give them that last bath is it by hand, or is now the time to use that plastic media we otherwise don't care for? Thanks for the video and all that information, Very much appreciated.
It absolutely can. One of the members of the Rock Tumbling Hobby forum has used this method for Petoskey and it worked great! The only difference is that he did it using a vibe tumbler. Thanks for the question! :-)
In this video, you use aluminum oxide. But in the lapis tumbling video, you use cerium oxide. Does it really matter? Or do both do a pretty good job in the corn cob for softer rocks?
Hi Shannon , John from the UK , watched this video and just started my first dry polish, can you tell me if you put the polish powder in each new batch or does it last on the corn cob for a few batches Thanks John
So at the beginning you said the rocks (calcite, flourite, etc) should already go through at least 500 grit tumbling. Is that a wet tumble?? Would flourite be fine afterward?
Yes, the initial tumbles are wet and the Fluorite is just fine. It does not dissolve in water, it is just delicate when tumbled. I recommend watching this video as well - Tumbling Fluorite: czcams.com/video/jZ4Ifii8vOE/video.html and I have some on Tumbling Calcite as well 🙏
A little late to the game, but could I use this method for harder stones like my ocean jasper or lapis? Trying to give them a less residue-y shine, but will definitely do this for my fluorite :D
I have finished 3 loads in the cob/polish mixture right now and the corn cob still looks as good as new. I just add a little more polish when I add new stones to the barrel :)
Wow! 2T is a ton of polish... The problem I run into with this dry polish method is that the corncob and the polish get impacted into any pit or crack in the stone. So when I pull the stones out they are polished, but kinda still look crappy. How do you get the polish out of the cracks and pits? Mabey an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner could shake it out? Do anyone make and sell a mini pressure sprayer?
So this is same process as using sawdust? cool, grind some corn cob. There's actually lots of different mediums one could use as well as different slurry formulas for softer stones
@@ReikiGemWellness peanut, dried beans, rice, ground cat tails, corn and corn meal, quite a few different things. I guess people will use whatever works and is handy, including other rocks, there are just as many slurry recipes as well, using sugar molasses, sap, water, celos, cornstarch, corn syrup, pretty much anything that will cause polish to stick and slurry to thicken
Hi John, this is a more advanced technique, so I wouldn't recommend it for someone just starting out. Dry corn cob is not corn meal - it is the actual corn cob, dried and ground up 👍 Keep up watching the rock tumbling videos though - it's an addicting and satisfying hobby!
Thank you for this. You’re right, there’s not a lot of information out there about this so this was really appreciated. Have some -ites that I’m dying to try this on as soon as I have a free tumbler.
Thank you. Getting ready to start my first load of fluorite. Your videos will be my guide
hi Shannon this was a new method on me so I watch eagerly , great tutorial, thanks,
Thank you for sharing, I'm just starting out. I'm doing fluorite and I will try this method
Fantastic series of videos! We are embarking on our first time with fluorite. Our next step is dry polish. Can the corn cob/polish media in the barrel be re-used? We keep our other media types with the same grit and barrel. In other words, after we have removed our stones and rinsed them for the next step, we also clean the ceramic or plastic we used with that grit level and put it back in the barrel to be used again but only with that grit level to avoid cross contamination. Don't know if that's a good idea or not since we are new to this. We have 2 double barrel 3.5 lb Chicago tumblers and one Lortone 3.5 lb. We only use the Lortone for dry polishing or burnishing. With the two double barrel tumblers, we can theoretically have 4 different steps going at the same time - theoretically. Doesn't always work out though.
Thank you for sharing I am from SRI LANKA.
this was lots of help! can the corn cob dry polish be re-used?
Good job,,going to try it,,,thanks
thats cool , a friend wants me to try and do some noble serpentine for him ,i think its a 4 mohs , any idea if it would work on that i think , im try it anyway lol thanks
going to try the corncob. I wonder if ground coffee will work.....
Great tutorial, thanks! Could you use corn meal instead of crushed corn cob as the main media? I know if it s much finer texture, but I think it would help spread the polish powder quite nicely.
I think it's worth a try. I have fine ground walnut shell that I plan to use. Because the rocks are softer, the softer material should work.
great video . Thank you - I have a question for you Shannon- I have been carving for 20 years , stone at first /& now (for health reasons )Tagua nut , it's also known as vegteble ivory . Moh's hardness 2.5-3 ? (not sure) . I have buckets full of cracked pieces ,a little bit smaller than your angelite .I just want to smooth them off & put a slight polish on them .and later make irregular shaped beads with them . I think the corn would work , what type of Machine & polish would you recommend?
I'm going to try with rice as I can't find or order corn cob in or to my country. (Holland) I'll let you know how it turned out.
It seems to work! My calcite and banded onyx have a better shine then when polished wet. Some of my stones have little cracks on the edges and the rice powder really sticks to it. Corn cub does this too? (Same with the piece of selenite I added has all over. I'm guessing thats shy selenite cant be tumbled.)
Thankyou for this method! :D
How did the rice turn out? Did you grind it into a powder or use it whole, I wonder if wheat husk or some other type of grain husk would also work
@@LeggoMyTailyPo Rice didnt work, it stuck to the stones and i couldnt get it off easily
@@theyellowvanadventures9487 you know that makes sense now that I think about it since they make glue out of rice. I thought that wouldn't happen with it dry but that's why you gotta test things sometimes. Good to know not to try that though. Thanks. I have been asking if like wheat husks, or the chaff off of some type of grain would work. I've heard of people using stuff like that to clean brass in a vibratory tumbler.
Very cool video
Has anyone tried this in a vibratory tumbler? I’m just afraid of it being too aggressive and getting some bruising and chipping going on. I have 5 lbs of fluorite from the Rock Shed, and have never tried a soft stone. Seems like it would be gentler in the rotary, but the vibe is just so much faster if I can use it.
So basically you just use ground corn cob instead of water in your tumbler. I wonder if you could also use something like wheat husk.
I'm just guessing here, but after all that soooo careful because they're a soft stone, When you give them that last bath is it by hand, or is now the time to use that plastic media we otherwise don't care for? Thanks for the video and all that information, Very much appreciated.
I usually do it my hand if it is a particularly soft or fragile stone 👍
I'd be interested in knowing if this method could be used on something like Petoskey Stones, which are soft and difficult to tumble shine
It absolutely can. One of the members of the Rock Tumbling Hobby forum has used this method for Petoskey and it worked great! The only difference is that he did it using a vibe tumbler. Thanks for the question! :-)
In this video, you use aluminum oxide. But in the lapis tumbling video, you use cerium oxide. Does it really matter? Or do both do a pretty good job in the corn cob for softer rocks?
Did you use the same corncob for both the calcite and the angelite and just recharge it with more polish. Or did you use fresh corncob. Thanks
Hi Shannon , John from the UK , watched this video and just started my first dry polish, can you tell me if you put the polish powder in each new batch or does it last on the corn cob for a few batches Thanks John
So at the beginning you said the rocks (calcite, flourite, etc) should already go through at least 500 grit tumbling. Is that a wet tumble?? Would flourite be fine afterward?
Yes, the initial tumbles are wet and the Fluorite is just fine. It does not dissolve in water, it is just delicate when tumbled. I recommend watching this video as well - Tumbling Fluorite: czcams.com/video/jZ4Ifii8vOE/video.html and I have some on Tumbling Calcite as well 🙏
A little late to the game, but could I use this method for harder stones like my ocean jasper or lapis? Trying to give them a less residue-y shine, but will definitely do this for my fluorite :D
Have you used the dry polish in a vibe? Just curious.
When you dry polish with ground corn cobs, how many loads of rock can you polish before you have to change the cob and polish mix? Thanks!
I have finished 3 loads in the cob/polish mixture right now and the corn cob still looks as good as new. I just add a little more polish when I add new stones to the barrel :)
Thanks a lot for sharing! What happens with less polish, let.s say one spoon?
De unde se poate cumpăra?
What if I don't have corncob will plastic pellets work? Why corncob? I would have to order it.
Can you reuse the dry mixture for another batch?
I assume you could reuse the cob grit, too?
How did you 'soapy water' them? Tumble?
Wow! 2T is a ton of polish... The problem I run into with this dry polish method is that the corncob and the polish get impacted into any pit or crack in the stone. So when I pull the stones out they are polished, but kinda still look crappy. How do you get the polish out of the cracks and pits? Mabey an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner could shake it out? Do anyone make and sell a mini pressure sprayer?
I don’t have a tumbler, but I see a lot of people use ivory soap and then let it run for a night.
Just scrub them with a toothbrush and soap
LOL, I do that already, but some polish gets into stuff so deep only an ultrasonic can bust it out. Now I just need to buy one...@@orirune3079
Get a water pik
So this is same process as using sawdust? cool, grind some corn cob. There's actually lots of different mediums one could use as well as different slurry formulas for softer stones
I've not heard about anyone using sawdust, but I have heard about using crushed walnut shells 👍
@@ReikiGemWellness peanut, dried beans, rice, ground cat tails, corn and corn meal, quite a few different things. I guess people will use whatever works and is handy, including other rocks, there are just as many slurry recipes as well, using sugar molasses, sap, water, celos, cornstarch, corn syrup, pretty much anything that will cause polish to stick and slurry to thicken
can you reuse the corn cob?
Absolutely! That is a bonus with this method 👍
@@ReikiGemWellness Thanks!
Does the corn cob come in grits
Do you think obsidian is too hard for this dry polishing method?
It should work but dry polish takes much longer and wet polish works just fine 👍
first rock tumbling video I watch, " im sure your already an experienced tumbler" ... :| by dry corn cob do you mean corn meal or?
Hi John, this is a more advanced technique, so I wouldn't recommend it for someone just starting out. Dry corn cob is not corn meal - it is the actual corn cob, dried and ground up 👍 Keep up watching the rock tumbling videos though - it's an addicting and satisfying hobby!
Having trouble finding powdered dreft soap any suggestions
Any of the "Free and Clear" no perfumes and dyes powdered soaps will work
Where did you find your corn cob?
The link is in the description
is this the method used for satinspar selenite?
I would not tumble selenite. It is just way too fragile
could you use rice instead or corn?
In case I buy the corncob from Amazon.
Where did you find your corn cob?
What if I don't have corncob will plastic pellets work? Why corncob? I would have to order it.
No, this is specifically a technique for corncob. I have no idea is plastic pellets would work, but I've not heard of anyone trying it so far.