Labradorite - Finished Batch

That looks great!

We have some that we have yet to tumble. Hopefully ours comes out as good as yours did 👍

I had looked at the Richardson's site awhile back and their prices are certainly reasonable but I shied away because no rock dimensions or photos there so it was sort of sight unseen. What have you ordered from them and were you happy with it?

They don't list dimensions because they get a lot of their stuff in huge chunks and break it down. A lot of their stuff will often come in bigger pieces and require some break down. They are a little bit old school and require you to get in touch with them to order. No cart on the website. When ordering, you tell them what size of rock that you prefer and what you are doing with it (ie: tumbling, stabbing, etc.) and what size saw that you have, etc. That way they will try to send appropriate sized rock, if that size is available.

I was hesitant myself when I first ordered because of no pictures, but their stuff is good quality. I have bought a bit of stuff from them and have always been satisfied. I have bought Thundereggs, Quartz, PET Wood, and some Agate just to name a few.

You can do a YouTube search for them and look at the videos of people going there for an idea of what their rocks look like, and how much of it they have. It is a little mind blowing when you see how much stuff they have.

My neighbors probably got a laugh watching me with a hammer and chisel breaking down my apatite from the Ron Coleman mine. I'd prefer not to have to do that with my rough if possible! 🤔

Also, here is a tip that I found out in all of my research. Aluminum Oxide does not break down like Silicone Carbide does. It last a lot longer than SiC. You can use less in your recipes to achieve the same results. With a caveat that you may have to run it longer. But I haven't checked if running it for less than 10 days will give the same results.

I do know that I went from running stages 3 & 4 to 10 days instead of 14 days and acheived the same results. So, I will eventually try cutting down from 10 days to may be 7 days to see if there is any difference.

That's interesting. Keep me posted on your results!

Thanks for the recipe for the Obsidian! I will give it a try when I run some more. 👍

That Obsidian looks great!

We have been working on some Apaches Tears Obsidian for months now. It has been quite the challenge figuring out what does, and doesn't work.

The recipe that we used for the Labradorite is this:

Stage 1 - In the Koolstone tumbler. Barrel is about 3/4 full. 3 tbsp 60/90 SiC grit, 1 tbsp Borax, 1 tsp Old Miser. Water to just below the top of the rocks. Check every week and pull what is ready to move to stage 2 (rinse well), load more rough to maintain level of rocks.

Stage 2 - Harbor Freight (HF) Tumbler. Barrel around 2/3 full. Rock to ceramic meadia mixture is about 30% ceramic media. 2 tbsp 120/220 SiC grit, 1 tbsp Borax, water level is slightly below top of rocks. Run for 14 days. Rinse well.

Stage 3 - Add more media if needed to maintain 2/3 full. Burnish. Cover rocks and media completely with water, 1 tbsp Borax and 1 drop of Dawn dish soap. Run for 1 day. Rinse well.

Stage 4 - HF Tumbler. Add media if needed to maintain 2/3 full. 2 tbsp 500 AO grit, 1 tbsp Borax, water to just below top of rocks. Run for 10 days. Rinse well.

Stage 5 - HF tumbler. 2 tbsp 1000 AO grit, 1 tbsp Borax, water to just below top of rocks. Run for 10 days. Rinse well.

Stage 6 - HF tumbler. 2 tbsp 8000 AO grit, 1 tbsp Borax, water to just below top of rocks. Run for 10 days. Rinse well.

Stage 7 - HF tumbler. Burnish. Cover rocks and media completely with water, 1 tbsp Borax, 1 drop Dawn dish soap. Run for 1 day. Rinse well.

That is it.

By the way, how do you like the Koolstone tumblers?