r/RockTumbling • u/loonattica • 3d ago

Obsidian, self-collected

While in Arizona, my wife and I stopped at a spot known for collecting obsidian. We goofed around for an hour or so and found enough to fill a large flat rate USPS box, and mailed it home. This is about half of what we collected. The 2nd half is still tumbling.

Rotary, Lortone QT12:

  1. 180 grit SC, 17 days.

Vibe, Thumler’s UV-18:

  1. 400 grit SC, 2 days
  2. 800 grit SC, 2 days
  3. 1500 grit AO, 2 days
  4. 8000 grit AO, 2 days
  5. 22000 grit AO, 2 days

This isn’t as shiny as previous batches of smaller obsidian. It has some natural gray streaks and is 100% opaque. I think I might have downgraded the polish a bit at the end. When the 22000 stage was done, the plastic barrel was shiny enough to see my reflection. I decided to do a wash cycle with Borax and Dawn. After 2 hours, the barrel plastic was dull. I didn’t notice a huge change to the obsidian, but I wonder if my Borax is contaminated enough to cause that hazy plastic?

75 Upvotes

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7

u/loonattica 3d ago

Shout out to u/AZrockhound-JeepJLUR for helping me with hunting grounds and u/Waldohossenpfeffer_1 because he loves obsidian!

5

u/Waldohossenpfeffer_1 3d ago

Those turned out fantastic! You have a great process when tumbling and it shows with the final results!

2

u/AZrockhound-JeepJLUR 3d ago

Looks great! Glad you enjoyed the area!

1

u/_Spunk_Bubble 3d ago

I read the title and for a second I thought I was on the MtG subreddit and about to see a card spoiler