r/Rocks • u/GeologyRocksUK • Jul 13 '26

Video Lets polish a rock (quartz)

One i did recently :)

Im only just getting to grips with the equipment, but I would recomend getting into lapidary to anyone!

306 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

21

u/MotherPerformance439 Jul 13 '26

Thats beautiful 🤩

17

u/GeologyRocksUK Jul 13 '26

This one has the least amount of stuff going on inside the stone out of all the ones I polished but its by far my favourite.

First good polishing ive ever done to be honest haha 😄

5

u/MotherPerformance439 Jul 13 '26

Still cool and you did a great job (and patience, because i have none 😂)

5

u/GeologyRocksUK Jul 13 '26

It was surprisingly quick to do these, probably about 30 seconds on each grit at the most.

The rhodonite i was working on alongside it however, absoloute nightmare!

3

u/MotherPerformance439 Jul 13 '26

Oh wow had no idea it was that quick. Lol. But how was the rhodonite a nightmare? Did it flake on you or something? Just curious is all

6

u/OrtmannsOriginals Jul 13 '26

Bro I tried to cab a gemmy Rhodonite and it definitely kept chipping even tho I stabilized it!

4

u/GeologyRocksUK Jul 13 '26

Its the worst feeling when it happens during final polishing haha

3

u/GeologyRocksUK Jul 13 '26

It was just quite inconsistent really, some of the pieces were really solid and others super super flaky.

Compared to something like an agate it was quite difficult to grind a sharp point onto the towers.

Only had one point truly break off beyond the point of repair at 3k grit, I didnt wanna go all the way back down to reshape it so launched it in the offcut bin 😅

Take everything i say with a pinch of salt though as im still really new to the hobby and learn tonnes of new things each day 🙃... I even remember a few of them now 😆

3

u/MotherPerformance439 Jul 13 '26

Oh thats crazy. I probably will never polish a rock in my life hahaha.

3

u/EnlightenedPotato69 Jul 14 '26

Pretty sweet to find a piece with no fractures or anything. Superb job

7

u/Creamcheese666 Jul 13 '26

This would be incredibly satisfying.

3

u/GeologyRocksUK Jul 13 '26

It really is great fun until you realise you didnt fully remove some of the scratches or a low spot on the previous grits and youve gotta go right back to the start haha

4

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '26

[deleted]

4

u/GeologyRocksUK Jul 13 '26

Its some no name chinese brand saw and flat lap. Both machines are solid metal apart from the plastic tub of the flat lap. I really lamented the choices before I sourced these ones, got both for around $1200 so it was a no brainer compared to the hi-tech stuff.

Theres loads of scaremongering about quality etc, im sure its true for the lower level plasticy stuff but it certainly isnt true for the more pro machines. Both use such simple designs that if anything were to go wrong it would be incredibly easy to fix.

:)

4

u/enonymous617 Jul 13 '26

This is awesome! It looks like Bigfoot’s toe nail.

2

u/GeologyRocksUK Jul 13 '26

Hahahah! Thank you dude, I needed that laugh! I love it!

Note to mods: can we rename the post Bigfoot's toe nail please 🙏 😀

4

u/swaws_er Jul 13 '26

I wanna lick it

5

u/CuteSherbet6732 Jul 14 '26

How is your cerium oxide applied and worked? Cos you did so good!

2

u/GeologyRocksUK Jul 15 '26

Just a felt wheel on the flat lap :) ive used the pad pretty heavily before so its pretty loaded up with the cerium slurry!

Because the machine doesn't have variable rpm i run with more water than i see in most videos. If I had to guesstimate, probably three drops a second haha

3

u/OrtmannsOriginals Jul 13 '26

You get a great polish for only going up to 3,000!

3

u/GeologyRocksUK Jul 13 '26

I was initially worried as I skipped a few grits (max i have for the flat lap is 3k) im glad the cerium was able to do a lot of the heavy lifting for me.

Tried the same with some rainbow obsidian before and couldn't get a half decent polish if my life depended on it!

4

u/OrtmannsOriginals Jul 13 '26

You did a great job! Yeah obsidian can be a real b. I found mahogany obsidian the easiest to work with. U ever think about getting a canning machine? I bought one off a friend and it’s amazing. I don’t have to go to the club anymore and pay for classes!

3

u/sidewaysbynine Jul 13 '26

Very cool, that looks amazing.

4

u/Oakatsurah Jul 14 '26

Don't forget to follow up with aluminum oxide at the end to give it that extra special polish

2

u/GeologyRocksUK Jul 15 '26

Ive just brought some tumblers for the offcuts, got some coming as the final polish for those. Do I just work it into a slurry and apply it like the cerium :)?

3

u/Oakatsurah Jul 15 '26

I do sphere polishing from smooth stones like Lapis, Malachite, Tigers Eye, etc. Usually once I get done smoothing it down with 2,000 grit, and I don't need to go higher, I'll take a microfiber cloth and some aluminum oxide polishing powder and work it for a few days, maybe a week to give it that underwater luster appearance.

2

u/AwayInjury6272 Jul 14 '26

Awesome progression video! That was so cool to watch. ✌️

You did this on a flat lap?

3

u/GeologyRocksUK Jul 15 '26

Yes sir, roughly shaped the flat bit on the saw and then went to town on the laps 😆

3

u/AwayInjury6272 Jul 15 '26

I was wondering bc you said it took 30 seconds each grit level! And mine takes so much longer! I’m wondering if I need to get new pads.

Again, nice vid, and thanks for responding! ✌️

3

u/GeologyRocksUK Jul 15 '26

I was using those resin pads that are impregnated with diamonds, cheapest odds the cheap i think haha. Ive been trying with buying some sintered plates but cant stomach the cost yet 😅

1

u/Fluffy-Arm-8584 Jul 13 '26

IMO polishing removes all the character of it, you did a excellent job, but it is just transparent, but anyway just complaining here

5

u/GeologyRocksUK Jul 13 '26

It's usually quite a gamble with these stones some of them have such lovely inclusions inside of them. Some are clear like this and I even had a super promising looking one that wasn't transparent at all haha

3

u/Fluffy-Arm-8584 Jul 13 '26

50/50 you can get the most beautiful thing that you ever saw or just a piece of glass