High Speed Sanding & Slow Buffing // How Fast Can a Rock Be Polished?

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Did you enjoy this video and find it to be informative? You can help ensure that more videos just like this get made by supporting the project on Patreon. www.patreon.com/currentlyrockhounding

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Correction: When I said it can take 30ish minutes to polish a rock what I should have said is that it can take that long depending on a number of factors such as what kind of saw it was cut on, how aggressive your wheels are, size of rock, and hardness.

[@shawnieleaf2277]

That is so awesome that you made that!

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Thank you.

[@mortimerschnerd3846]

Thank you so much for the DIY equipment videos!! Being somewhat $ challenged (frugal wife) I can now do things that were out of financial reach before. Great videos in general!

[@lapidarydave]

This video is absolutely awesome!

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Thank you Dave. I hope all is well with you. Didn't you pick up a Richardsons Sander some time ago?

[@MrParestesias]

Wonderful explanation. Since I live in a flat with a terrace, I try to cut many stones in a row to stain and clean everything in one go. That gives me many pieces to later carve and polish. The problem arises when I also want to do it "in chain production". I am changing the diamond pads and polishing one after the other, without time to pay attention to whether they are well finished carefully. I get to the final polishing and it frustrates me to see the result after so much work. When I finally see in your video that polishing that stone can take 40 minutes and I have polished more than 20 fragments in an hour, I finally understand that I am doing it very, very wrong. Thank you very much for your good videos. They are teaching me a lot to do things well. I use an adjustable speed angle grinder on the minimum speed for polishing, 3000 rpm approx, and sometimes I feel that the stone, especially if it is limestone, turns whitish in the process no matter how carefully I wet it. Could it be due to high speed or using something inappropriate?

[@j.ericswede7084]

Once again, that love of making stones even more beautiful than when you found them shines through. This isn't work folks, Jared is having fun. Your enthusiasm is infectious. P.S. I bought my wife an 8" Flat Lap for Christmas.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I am having fun with this! Also that's a great Christmas gift!

[@phild8095]

wife and I decided to get into this and bought a 10" saw and 8" slant lap, just set it up last weekend and started playing. Yah, this is fun.

[@phild8095]

Love your white board teaching. I can picture the carpet building up static.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Thank you! I love breaking out my whiteboard! The carpet wheel has a natural ground the way it's built.

[@Mike-br8vb]

That was very impressive! I have to make a carpet polisher for sure. Nice work!

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

It's a great tool for finishing a polish.

[@Mike-br8vb]

@@CurrentlyRockhounding thanks! I agree.

[@grandparocky]

Great video thank you!

[@WorldofRockhounds]

This was a great video covering the high speed sander and how fast someone can polish a rock with enough practice :) The polisher is also very well put together!

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Thank you.

[@davebaum3293]

Just found your vids. Nice work! Your teaching with love and kindness and that's what the rock thing is all about. Bravo! That was a nice description of why stone blows out BTW.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I'm glad you liked it, I got lots more here just like it.

[@GrandTreasureBay]

These tools are awesome. Especially the hand crafted carpet polisher. Very nice touch with the switching box on the front.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Thank you!

[@locktown]

Thanks for doing this. Winter has ended my rockhounding. Helpful hints for back in the shop are always appreciated.

[@kd7ign]

I enjoy seeing different ways to make our rocks shiny. It’s good to have various options. Thank you.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I'm glad you liked it.

[@Chris65018]

Great video.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Thank you.

[@rubenducheny2788]

Great! Thanks.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I'm glad you liked it.

[@tenaedmonson1213]

Wow! That is wonderful.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Thank you.

[@acomment2242]

Interesting set up. Building my own machines as we can't get such here in Scotland. My polisher is very similar to yours, but I have used leather covering. However there are slight screw hole recesses where I have attached backplate, these catch a bit so need a way to eliminate. Have to smooth out back surface, otherwise machine works reasonably well. Now that you have shown carpet to work, may try that option. Thanks for sharing. Would like to send you pics to get your comments if possible.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I would love to see photos of what you made. Below this video in the description box you can find my email address.

[@TheObSeRvErTheObSeRv]

Thanks for the excellent VIDEO.! All the very best from the LAND DOWN UNDER....;-)

[@jimlancaster6120]

Very nice all information is welcomed, thanks for the show.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Thank you.

[@keeganbay3490]

Good video A buddy and I got a 16 inch flat lap! might use it for a cerium oxide buffer since the plates are so expensive!

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

That would be great use for it!

[@kylaabegglen1275]

The seam agate turned out beautifully! Doing it in just over 10 minutes is pretty awesome too. Thank for another great video Jared!✌🤠

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Thank you!

[@wyomingadventures]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us amateur RockHounds. I greatly appreciate it!

[@nancywilson9380]

I appreciate that you also cover the cons as well as the pros of "more power" machines. I work on small stones for pendants so now I know that this setup wouldn't be practical for me But it's very interesting to see what tools are out there

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Knowing what wouldn't work for you is almost just as important as knowing what does.

[@TarnishedViking.]

Sweet setup you put together! Fast and efficient. 🤘

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Thank you!

[@olmilfishrock]

Cool video with great information. Thanks for sharing!! Keep rockin!!👍😎

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I'm glad you liked it.

[@GREEKEXPLORERS]

Amazing video, thank you for sharing!!

[@zaugitude]

Cool to see the process beginning to end. I will have to go find these other videos featuring these machines. My vintage Richarson’s polisher has carpet but someone has put a leather cover over that and it works really nicely and much less likely to grab the rock.

[@sandmaker]

It looks really good and yes it can be dangerous, but life is dangerous. Just keep your wits about you and avoid the worst bits. Nice talk, thanks for sharing. I often use my lapidary wheels to fast polish a piece of a rock to see how it might turn out. Doesn't take long, but that is a very small piece compared to your rock. Keep the good info coming. Be happ, safe and stay healthy 😷⚒

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

It does get increasing hard to polish rocks as the size gets bigger and bigger.

[@sandmaker]

@@CurrentlyRockhounding I'll leave the big ones to you and the fist and smaller to me... thay way there's no competition. 😳😁😁

[@tinadelaluz3197]

That was an awesome video!! Love seeing your engineering skills.👍👍👏

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Thank you!

[@dougbailey5933]

Excellent video, thanks. OK, key points noted: ~3000rpm for the grinder/polisher, ~200rpm for the carpet buff. Do you like the vertical axle on the grinder? I was thinking a horizontal axle would be easier to use. Might be hard to hold a really heavy rock in place, though. I've been thinking of building something like these machines... But I'm also thinking of building something like Michigan Rock's tumbler cabinet... But I'm also thinking I don't have room for any of this... So I'm also thinking I need to build a new workshop... Ah well, I'll get there some day.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I do like the vertical orientation of the sander where you hold the rock from below, like this if something happens you can just drop the rock, or if it catches it doesn't really throw it much. Build the shop first!

[@jasondelgatty3583]

I just picked up a Richardson Ranh sander and am wondering what your air suction system that you have connected to it is. You implied there is another video on it. Any help would be much appreciated.

[@ozzyfranf]

I’ve always used oil in my rock saws.

[@colinesmetaniuk]

Would you take this and now polish again on your converted flat lap carpet wheet to "fine tune" the polish.

[@jeffblosser8273]

Its nice to see your technique for polishing on the high speed sander. I have been learning as I go on mine and have had mostly good results but sometime got chips from overheating but never thought of cooling off the rocks in water.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

It does have a learning curve, and I'm by no means an expert with it.

[@a3skywarrior929]

Thanks for showing this. Haven't started getting into polishing due to not being able to get my own yet. Very informative! 👍 looking at what I need and build.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

It can be hard to get into lapidary, often it has quite the high entry price.

[@stefanieschmid9760]

Hi. As I don't have a flat lap (yet), I built me a polishing setup out of an old wood turning machine. Works, but I'm looking forward to my birthday in May and getting the flat lap. Maybe I might build a carpet wheel out of the lathe then... we'll see.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

If you want to build a carpet wheel, keeps your eyes open for something good coming!

[@MrFmiller]

I (we) use an angle grinder with incremental stone polishing discs and a machinists vice. Some rocks I’ll get the first flat with a grinding disc just to see what’s inside. I use a countertop 1800 to finish. If I see potential pop outs I might use super glue to fill gaps.

[@troydean5702]

I have thought about the reasons we dont use variable speed motors on most of this equipment. Could get tape and gun to dial it in within a few rpm. Saws polishers Sanders even tumblers if one so wanted.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I think its the added cost of running a Variable Frequency Drive and the requirement to have an AC motor. DC motors rely on armature voltage and field current to control the motor speed. Because there is no frequency in a DC motor, VFDs aren't a good option. You can use a DC speed controller but running AC with a VFD. I think its really just the added costs vs the benefits from it.

[@troydean5702]

I look at it as a possible time saver as well as money saver. I think we could dial in the speed that I'd best to cut a certain hardness scale say its 7.0 hardness then your saw will be most efficient at say 1725 rpms well you wouldn't waste time if your saw was slower than that and you would slow your saw down if your rpms wereo more than 1725 therefore saving your unneeded wear on your blade. This is only a theory and not a hill I am willing to die on.

[@andymyers8560]

Have you tried to cool the rock down with a pan of frozen water? You could just place the stone on top as you change out the sandpaper. Not sure if it would get the rock too cold or if that is even a thing.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

That's an interesting idea and I will give it a shot, thank you!

[@patriciamckean4186]

Nice finish....so fast. Wondering 🤔, drill press with attachment fos sanding disks. What do you think?

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

That is a think you could do but it would be a slower process.

[@hockeyrace]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing. I wish my lapidary cabs were that fast. It’s takes soooo long and gets boring. Your carpet wheel seems to be a hit in the rockhounding community. I’ve seen it a handful of times. I wish I were mechanically inclined, as you seem to be. 🤩👍 Stay Crystal 💫

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Thank you! Stay tuned, I got something really good coming out related to this carpet wheel.

[@ooglemonster]

I wish my local lapidary shop had this… or that I had any space whatsoever to keep large tools (I live in an apartment)

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

That's rough when you don't have space to work in.

[@BackcountrywithShaughn]

OMw to a customer right now but look forward to catching this when I get home! Thanks for sharing as always~ PS...love the spray guard on the buffer~~ 👍

[@paigelee6321]

Awesome been interested in this subject , looking to add to my equipment in my rock shop , the machines are a expensive investment, thank you 😊 for sharing, loving your content, 😊💙

[@jimhepting7305]

Where do you find silicon carbide 6 inch w no hook n loop or PSA backing. Can't find anywhere, especially ones w hole in middle, or by assortment vs many of one grit only . .argh. PS. . love your videos . .

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

What machine are you using that requires a 6" disc?

[@jimhepting7305]

@@CurrentlyRockhounding I don't really have a "machine" per se. I'm retired and on a tight budget and very little space so I'm doing double duty with my drill press and disk sander . . . AND just started this life long dream of mine to do lapidary. So far, so good with all my "make do". I realized that the hook and loop discs are not overly "cushy" and are firm enough on the 6" aluminum lap backing disk I use on the drill press. It's just been difficult to find silicon carbide 6" that does'nt have the "dust" holes in them. I have drilled out a center hole in some aluminum oxide sanding discs just to check and be sure that they wouldn't tear up on drilling . . . I'm pretty much a "jerry rigger" by $$$ necessity. Love your videos . . they've really helped me get started. THANX

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

@@jimhepting7305 You can buy 7" ones on amazon, there's a link in the description box of this video and then you could cut them down to 6"

[@jimhepting7305]

@@CurrentlyRockhounding Thanx young man . . you are awesome! :O)

[@troydean5702]

So can you tell me what grits you used on the high speed.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I have an update video on the Richardson's sander where I really go into depth on it but currently I run 80, 220, 400, 800 and then I go to polish.

[@spetkovsek57]

Your Dugway geode is not too small. You just let it get too hot. I've done many pieces about the size of a quarter. Yes, they are hard to hold on to. You might also consider adding a felt pad behind your carpet on the buffer. Leather might be a better polishing cloth too. It's what Richardson's uses on theirs. I appreciate you taking all this time to do these videos to help educate the general public. Thank you.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

The carpet wheel I made has a 1/8th" neoprene pad under it to give some cushion. I know Richardson's uses leather but I have also seen carpet and canvas used. I made this in a way that makes changing them out pretty quick so I can test different things over time with it.

[@spetkovsek57]

@@CurrentlyRockhounding The reason Richardson's uses leather is because the best polish is accomplished by friction. Does your carpet create any friction? How wet do you get it? You only want it to be damp, not dripping. If you don't get good friction, you wont get the glassy look you want. You might also try polishing your cabs on it as well. You should be able to get a super shiny polish on those too. Friend me on Facebook if you want to see some of my cabs. I've cut thousands of those too. 🙂

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

@@spetkovsek57 I think it produces enough friction but the only way to really know is to test things back to back. I really don't get it that wet just a little spray to keep the polish in place.

[@edwinpink5040]

what do you like better? the Richardson or the flat lap? Where can you get a Rchardson?

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Both have pluses and negatives. You get the Richardsons Sander from Richardsons Rock Ranch.

[@bentationfunkiloglio]

Very nice, but I think that I might be able to go a bit higher on the danger spectrum. I use an 18k rpm angle grinder and Harbour Freight silica carbide/PVA disks to polish free form shapes from silicified iron stone, or could be iron oxide heavy quartz (can't really tell). These disks work great and don't heat up much. One pack comes with a number of grits from 40 to 600. Works ok with Australian opal as well, but you have to be a bit more careful.

[@waynemorrison2643]

Right on man, I use those too. Makes short work of polishing...depending on the piece. After I'm done with 600, I go to sand paper 1000--2500. THEN polishing paper. That's up to 8000. With agate, the higher the grit, the deeper into the piece you can see. Do you know of the polishing paper?? If not, do yourself the gift of looking into it. A game changer. Enjoy. Wayne.

[@bentationfunkiloglio]

@@waynemorrison2643 Thanks for the tip. I look into it!

[@KatyDidRocks]

LOL, Hall Monitors and Keyboard Cowboys. Yeehaw! I'm pretty sure if I used that polisher I would take off a finger in short order. I wonder if some kind of rim guard could be rigged up...

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I know someone that got a some stitches from the Richardson's Sander, it cut open their fingers link a box cutter. I think a rim guard could be a smart idea.

[@AZmic69]

I recently acquired a Richardson dry sander. Where can someone buy the sanding discs? I emailed the Rock Ranch asking if they still sold them, have not heard back.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

You can buy them on Amazon. If you can't find them shoot me and email and ill send you a link to the ones I have.

[@wmarian5027]

I get the "need for speed" very attractive ideas. Problem to solve: Sanding dry leaves you with rock dust across the room... Do you have a clean up protocol? Or plans for a dust booth?

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I've touched on this topic in the video about the high speed sander, the dust collection on it picks up almost 100% of it. Also generally speaking I keep the shop space very clean.

[@wmarian5027]

@@CurrentlyRockhounding thanks for letting me know :) i will look for the older video. Happy new year

[@acomment2242]

Like the idea of using high speed sander but concerned about need to have head well balanced to avoid vibration.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

There's no issues with vibration.

[@UyenTranonyoutube]

With your amazing knowleges, fully equiped and huge of collection of rocks why don't you just open a rock club in your area? It's would be wonderful for all rockhounders in your area. Of course with a small fee amount to help on maintain the equipment and the field trip. I wish I live up there :)

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

My area already has a really well equip rock club.

[@treasuresunderfoot7876]

Are you varying the time the rock contacts the paper by moving it up & down in short increments to avoid micro fractures from starting? I have found heat buildup in the surface transmits through the silica & when it hits the edge, it can blow out. I've solved some of that problem by bevling the edge a bit first. But short bursts on the contact seem to make a lot of difference. Excellent video topic🍻 Well done too. The time lapse with stopwatch really makes this video credible with your explanation👍

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I'm mostly just doing it in 20 second bursts of sanding, I mean it really depends on the material.

[@waynemorrison2643]

Hey I want to send you a couple pieces for your collection, because I like to share my stuff with people who appreciate it....I can see that you would. How do I do so??

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Thank you! I do have a PO BOX which is linked below this video.

[@waynemorrison2643]

@@CurrentlyRockhounding Right on. Gimme a little time, and I'll shoot you a couple of nice specimens from California that I've had the fun of finding myself. Be well, man. P.S. the plastic cases you showed, I started doing that about 5 years ago. I'm over 50 currently. Brilliant minds think alike!!!

[@lapidarydave]

i love this video sooooo much ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️💎👽🐟🍆🔥

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Thank you Dave! :)

[@jmsdvs5]

I think the traditional way is better. Sure, your high speed method is great for those bigger rocks, but I would not use them for "speed". I think a well polished stone takes time. I don't want the imperfections on my polished faced.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I don't know if better is the word I would use. Which is better a snowmobile or a Toyota Corolla? They both have there own time to shine. The best situation would be having a nice insulated, heated work space, unlimited time, a bucket of cash and a desirer to only work with small ish stones. I think when you start to scale up the size of what you start to work with it goes present new challenges.

[@jmsdvs5]

Your, probably right. Situation does dictate and the material you work with has an impact. I should have said "prefer" because "better" is subjective.

[@magapickle01]

You interested in doing demos at our prineville powwow rock show ? I might be able to get you there in a great spot ? I don't know how on here to do direct messages

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I might interested in something like that. We wanted to go to the Pow Wow show last year but couldn't make it happen.

[@mattrichards1492]

That's fast. Even still, not a whole lot of shortcuts in the process of polishing. It's a pain in the ass.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

It's can be a pain for sure but when something comes out really nice it sure is a good feeling.

[@kchamberlin]

Nevermind my last comment. Challenge accepted. 🕉

[@lifeofola9289]

I'm not entirely impressed with hi tech.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Which machines did you buy and what is it you dislike?

[@davebaum3293]

Just found your vids. Nice work! Your teaching with love and kindness and that's what the rock thing is all about. Bravo! That was a nice description of why stone blows out BTW.