Which One Gets a Better Polish?

[@spetkovsek57]

Thank you again for taking the time to collaborate on this video with me. It was a lot of fun. Although the anticipation was killing me.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

It was great and now I have these cool examples that I can use for later reference!

[@rebeccaofsunnybrookefarm8469]

I appreciate the opportunity to see this collaboration.. thanks guys

[@spetkovsek57]

@@rebeccaofsunnybrookefarm8469 Thank you for taking the time to watch. We were excited about the results as well. I don't think either of us expected what came out. But, we're not disappointed.

[@largent45]

That was amazing. First of all, the 60 grit to polish just blew my mind! If you can get that good of a finish only going from a 60 grit straight to the carpet wheel, then why do we bother finishing it all the way up to the 3000 grit or better, then the polishing wheel? It's kind of a waste of time! Granted I'm watching the video on my phone and it doesn't have as large of a screen as my TV did, but those looked amazing after 60 to polish! I'm blown away and the leather or carpet there was no difference as far as I could see. You should have done both polishes on the same sides so the leather or carpet could have been fairly judged, but the amazing part was the low grade finishes, straight to polishing wheel is the part that is most amazing! Thanks Jared!

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Exactly! Why are we doing that? You know many of the old machines, such as combo units has a trim saw, 80 grit wheel, 220 grit wheel and a buffing pad. Last I checked they were producing great work with that and here we are today with some people buying two cab machines so they can have easy access to 12 grits of wheels which is wildly excessive and one could argue that six wheels is excessive. I think they are pretty much exactly the same finishes.

[@rebeccaofsunnybrookefarm8469]

I have a 6 wheel and most often use 4

[@spetkovsek57]

If you were able to see them up close with your eyes, you can see the 60 and 220 grit "polished" sanding marks. However, if you're giving them away to kids or whomever, they won't care. Now if you decided to go into competition, then you would want to go to the higher sanding grits. If a judge can see the marks, even though they are polished, you will get marked down. It's all a matter of perspective and what you plan to do with the pieces. If I'm polishing for my own collection, then I go to either 600 or 800. That depends on my mood and/or the type of material.

[@spetkovsek57]

@@CurrentlyRockhounding Don't confuse a flat polishing machine with a cabbing machine. For some reason, flats seem to take a polish and hide the flaws much more than a domed cabochon. If I'm making jewelry, I want the best, shiniest polish I can get. (especially if it's for my wife).

[@patriciamckean4186]

We are our worst enemy when evaluating our own work. I believe your polish is very nice. Thank you for the comparison, it may help those who are planning on adding a polishing machine to their lapidary shop. 😊

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Being critical of ones own work is a great way to progress I think.

[@roman11469]

Very, very similar…they both look great!

[@GazzaBoo]

One thing experience and ignorance has taught me is that if you're 'doing it wrong' but it comes out right, you're not doing it wrong, you're just doing it differently from the conventional wisdom. People tend to repeat what they're told is the right way and rarely if ever deviate, never trying alternatives for themselves. I had the same thing with wood finishes where everyone 'knew' water based finishes never look as good as traditional finishes, so after a little experimentation I finished one half with lacquer, color matched the water based varnish with dye, polished it up and nobody could tell which was which. 🤷‍♂️

[@edheadgrfx]

It just kills me how good of a shine, you can get from 60, 80, 220. It seems those grit leave a much worse scratch off a flat lap or cab machine. I have an old 4 wheel Raytek and have 80 silc stone, 220 stone (came that way, very old) and 2-8" expanding wheels. Have 400 and 800 diamond belts. Your giving me great confidence to use this setup. Need to make a carpet wheel now!! Thanks for all your videos, I learn so much!

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Many of those old machines only had two grits on them.

[@Nrscathy60]

Yours is shinier. I really see your carpet was softer than honing on leather. I like your sides.❤

[@denisshavaliev1849]

I’m using silicon carbide powder wet polisher with metal disk, and I’m using only two grits - 120 and 800 before polishing rocks with cerium oxide.the result fully satisfying me with these three stages. I have zero scratches after stage one, as powder doesn’t damage the surface like diamond disk do. So I believe with such technology you only need three or four stages to get the rock polished and of course more attention to quality of the initial cut is need to minimize amount of work during polishing

[@mikedodge3910]

It completely blows my mind how buffing can make it shine like that! I need to get a carpet wheel!

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I got the plans online and its pretty easy to make.

[@cb175s]

Good video Polishing is definitely a skill that takes time to get comfortable with. Your polishing looks great to me. Good job

[@ukrainef_poo-tin8917]

Agreed, very similar. Thank you for the video.

[@mindseyeproductions8798]

I attempted to get photos of the large 48" grinding/polishing surface I saw in a glass shop/studio, if you do a search for "Grinding Glass from Rough Grind to Final Polish" you will find a video that looks like a similar but much smaller 24" version.

[@tinadelaluz3197]

Wow! These are so awesome, great job!

[@JhonDiamond2021]

Wowww.. beautiful stone, after splitting it looks very beautiful and beautiful.

[@rachaelb9164]

As a comparison it would have been better to have them side by side. Just tape off his side first. It’s impossible to tell on this end. They both look shiny :)

[@sandmaker]

I see no difference on my tiny little telephone screen. Fun test! Keep the goodness coming. 😷⚒

[@brianholcomb940]

I really couldn't see a difference in the polished parts! They all looked great! Thanks for sharing!

[@bobs-rocks]

I see that leather or carpet do the same thing. I can see that a dome would be an improvement both for carpet or leather. thank you for the comparison .

[@maryking5269]

Hi and thank you for the opportunity! I'd cut A-z on the saw!! 😊 agate to zeolites! Thank you for your channel too

[@maryking5269]

Sorry I posted and it changed channels on me. If this was confusing! I do however love your channel the most, my fellow Washintonians! And Zeolites are my passion too! That should make more sense! 😄

[@sfbfriend]

I must agree, I see little difference! Your camera might be hiding some that we do not see but damn I could not tell a difference.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

They look the same to me in person!

[@Mike-br8vb]

Too close to tell, but the carpet on the 800 sure seemed to be slightly more defined.

[@CharlestonFossilAdventures]

Neat comparison! They look pretty darn similar from over here… 🧐 A quick note on your “coprolite”: That is one of the famous Salmon Creek, WA pseudocoprolites pedaled by many as fossilized turtle poop. While they are fun shaped concretions, they are simply that: iron concretions. Opening one up will reveal the hollow layering that is so typical of concretions. Further, we often see aquatic and semi-aquatic fossilized poop from intestinal coprolites (aka cololites), and while the intestine structure is present, it’s less three dimensional than these. I’ve collected fish, shark, and crocodile coprolites, and all of these have a distinctly “less fun” appearance to them. So, a fun novelty rock, rather than a fossil!

[@Parry635]

most excellent video. carpet wheel runs great.

[@1885win]

I think the leather has a slightly better polish. The carpet has a slight haze that is almost unnoticeable until the 3000 was shown with the window light at the end. Thats just what I noticed seeing it through a screen.

[@NewZealandRocksDownunder]

One way to tell for sure is to polish on the same side so the comparison is easier to see what gives the better polish. I'm definitely going to have to make a carpet wheel as it seems to give a much better finish than the diamond pads

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I think this is a perfectly good comparison. The carpet wheel for that final polish produces a great finish and its easy to make!

[@NewZealandRocksDownunder]

@@CurrentlyRockhounding my comment was in no way intended to discount or diminish your polishing please forgive me for not making my thoughts clearer Jarred

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

@@NewZealandRocksDownunder It wasn't taken as that. I think its perfectly fine to just flip them over. I think both the leather and carpet are perfectly equal and its more about the levels of friction produced than the material used to produce the friction.

[@spetkovsek57]

Since you still have the stones, you could tape off my side and polish the dull side with the carpet wheel to do a true side by side comparison. I think we stirred up a hornets nest and you have a lot more supporters than I do. Even though this was not meant to be a competition between us, I think your fans/subscribers are taking it that way.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Oh it is for sure not a real competition. Its more of a friendly look at this and look at that. I can do your side as well but if I taped off your polished side and buffed the dull side from the get go people would complain and I should have done it on the other side like I did. Anytime I test anything out at all a certain number of people will complain that I did it wrong or break out the whataboutery to some how discredit or diminish what I say and do.

[@spetkovsek57]

@@CurrentlyRockhounding Ha, ha. That's funny. We got our desired results and a lot more questions like "Why am I sanding to higher grits when we both showed the results of coarser grits getting a good shine?" AND if we got a lot of people questioning the "norm", then we're doing something right!

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

@@spetkovsek57 I really want to get two conundrum hard wheels like the old machines came with, an 80 and 220 and see what I can do with just those two wheel. There was after all a time in which people polished rocks before the age of cheap CVD Diamonds and six wheel machines.

[@spetkovsek57]

@@CurrentlyRockhounding I'm guessing you mean carborundum and not conundrum. Lol. What you will learn is that hard wheels cut deeper than soft wheels. You won't be able to go to a polish after a 220 hard wheel. Diamond, Carborundum, or otherwise. On a previous machine, I would go 80 and 100 hard wheels, then 100 soft wheel. You'd be amazed at the difference between the two 100 grit wheels. But I look forward to your results.

[@RockyMountainBear]

Oh, there's no question. This was not a *real* competition. ...I'm obviously the better polisher hands down, and you didn't even include me. No competition at all. 🤭 (Totally kidding just to be clear. I am not even close to being in the same realm as you guys. I just felt like throwing some healthy banter in the mix. Please don't publicly shame me 😜) I really enjoyed this collaboration. Always so informative. ✌️🐻

[@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

[@joniangelsrreal6262]

👁👁 “Stellar”….👏👏

[@mikethompson8707]

nice comparison pretty darn interesting

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Thank you!

[@BrienWood7.3]

They both look really good but I think yours looks a bit better. Love the polishing videos.

[@bhutjolokia6990]

I would say they are the same.👍👍😁

[@JSGilbert]

I think you would notice a bigger difference on Corundum or steel, possibly on obsidian.

[@laurat5143]

Hello and thumbs-up. I was trying to see details. I saw one or two look pretty close. But seeing them in person is really different then seeing them on a video. I'd have to say they were not polished enough for me. 👍😮 😊.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

You don't think any of these were polished enough at all?

[@pocket256]

Thanks for the video, very helpful yet again. How important would you say going up to 800 is before buffing? The 60 grit polish looks pretty good in the video but that could just be KZbin's quality. I've already got a cerium/leather polishing lap so if I could get away with buying 1 or 2 prepolishing discs that would be great. Do you think there's enough of a difference between low grits compared to 800+ to be worth the cost?

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

That's difficult to answer. If you want completely perfect, then go all the way up. The cost is pretty low with SC discs so if you want perfect, then go for it!

[@lancebon2931]

I was given a Denver glass beveling machine with 8" wheels. It has two polishing wheels, one composed of cork and the other composed of hard felt. I have polished and faceted glass in the past, Have you any idea how well these wheels will polish and even facet rocks. You have been helping me set up my shop for the past year with the advice you give on these videos, Thank you for them. I'm semi retiring my glass studio, I hope to be fired up and running by the end of summer.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I have not ever ran one of those machines.

[@cliffmiller1021]

Looks like you both set out to make a cake and got a cake, regardless of the ingredients. Not sure my old eyes could see a difference though. Would it be bad to now say they looked excellent. As to finding out which has the more clear shine, I think NASA probably has a machine for checking reflective surfaces, probably has lasers or something in it I bet. haha. For science, that was fun.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Hahaha that would be a fun machine to have. I think the big take away from this is that you can achieve the same end results with different methods and it takes far less steps to polish than many people realize.

[@mariemoss2475]

To be truthful I thought yours were slightly better 👍

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Thank you! I think its really close.

[@keithcunningham7925]

I see no difference at all but I hope you could do a side by side that then would be the true test thank you and Stephen stones is awesome I love watching him

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I think this is a perfectly fine test and flipping it over shows the comparison just as well I think.

[@1erinjames]

Where do you buy your cerium oxide from? Is it okay to ask what exactly you use?

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I buy it from Rockhound Fundamentals on Amazon.

[@jimellis936]

I couldn't see a difference. Maybe if the were side by side. It would be interesting if we remove any identify marks and see if the two of you could correctly which side you polished.

[@huseyinaktas.]

Hello, what kind of carpet do you use for the final polish?

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I'm using the cheapest indoor/outdoor carpet from Home Depot, but you can try whatever you like, so long as it's durable.

[@huseyinaktas.]

@@CurrentlyRockhounding Thank you very much my friend

[@leonalbert4319]

They look the same to me.

[@jimnelson7740]

I think your side is better on most.

[@pierrejoubert7754]

What type of carpet do you use, or is it the back of a carpet?

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

It's the cheapest indoor/outdoor carpet from home depot.

[@samstrzempka5353]

COProlite and not that, it’s a concretion. I have lots from around the Toledo wa area. Not coprolites

[@jaredmitts5203]

Best way to see would be polishing the same side.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

This is a perfectly fine way.

[@disasterdogs]

😁

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I'm glad you liked it.

[@AZRockhoundExpeditions]

I don’t see a difference. Both sides looked great. And I think you discount your polishing skills. I’m not an expert. I give myself a sold C- 🤣but I think you are definitely in the A area. If not A+.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Thank you very much.

[@jmsdvs5]

I think the only difference is you’re giving the rock carpet burn

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Ha!

[@treasuresunderfoot7876]

They look similar to me too. Interesting test. P.S. I think your Coprylite looks like $*#t 🤣🤣

[@graemero5532]

No difference to my eyes

[@melissacolman7977]

I think yours are a bit shinier. It's tough to tell on this end but I have to say that your Way is shining much better 😂🦫

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Thank you!