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If you just want one polish for most stones, this is the one to go with.Ĭerium oxide is a natural polishing compound particularly useful for materials that are between Mohs 5 and 7, like glass and quartz. Aluminum oxide is Mohs 9.ĬPP tumble polish is an effective and economical aluminum oxide-based polish for barrel tumblers. The advantage of aluminum oxide (or alumina) is that it breaks down to a more rounded edge than does silicon carbide, which is what you want in the finer stages of processing a batch. This makes it the abrasive of choice for tumble-polishing corundum, although it is both expensive and messy to use.Īluminum oxide is a synthetic material most often used as a prepolish and polish, although you can get it in coarser grades. This makes it long-lasting and quite effective.īoron carbide serves much the same function as silicon carbide, except that it is slightly harder. It is very hard ?- Mohs 9+ - and each time it breaks, a new sharp edge is exposed.
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Silicon carbide is the basic abrasive used in tumbling. Therefore, 120 grit equals about 100 microns, whereas 220 grit equals 70 microns and 600 grit equals 25 microns. In the case of microns, the larger the number, the larger the particles - the inverse of how the terms grit and mesh work. About the only time you'll come across this measurement is with certain polishes, like Linde A and Linde B. For practical purposes, however, grit and mesh can be considered the same thing: 1000 grit = 1000 mesh.Ī micron is 1/1000 of a millimeter. The term mesh is more commonly used for abrasive sizes 1000 and higher. Mesh is a little more precise, referring to the screen through which a particular grit must pass. 500F or 600F is generally used for the prepolish step, although some people use 800F or even finer for prepolish. 60/90 ?- which means a range of particle sizes between 60 and 90 grit - is the coarsest grit generally used in tumbling, though 46/70 is available. Grit refers to the size of the particles, and as with sandpaper, the smaller the number, the larger the particles are. Here are some of the terms you'll need to know: Abrasives used in the art of tumbling come in a wide range of grits, and in a lot of different materials.