Cerium Oxide alternative?

Using the cerium oxide tends to leave a few bits of white in any missed pits or unaccessable flaws and just wondering if there's a way to either clean it up ( rather than a toothbrush ) or an alternative polish medium to use

Hi AtomRat,

I've heard of a couple of things that help: soaking the stone in soapy water for a day, then toothbrush and water to clean; tumbling the stone in soap; and ultrasonic jewelry cleaner to loosen up the white goo.

Your my lapidary saviour of the week I think mfdes lol..

The members at my club know very little, but I went there today and 3 new members talking some jargon i didn't know yet, so I'm excited to talk and dig with them more!

Bummer, my ultrasonic cleaner somehow sprung a leak, water went in the internals and black fluffy smoke and sparks made a pretty display. In glad I wasnt touching it.

I'll put my scrubbing gloves back on then, cheers mate

By the way, if you like I can pay you a visit next year. I'll be heading down there with my fam to meet some relatives down there for a little while. They are a bit away from Hobart but I'll be around there!

AtomRat said:

By the way, if you like I can pay you a visit next year. I'll be heading down there with my fam to meet some relatives down there for a little while. They are a bit away from Hobart but I'll be around there!

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If you're here later in the year, the 2016 Gemboree is going to be in Tasmania. I think Ulverstone. I'll definitely be there!
PM me when you're coming and we'll arrange something!

If you are cabbing before you polish with cerium oxide or tin oxide examine your stone for the pits & cracks then rub the stone hard onto velvet soap or similar work the soap into the cracks. Then polish the stone & you generally don't get the white powder being worked into the stone as you polish it. The velver soap simply washes out.

Give it a go it works well for me and many others that I have shown.

No matter what just enjoy your cutting.

Velvet soap? Isn't that from the 40's? Lol
I think..I've seen it in Safeway, so thanks for that tip I'll give it a go.

For the moment I am just having fun practicing cabbing using clear quartz as it seems to take a lot longer to clear out marks and surface abraision on them compared to all the other stones I've cabbed. So its a little challenge spending a lot more time to get a nice finish on the clear quartz ( usually with tourmaline spikes / fibre for an eye catcher ). If you know a rock that takes even longer I'd love to know, or would it be anything above quartz on the hardness scale as I've never done sapphire, topaz, diamond..etc

Also thanks for letting me know tin oxide.. I've got a 5 gallon bucket next to me right now.. My mother used it for pottery

Nice tip Dughug, I'll give it a go next time.

And good question AtomRat, I have the same trouble on some stones, impossible to remove the cerium that is stuck in deep cracks.