Stone Tumbling - Methods Used

Are you thinking of becoming one of those mad rock hounds, going out in all weathers to find those wonderful stones travelling miles to a shop or a garden centre which has a great selection of stones?  OK, so I am not an expert by any means and I am still learning which methods are the best to use for the stones I have sourced.  Please feel free to contact me if you know something I don't (more than possible!) or if I am doing something wrong or ....

The first thing you need if you are going to tumble stones (apart from a tumbler that is) - is patience, and yet more patience.

The first thing I did after washing the stones is to sort them out into various sizes such as small, quite small, medium, etc.  I purchased a set of 10 plastic freezer containers for £2.99 and put the stones in there.  Quite a handy space saver as they can be stacked on top of the other.

I kept a diary of events for the tumbling and it reads something like this for the first batch of stones I tumbled:

• 14 July:    Medium/small stones.  Mainly quartz.  850 grams in weight. 82 grams of (220) medium grade grit added.
  
• 21 July:    Stones cleaned and washed carefully.  now 750 grams in weight.  75 grams of fine (400) grit added.
  
• 28 July:    Stones cleaned and washed carefully.  700 grams in weight.  35 grams of polish added together with some washing up liquid and rubber bands to make up mass up to 60% of drum again.
  
• 31 July:    Not happy with results so far.  Re-washed stones again and added new 35 grams of polish / washing up liquid / rubber bands.
  
• 6 Aug:    Stones seem polished now - removing and putting in another batch of 'good' stones.

What I would now do is put the stones in the tumbler again, this time only with washing up liquid and (if necessary to make up the stones to a full batch) elastic bands.  This seems to give the stones a better final polish.

Some explanations - and if my reasoning, understanding of processes are wrong, please do let me know.

I did not use coarse grit to start with, as according to most books, if the stones are smooth, this should not be necessary.  However, in retrospect, I do have some stones I am not really happy with and they will have to undergo the process again - so perhaps using course grit may save time and will certainly be used on some of the rougher stones I have collected or those with deeper pits in them.

I checked the stones on a daily basis in order know what the liquid looks like and to make sure that the stones were being correctly tumbled (or rather, that they were getting smoother).

The picture to the left shows the first batch of stones I had tumbled in the foreground and stones that have been collected and washed only in the plastic container.

My tumbling of stones used the 'trial and error' method.  But I now to think that it is probably better to have a mixture of stone sizes .. ranging from the small to medium.

More pictures on next page.

Mags