Collecting Gemstone Beauties - Tumble and Polish

Had a little spur of the moment fossick on Gemstone Beach last month. It was a lovely Sunday afternoon with perfect weather for stone collecting. I didn’t venture too far from the carpark – only to the Taunoa Stream (to the right of the carpark if you’re facing the ocean) as the tide was coming in fast and I didn’t have my gumboots on. (Didn’t even remember to take a photo either did I?)

I’m using Tumbler 2 of my new Twin Barrel Lortone 33B Tumbler – these stones (48 of them) went in the same time as Batch 4 in Tumbler 1 of the twin barrel.

I’m particularly interested in the greenish stone in the top row, 3rd in from the left. That colour is just stunning even without the finished polish shine.

Stage 1: 80/100grit

Weight in: 936g. 4 Tbspns of 80/100 grit – no pellets added. 7 days tumbling. Lost 71g.

Stage 2: 220grit

Weight in: 865g. 4 Tbspns of 220grit – no pellets added. 8 days tumbling. Lost 121g. No stones added, no stones removed.

Stage 3: 400grit

Weight in: 744g. 4 Tbspns of 400grit – added pellets. 13 days tumbling. Unusually longer tumble (due to work) – I wouldn’t normally leave them tumbling that long.

I left the stones in the soap tumble for 6 days (must have been busy!) Transferred the stones to the 4lb tumbler for polishing.

4lb Tumbler

Stage 4: Polish Mix | Stage 5: Borax

Same details already shared on Batch 4’s post. Having a dedicated 4lb polish barrel is very handy as it’s big enough to combine the two 3lb barrels that have done all the grit tumbling for me.

After Stage 1 (80/100grit) – ready for Stage 2

Batch 5 – Polished and then Borax tumble. Complete.

I love how the greenish stone I had my eye on turned out! I picked this stone up because of it’s unusual colour and I do love its oval shape too. The tiny little pit is not really visible to the eye. I only saw the pit once I cropped the first image. I think I need to purchase a magnifying glass! Upon closer inspection and my own reflection, I probably would have put this stone back to redo a 220grit tumble as there is also a little thin gouge at one end too.
This one is definitely going in the “spectacular finds” jar though!

Back side – (sorry about the glare from the light!)

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