The Lortone 4lb tumbler has found itself idle again so I decided to go through my ever-growing collection of Papatotara stones that have been sitting patiently waiting to go through the tumbling process and make use of the large tumbler. The 4lb tumbler can hold anywhere between 60-100 stones (depending on the size of the stones of course). It’s a good idea to have a mix of sizes in a batch to help re-create the tumbling process various stones might go through in their natural environment. It’s also better if you try to keep the hardness of stones around the same otherwise some softer stones (like mudstones or argillite) will lose a lot more of their size by being knocked around in the tumbler by “harder” stones.
Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness
The hardness of any material is defined as its resistance to scratching by other materials. The Mohs Scale was developed in 1812 by German mineralogist Freidrich Mohs. As a general rule, stones that have a hardness of between 5 and 7 tumble well. Stones from the quartz family (amethyst, citrine, smoky quartz, chrysoprase, tiger eye, agate and jasper) have a hardness of 7. Stones from the garnet family have a hardness of 6 1/2 – 7. I’m still learning to identify (as best I can) the various stones found at Papatotara and Gemstone Beach!
4lb Tumbler
Stage 1: 80/100grit
Number of stones: 56
Weight in: 1684g
7 Tbspns 80/100grit – no pellets
Days tumbling: 8
Weight out: 1495g – loss of 189g
I removed 12 stones after Stage 1 (on the right of the tray in the image). Upon closer inspection I think they need to go to the holding box to wait a redo Stage 1 (80/100grit) to smooth their pits and gouges out more.
I didn’t want to tie up the 4lb tumbler because the twin tumblers were going to be finishing up the tumbling of Batch 12 & Batch 13. I’d be needing the 4lb tumbler for polishing and borax of those stones. Until the twin 3lb tumblers were free Batch 14’s stones need to “rest” in the holding box!
3lb Tumbler 2
Stage 2: 220grit
Number of stones: 40
Weight in: 978g
4 Tbspns 220grit – no pellets added.
Days tumbling: 14
Weight out: 882g – loss of 96g
Stage 3: 400grit
Number of stones: 39+6
Removed the pink/grey stone as it had several pits on both sides.
Weight in: 1057g
4 Tbspns 400grit – added pellets
Days tumbling: 10
Weight out: 893g – loss of 164g
Removed 12 stones from the batch – they need a redo at 400grit. Also soap tumbled these stones for 24hours before polishing/boraxing.
Only 32 of the original 44 went into the 4lb Tumbler for polishing.
4lb Tumbler
Stage 4: Polish Mix | Stage 5: Borax
Combined this batch of stones (14) with Batch 15’s stones for the polish then borax tumble. It was a new polish mix so using it for the first time. The Polish mix is 9 Tablespoons of polish powder mixed with 600mls of water. I use a sistema blender shaker to blend and store the polish mix. I don’t usually weigh the stones anymore. The borax tumble is usually done for 1-2 days and it just seems to clean all the polish mix off the stones and give them that final shine.
Number of stones: 74
Days polishing: 11
Days in borax: 24 hours
I did remove two stones after the final polish because, after looking at them closely, I’d missed picking up earlier that they had lots of pits and weren’t really as smooth as I like stones to be for polishing. These two have gone back into the holding box for a complete redo from 80/100grit.
Finished: Polished stones from Batch 14
Can you tell spot these stones in their “finished Stage 1″ image or the ” finished Stage 3″ image above?
Batch 14 | 4lb tumbler | Papatotara | 28 Jan – 5 Feb 2023
3lb tumbler 2 | (From 4lb tumbler) | 18 Feb – 25 March 2023
4lb tumbler | Batch 14 + Batch 15 | 13 April – 1 May 2023
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