Tumble and Polish

More stones from Gemstone Beach have made it into my new Lortone 3lb twin tumbler. This tumbler is now on it’s second batch of stones since purchasing at the start of June this year.

I’m digging into my older collected stones from Gemstone Beach now. What is interesting to me is just how much my “collecting tastes” have changed over the last year or so. The stones now tumbling away in Batch 24 are a lot “rougher” than the stones I’ve been collecting lately (more so after spending a number of fossicks with JP from tumblestoneblog fame). With these “older stones” I quite often find myself looking at some of them and wondering why on earth I picked “that” up?! Those stones, more often than not, end up in the garden pots outside!

Batch 24: 3lb Tumbler Three

Three stones were removed after Stage 2, two more were added from the holding box to Stage 3 to take their place. Nine hydrogrossular garnets were added to Stage 3 (400grit) as they were smooth enough and didn’t need Stage 1 & 2. There is a gap of two weeks between the end of Stage 3 and the beginning of Stage 4 because I went up North to visit family. I didn’t run the tumblers during this time.

Transfer to 4lb Tumbler

After a 48 hour soap tumble Batch 24 (this batch) and Batch 25 have been combined to go through the polish mix. There weren’t enough stones to make a load for the 4lb tumbler. I waited 10 days for some more stones to add from Batch 26 (all hydrogrossulars) which were repeating another round of 400grit to get them ready. Stones from Batch 28 (all from the holding box which included some original stones from Batches 21, 22, 24 & 25) were also ready to polish after a redo in 400grit so I tossed them in as well. In hindsight, I think this load was too full!

Polished Stones of Interest: Batch 24

Batch 24 | 3lb Tumbler Three | Gemstone Beach | 14 July – 1 Sept
4lb Tumbler | Batch 24, 25, 26 & 28 | Gemstone Beach (majority) | 15 Sept – 27 Sept 2023