I am getting to the end of the Kakanui rockhounding stones collected from Seadown Beach with these ones being quite pitted and rough. Normally I wouldn’t pick up stones this rough (got enough of those rough ones from my own beach) but since I don’t know when I’ll be back to Kakanui I pocketed them anyway!
Thanks to one of the Facebook groups I follow I purchased some Ozito Sandblasting Sand 40/60 grit from Bunnings to try with rougher stones. This batch did a tumble with that grit after I wasn’t happy with the 80/100grit tumble for 12 of the 50 stones started. I did expect there to be more of a loss in weight but there was only 28grams difference. Not really sure what is going on there as that’s a little disappointing for such a coarse grit. I’m not quite ready to write it off as useless for rocktumbling yet. I’ll give it another go with some Papatotara Coast stones first.
The 38 stones that I was happy with after the first 80/100grit tumble cycle went into the holding box ready for 220grit. They are now part of Batch 44 since I added 41 more stones to this batch in a effort to clear the rest of those very rough stones rockhounded from Kakanui.
Batch 43: 3lb Tumbler 2
Stage 1: 80/100grit
Number of Stones: 50
Weight in: 816g
4 Tbspns of 80/100grit
1 Tbspn Borax
No pellets added
Days Tumbling: 11
Weight out: 725g – loss of 91g
40/60grit
Number of Stones: 41 + 12 = 53
Weight in: 904g
4 Tbspns of 40/60grit
1 Tbspn Borax
No pellets added
Days Tumbling: 10
Weight out: 876g – loss of 28g
Stage 1: 80/100grit repeat
Number of Stones: 53
Weight in: 876g
4 Tbspns of 80/100grit
1 Tbspn Borax
No pellets added
Days Tumbling: 10
Weight out: 753g – loss of 123g
Batch 43: Pre-tumble (Dry)
Batch 43: Pre 40/60grit
The stones didn’t lose as much volume (only 28grams) as I thought they would in the 40/60grit and even after a second tumble in 80/100grit I’m still not happy to let these stones go through to the next stage! About 29 of the 53 stones are not ready but I decided to re-tumble all of them at Stage 1 again.
I’m starting to think that these are stones that I probably shouldn’t have picked up in the first place since they are so rough and pitted. But that’s what it’s all about I think. Seeing if you can smooth out stones to enable a surface that will take a shine is half the fun! It just takes patience and perseverance!
Stage 1: 80/100grit (3rd repeat)
Number of Stones: 53
Weight in: 753g
4 Tbspns of 80/100grit
1 Tbspn Borax
Pellets added this time because I can see some of the stones are bruising.
Days Tumbling: 10
Weight out: g – loss of g
Stage 2: 220grit
Not entirely happy with all of the stones. I’ve removed the 5 worst. Added 15 stones from the redo box (no idea where these stones originally came from)
Number of Stones: 49+15=64
Weight in: 599g+134g=733grams
4 Tbspns of 400grit
1 Tbspn Borax
Pellets added
Days Tumbling: 11
Weight out: 663g – loss of 70grams
Stage 3: 400grit
Number of Stones: 64
Weight in: 663g
4 Tbspns of 400grit
1 Tbspn Borax
Pellets added
Days Tumbling: 15
Weight out: 558g – loss of 105g
Pre-polish Soap Tumble: 48 hours. Just a few look like they have bruising but the rest are looking good! Have placed Batch 43 into the polish holding box to wait for another barrel to come free.
Transfer to 4lb Tumbler 2
As 4lb Tumbler 2 was free and two other batches were ready to go into polish, I combined Batches 50 and 42 with this batch (43).
Stage 4: Polish Mix
Number of Stones: 62+62+19
Weight in: 1191grams
Polish Mix (3rd use): 9 Tbspns of polish mixed with 600mls of clean water. Ceramic Pellets added. *Note: The polish sinks to the bottom and the water at the top is tipped off, with clean water added.
Days Tumbling: 10
Weight out: Didn’t weigh!
Stage 5: Burnish
3 days in 2 Tbspns of borax with ceramic pellets. 6 stones were removed and not burnished as they were bruised or not smooth!
Polish Complete
Reflection / Observations
As I have mentioned in previous posts, I have not been very happy or satisfied with the finish of many of my batches. I have tried a variety of different things (and made some changes to my tumbling process) such as being really particular with the 2/3rds full barrel rule as well as closely inspecting the stones before they move onto the next stage etc.
I am going to do a bit more research into what mistakes I may be making as I tumble and polish stones I’ve collected from the beach.
Batch 43 | 3lb Tumbler 2 | Kakanui | 6 December 2023 – 13 February 2024
4lb Tumbler | Batch 43, Batch 42 & Batch 50 | Kakanui, Grove Burn, Temu Bought | 16 March – 29 March 2024
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