Tumble and Polish

There are 51 redo stones in this batch of stones from my rockhounding in Kakanui. Some of the stones were originally in Batch 37 and some were originally in Batch 30 and Batch 38. Also added to this batch are 28 stones that were found on Seadown Beach (a name given by JP, author of tumblestoneblog) on the 10th of September 2023.

For some reason I’m forgetting to weigh the stones before getting started so much so that I’ve written in permanent marker on my bench “don’t forget to weigh the stones!” I did weigh the full weight of the barrel (with the lid off) before and after that stage to guess how much weight the stones have lost during that stage but it didn’t really work as the result was only 4 grams lost! That doesn’t seem right because, generally speaking, the coarse grit tumbles usually result in 100-200 gram losses.

At Stage 2 (220grit) I grabbed a bag of kakanui stones that was sitting in the holding box for 220grit. These 38 stones did their 80/100grit tumble with Batch 43. They were smooth enough to go through to Stage 2 but the majority of that batch needed to redo 80/100grit. Unfortunately 38 stones do not make a 2/3rds barrel full load!

Batch 44: 3lb Tumbler 1

It was a real squeeze to add the 38 stones (originally from Batch 43) to Batch 44 and I think I overloaded the barrel. There’s 107 stones in the barrel and that’s about 25 more stones that what should be in there.

Before going into Stage 3, 17 stones were removed – most of those stones won’t be tumbled through to polish and will be retired to the garden pots. The barrel still seems overfilled so no pellets will be added.

Polished Stones of Interest: Batch 44

These are some of my most favourite stones from Kakanui so far. The detail and the shine is impressive! I’m very pleased and I am beginning to realise that some stones really do benefit from being burnished in borax after the polish mix, especially certain ones from Kakanui. Isn’t the reverse side (far right image) of the bottom right first image so detailed and exquisite?

Batch 44 | 3lb Tumbler 1 | Kakanui | 15 December 2023 – 3 February 2024