This batch is tumbling misfits and redos from other batches like Batch 33 and Batch 39. There are also some stones originally from Batch 35 that just weren’t ready for polish so they’ve been sent right back to Stage 2 again.
As most of these stones have been tumbled before they don’t really need to redo Stage 1 these restarted at Stage 2 – 220grit. Here’s hoping that’s what they need and they’ll progress through the rest of the stages quite nicely!
By the look of these misfits and redos most appear to be Gemstone Beach stones and perhaps the odd one from Kakanui!
Batch 47: 3lb Tumbler 4
Stage 2: 220grit
Number of Stones: 47
Weight in: 687g
4 Tbspns of 220grit
1 Tbspn Borax
No pellets added
Days Tumbling: 10
Weight out: Didn’t weigh
I needed this barrel to tumble a batch of stones documented here so these stones sat very briefly in the holding box before another tumbler came free!
Batch 47: Pre-tumble
Transfer Batch 47 to: 3lb Tumbler 1
7 stones from the redo box (from Gemstone Beach) were added to the batch to help make up the barrel load.
Stage 3: 400grit
Number of Stones: 48+7=55
Weight in: 679g
4 Tbspns of 400grit
1 Tbspn Borax
Ceramic Pellets added
Days Tumbling: 12
Weight out: 551g – loss of 128g
3 stones were removed after Stage 3 because of pitting.
24 hours in a Soap Tumble to remove residual grit before polishing.
There was not enough stones to make a full load for polishing. Into the Polishing Holding Box they went so that the tumbler could be free to start tumbling a new batch of stones.
Transfer Batch 47 to: 4lb Tumbler 2
Batch 47 has hitched a polish ride with Batch 46 (also Gemstone Beach stones) for the polishing stage.
Stage 4: Polish Mix
Number of Stones: 55-3=52 + 90=142
Weight in: 503grams (total load=1383g)
Polish Mix (2nd use): 9 Tbspns of polish mixed with 500mls of clean water.
Ceramic pellets added.
Days Tumbling: 12
Weight out: 1373g – loss of 10grams
Added to Batch 47 at Stage 3
Batch 47: After 400grit
Polish Complete
The finish of the stones after the tumble polish mix wasn’t very shiny so I decided to do a borax burnish for three days to see if it would make any difference.
Stage 5: Burnish
Number of Stones: 142
Weight in: 1373grams
2 Tbspns borax
Ceramic pellets added.
Days Tumbling: 4
Weight out: 1367g – loss of 6grams
The image to the right shows just how dull and disappointing the majority of this batch turned out like.
There appears to be a lot of bruising and a lot of fracturing that I didn’t realise was so bad – I don’t think they looked that bad when they went into polish and burnish but I could be wrong. Perhaps I was in a hurry to get Batch 46 and Batch 47 finished.
These 13 stones are going right back to the start again to see if they can be smoothed out and polished with a shine.
Some stones did shine up so I’ve featured those below.
Polished Stones of Interest: Batch 47
Batch 47 | 3lb Tumbler 4, 3lb Tumbler 1, | Gemstone Beach / Kakanui – Redos | 14 January – 25 February 2024
4lb Tumbler 2 / Batch 47 & Batch 46 / Gemstone Beach, Kakanui Redos / 29 February – 16 March 2024