I have been buying rocks online to tumble something I thought I’d never do. Have you heard of Temu? It’s an online store that’s really cheap for all manner of things including raw, natural rocks. I’m not sure if the stones are fake, but the relative cheapness of some of them added together with tumbling rocks that I wouldn’t find where I live (or can visit easily) overrides the risk of being “ripped off”.
I also thought buying small amounts of rocks might be a good way to learn about different kinds of minerals etc and have fun tumbling something different in the process. It also means that I need to be more aware of the mohs hardness scale (working on a post about this) when deciding what rocks to tumble together.
Verifying Identity of Rocks Bought Online
Lately I have been experimenting with a rock identification app called Rock Identifier. I’ve only used it on the rocks I’ve purchased online so far and it’s pretty much said the rocks are what the Temu seller have said they are. This app is becoming a favourite because I can create my own collection of rocks that I have which has made it a bit easier to track and trace these purchased rocks. I have decided to keep an unpolished version and a polished version of the rocks I’ve bought and they will go into a special display case in my stone shed.
I have seen on several FB groups people asking about rock identifier apps and others replying “don’t waste your money ‘cos none of them are very accurate” so I am weary that I can’t 100% rely on the results it gives me.
Temu Rocks & Suppliers
In Batch 50 I have the following rocks: 1 dalmatian jasper, 3 tigers eye, 4 unakite, 3 ruby zoisite, 3 red jasper, 5 pieces of green glass or maybe quartz(?) A bluish looking opalite(?) 2 pieces of white glass or quartz? An amethyst, 1 halcite (which is Himalayan Salt so I’m expecting that to disintegrate!) 1 aventurine, 1 rose quartz(?) 1 labradorite, And 2 different looking elbaite (tourmaline(?) – the 2 bottom pinkish ones in the pretumble image).
The question marks are because some of the rocks were sold as “Large Size Mixed Rare Natural Crystal Gemstones, Crystals Raw Rough Stones With Assorted Varieties”, and they didn’t arrive labeled. You essentially got what you got almost like a lucky dip. That’s when the rock identifier app came in handy – at least it gave me an idea of what a rock might be. Lesson learned – purchase the ones that let you buy 2-3 pieces of the one type of rock you want and/or like!
The rocks in this batch have been supplied to Temu from Gemshope, Zenkeeper, and Little Orange Jewelry Co.
Batch 50: 3lb Tumbler 1
Stage 1: 80/100grit
Number of Stones: 30
Weight in: 622g
4 Tbspns of 80/100grit
1 Tbspn Borax
No pellets added
Days Tumbling: 13
Weight out: 406g – loss of 216grams
Stage 2: 220grit
As predicted the halcite has “disappeared”
Number of Stones: 29
Weight in: 406g
4 Tbspns of 220grit
1 Tbspn Borax
Plastic pellets added
Days Tumbling: 8
Weight out: g – loss of g
Stage 1 went three days longer than normal (life) but I wish that hadn’t happened as quite a lot of rock has been ground away! Stage 2 was shortened to eight days instead of the normal 10.
There was some bruising on the stones after Stage 1 plus one piece of glass (yes predicted right) split into two pieces.
Batch 50: Pre-tumble
Batch 50: After 80/100grit
Removed the 5 “glass” looking stones and added some filler stones (small tumbled & polished stones kept specifically as filler stones) plus some ceramic media to help make up the load. Stage 3 will only be 9 days as I am off to Stewart Island (excited!) for three days and I don’t want to leave these stones tumbling for 13 days as opposed to 9 – some are already a LOT smaller than they used to be!
Stage 3: 400grit
Number of Stones: 29-5=24
Weight in: 340g
4 Tbspns of 400grit
1 Tbspn Borax
Pellets added
Days Tumbling: 9
Weight out: 307g – loss of 33g
4 stones removed as they need further smoothing out.
Batch 50: After 400grit
Transfer to 4lb Tumber 2
Batch 50 (19 stones) was combined with Batch 42 and Batch 43 for the tumble polish. The rocks are substantially smaller than they were originally!
Stage 4: Tumble Polish Mix
Number of Stones: 19+62+62=143
Weight in: 1191g
Polish Mix (3rd use): 9 Tbspns of polish mixed with 600mls of clean water. Pellets added.
Days Tumbling: 10
Stage 5: Burnish
Number of Stones: 19+62+62=143
2 Tbspns of borax
Ceramic media added
Days Burnishing: 3
Observations
I wish I’d taken the before and after photos on my green mat with the measurements just to show just how much rock was lost during each of the stages. All of these rocks are supposed to be similar in hardness, about 6.5-7 on the mohs hardness scale.
It was disappointing that the red jasper dulled in colour after Stage 1. I was hoping that Stage 4 would bring back it’s brightness but unfortunately it didn’t.
Polish Complete
I was quite disappointed in the whole batch polish (including Batch 42 and 43) to be honest so I need to look very closely at my tumbling and polishing process and see if I can figure where I’m making errors that result in such a disappointing finish to the stone.
It is also interesting to see how much smaller the ruby zoisite ended up (that’s the 3 green & black spotted stones in the top right of the polished image) – wasn’t expecting that much shrinkage! I’m also disappointed by the fractures of the black rock (I think that is Laborite
Batch 50 | 3lb Tumbler 1 | Temu Rocks | 16 February – 17 March 2024
4lb Tumbler 2 | Batch 50, 42 & 43 | Temu, Hampden Beach, Kakanui | 16 March – 29 March 2024