Batch 61: Readied for Polish in the QT12

The stones for Batch 61 were readied for polish in the QT12 tumbler. They had previously tumbled in F60grit and 220grit so were waiting in the readies drawer for a barrel to come free for 400grit. As I am being more particular about letting stones move on to the next stage there often isn’t enough to fill a load as was the case with these Gemstone Beach stones after Stage 2. These stones were so smooth that I decided to put them through 600grit rather than 400grit. I also added a friend’s super smooth stone to get it ready to take a polish.

When putting this post together I have realised that it’s going to be quite difficult to “track” a load of stones from start to finish if I continue to do more stages in the QT12 tumbler. That’s a 12lb barrel that can tumble over 200 stones in one go! I have decided to stick with using the QT12 for Stage 1 only and to place the stones that are ready to move onto the next stage (Stage 2 – 220grit) into the readies drawer. If the drawer of readies for 220grit gets full then I will use the QT12 to complete Stage 2 so that more can be moved on and be ready for one of my smaller barrels to be free.

Batch 61: Transfered from 12lb Tumbler to 4lb Tumbler 1

Stage 3: 600grit

Number of Stones: 126+1=127
Weight in: 1612+59=1671g
4 Tbspns of 600grit
No Borax
Plastic pellets added
Days Tumbling: 15 (life got in the way!)
Weight out: 1539g – loss of 132g

Pre-polish Soap Tumble: 48 hours (2 Tbspns grated sunlight soap + water)

Stage 4: Polish

Number of Stones: 127
Weight in: 1539g
Polish Mix (2nd use): 9 Tbspns of polish mixed with 600mls of clean water. Plastic Pellets added.
Days Tumbling: 10
Weight out: 1537g – loss of: 2 grams

Final Stage: Borax

48 hour cleaning tumble

2 Tbspns of borax
Plastic Pellets added

Batch 61: Ready for 600grit

Batch61 Gemstone Beach — From the readies drawer (ready for 400grit) but so smooth decided to go with 600grit instead

Batch 61: Stone Added

Christine’s stone — Not sure of the origin of this stone but it’s very smooth already! Just needs a little grit tumble before polishing

Polish Complete

There were so many beauties in this batch! It’s been quite a while since I was really pleased with the shine of a batch of stones. I firmly believe that several factors have made a HUGE difference in the finished product.

Those factors are:

Inspecting stones with the Headband Magnifier and being very, very particular about what goes through to Stage 2.
Keep sending stones back to Stage 1 if they have any pits, crevices or bruising.
Not being afraid to remove a stone permanently from the tumbling process.
Using the ⅔ barrel full rule – every.single.time! Filling the barrel with water first, then adding the grit.
Either using 1 Tbspn of grit per pound or the amount of grit per barrel size (eg: 4lb barrel = 4 Tbspns) – I haven’t yet decided which one works best but I am leaning towards grit per barrel size.
At least 2 – 24 hours of tumbling in soap before the polish tumble.