The majority of stones I tumble are from Gemstone Beach. It is not often that the stones go straight from the beach to the tumbler probably because I go down there so much I have a “backlog” of stones waiting patiently for their turn in a barrel.
During the spring and summer months the carpark at Gemstone Beach gets pretty busy as does the beach in front of the carpark. Travellers and overseas tourists stop here on the southern scenic route to find their share of “gemstones”. If you’re thinking of travelling this part of the route and spending some time fossicking at Gemstone Beach, check out our BnB – ToiToi Papatotara – it’s the perfect place to stay at and I will show you my stone shed and some of my tumbled and polished stones if you ask!
This batch of stones is a mix of some that have already tumbled in a cycle of F60grit and were in the redo drawer because they weren’t quite ready to move to Stage 2. They must be softer stones as they have quite a lot of bruising so instead of redoing them in the coarser F60grit I’ve decided to switch to 80/100grit for their redo. I also added some plastic pellets (which I don’t normally do at Stage 1) to help with cushioning.
As you can see from the log, the stones did not lose much volume (only 32grams) in Stage 1 – which isn’t as much usual volume lost for this stage. The slurry was quite gritty still and the stones weren’t as smooth as I felt they should be considering they’ve now had two cycles in coarse grit. The decision was made to try another 10 days in F60grit with no cushioning.
Batch 78: 3lb Tumbler 4
Stage 1: 80/100grit
Number of Stones: 38+18=56
Weight in: 844g
3 Tbspns of 80/100grit
1 Tbspn Borax
Plastic pellets added
Days Tumbling: 10
Weight out: 812g – loss of 32 grams
Stage 1: Repeat F60grit
Number of Stones: 44+8+6=58
Weight in: 1260g
3 Tbspns of F60grit
1 Tbspn Borax
No pellets added
Days Tumbling: 10
Weight out: 1154g – loss of 106grams
Stage 2: 220grit
Number of Stones: 33+25=58
Weight in: 712g
3 Tbspns of 220grit
1 Tbspn Borax
Plastic pellets added
Days Tumbling: 10
Weight out: 625g – loss of 87grams
Batch 78: After Repeat Stage1
Batch 78: Added For Stage 2
Stage 3: 400grit
Number of Stones: 58
Weight in: 625g
3 Tbspns of 400grit
1 Tbspn Borax
Plastic pellets added
Days Tumbling: 10
Weight out: 558g – loss of 67 grams
Pre-polish Clean
Number of Stones: 58
2 tspns of grated sunlight soap + water.
Time: 24 hours
I needed the barrel to tumble some glass pieces for an art project so these stones had a little wait in the Readies Basket for polish.
Batch 78: Finished Stage 2
Batch 78: Finished Stage 3
Ready to Polish – Transfer to 3lb Tumbler 2
After a little wait in the ready to polish basket, Batch 78 was added to Batch 77 which needed more stones to make up the load. I think this barrel may have been a little on the overloaded side of things and was more like ¾ full instead of the usual ⅔ full.
Stage 4: Polish Mix
Number of Stones: 58+26=84
Weight in: 1093g
Polish Mix (2nd use): Already mixed
Plastic Pellets added for cushioning
Days Tumbling: 10
Weight out: Not weighed
Stage 5: Burnishing
Number of Stones: 84
1 Tbspn of borax with water
Days Tumbling: 4
Polish Complete
Polished Stones of Interest: Batch 78
Batch 78 | 3lb Tumbler 4 | Gemstone Beach | 30 July – 19 September
Batch 78 + Batch 77 | 3lb Tumbler 2 | 2 October – 16 October 2024