Tumble and Polish

Slicing Stones Equipment

A while back I purchased a wet tile saw from Mitre 10, swapped out the blade for a diamond blade (180mm diameter, 22mm arbor) and started slicing stones. It’s a lot of fun and it produces a different shape of stone to tumble. You never quite know what’s inside a stone as they can be quite ugly on the outside but gorgeous on the inside AND vice versa too!

I’ve not ventured into cutting shapes yet, I’m just slicing stones from one side to the other and getting used to slicing them wet with the diamond blade. Once I am confident slicing stones, I’m quite keen to start experimenting with shaping the cut slices. Stay tuned!

If slicing stones interests you, check out my good friend Nicola – she’s a slicing stones diva who shares her cutting videos on her YouTube Channel New Zealand Rockhound

Slicing Stones Safety Gear

You do need some safety gear including a long wet apron, safety goggles, ear muffs AND a respirator or at least a good mask is necessary as you do not want to be breathing in stone dust. The continuous water for the tile saw which cools and wets the stones does a lot to dampen the stone dust but it’s definitely worth wearing a respirator while you’re cutting. The diamond blade is quite safe and whilst you do pay attention to where you’re cutting, it’s quite safe as the blade won’t slice off your fingers – honest!

These slices have already had a 7 day stint in the QT12 tumbler with F60grit. Only 4 slices were ready to move onto Stage 2 (and became part of Batch 81). I didn’t want to put them through F60grit again but they weren’t quite ready enough to move onto 220grit. A tumble in 80/100grit seemed like the best option.

Batch 82: 4lb Tumbler 1

Pre-polish Soap Tumble: 2 hours with 2 tspns of grated sunlight soap and water to fill barrel ⅔ full with ceramic media for cushioning/filler.

Ready to Polish

Gave Batch 82 a close inspection before the deep clean in grated sunlight soap. They are looking good and I’m really excited to see the slices and how well they polish up.

I’ve not been happy about my polish mix ratio for a while now. My good friend JP re-uses his polish mix up to 5-6 times and I’ve never fully understood how he’s managed to do that. His polished stones are just amazing! During his last visit to Southland I had the opportunity to quiz him about his process for mixing and re-using the polish mix and I finally understood it! (There’s a post to come about the changes I’m making).

For now, I’m focusing on getting the tumble polish mix and water ratio to what I think is the right amount and the right consistency. I made a new mix using 350mls of water because that’s about the right level to come just under the top of the stones if the 3lb barrel is ⅔ full. Added to the water was 5 tablespoons of tumble polish powder. I went with 5 tablespoons because I want the consistency of the polish mix to be like paint. We’ll see how it goes.

Just in case you’re wondering, the tumble polish is Aluminium Oxide and it’s grit rating is 0.5microns which equates to about 46,000 grit! It costs $40.80 for a kg + shipping. Mr Grit, a new supplier I’ve talked about here before is currently awaiting the arrive of 8000 grit aluminium oxide – so I’m excited to give that a go and compare it to the tumble polish. In the worldwide FB groups for rock tumbling, most tumblers are using and recommending the 8000 grit Aluminium Oxide for a good shine on tumbled rocks.

Polished Stones of Interest: Batch 82

Batch 82 | 4lb Tumbler 1 | Gemstone Beach | Mid August – 19 October 2024