Batch 85: Fossicking at Gemstone Beach with JP again

JP was back in Southland and I’ve been out fossicking at Gemstone Beach with him again!

Living so close to that “famous” beach you can become a little complacent (well I can and often do!) Having JP down here encourages me to get out there and fossick, sometimes two days in a row! It’s always a learning opportunity when JP is here too – that man is so knowledgable and I am always learning more and more each time we fossick together.

Our first fossick took place on 14 September and all the stones in this batch are from that fossick. First I put a 6lb barrel load of stones from fossick #1 and put them through Stage 1 (F60grit) first. I knew that there would be a few that needed a couple of tumbles in Stage 1 before they would be ready for Stage 2. As there were so many stones I did not count them but I did weigh them. 2086 grams going in, 1642 grams out with a loss of 444 grams. That’s an amount of volume lost that I would expect to see at this stage.

6 Tbspns of F60grit was added to the barrel along with 1½ Tbspns of borax but no cushioning media. These stones tumbled for 12 days. Usually I do 10 days per stage but LGITW (life gets in the way) sometimes!

At the end of the 12 days there were 111 readies for Stage 2 (of which 62 became B85) and the rest went back in the 6lb barrel for a redo in F60 grit along with more stones needing Stage 1.

Gemstone Beach stones — Ready for Stage 1 in 6lb Tumbler 2

Batch 85: 3lb Tumbler 1

Stage 2: 220grit

Number of Stones: 62
Weight in: 873g
3 Tbspns of 220grit
1 Tbspn Borax
Plastic pellets added
Days Tumbling: 12
Weight out: 766g – loss of 107grams

Stage 3: 400grit

Number of Stones: 62
Weight in: g
3 Tbspns of 400grit
1 Tbspn Borax
Plastic pellets added
Days Tumbling: 11
Weight out: 675g – loss of 91grams

Stage 4: 600grit

Number of Stones: 62
Weight in: 675g
3 Tbspns of 400grit
1 Tbspn Borax
Plastic pellets added
Days Tumbling: 7
Weight out: 634g – loss of 41grams

Pre-polish Soap Tumble: 24 hours in 2 tspns of grated sunlight soap, water and plastic pellets for cushioning.

Batch 85: Ready for Stage 2

Batch 85: Ready for Stage 3

Ready to Polish

After 24 hours in the soap tumble the stones from Batch 85 were closely inspected. JP often does a 600grit tumble after the 400grit tumble and during this trip I got to see (again) quite a number of his polished stones when we went to the Southland Geological and Lapidary Club meeting on Thursday 12 September (We are both members and JP was the guest speaker for the night!) His polish finish is exquisite and that’s the kind of finish I’m aiming for with the stones I tumble.

That’s why I’m adding the 600grit stage back in to some of my tumbles. I am thinking more about the stones in the batch and how they are looking at the end of a stage as opposed to following a set cycle process. This means I am making the decision to do an extra stage based on how the stones are looking rather than Stage 1-4 is this grit, this grit, this grit then polish. (I hope that makes sense).

Stage 5: Polish Mix

Number of Stones: 62
Weight in: 634g
Polish Mix (3rd use): Already mixed.
Plastic Pellets added for cushioning
Days Tumbling: 10
Weight out: 632g – loss of 2 grams