While the 3lb Tumbler 2 was not busy I thought it might be a good idea to catch up with stones in the holding box that needed a redo with 400grit. I decided to use up some of the leftover 600grit that came with the 4lb tumbler. Now that I am further along in my tumbling journey I wish I hadn’t done that. I wish that I had saved that 600grit for tumbling trace fossils instead. Oh well – I just have to remember to order some 600grit now when I next get more grit.
From the holding box I took 21 random stones needing a re-tumble at Stage 3. The stones weighed in at 700g. They spent 13 days in the tumbler with pellets added for cushioning and to make up the space. My tumbler also needed an oil as it was a bit squeaky. After the 600grit tumble, the stones went through a 24hour soap tumble. By doing a soap tumbler, all the remaining/hidden grit gets washed out before going into the polish mix. Weight out: 658g – that’s a loss of 42g.
Reflections
I did not take any photos of these stones and I’m really not sure if they have been polished yet. This has made me realise that I need to tweak my tumbling log and take more detailed notes. I also think I might need a better holding box system so that I can track the stones journey. Perhaps that doesn’t actually matter for all stones – perhaps it’s just the spectacular stones or stones of high interest that I track (and photograph) from start to finish. I’m not sure – I’m still pondering this …. would love your thoughts if you happen upon my blog posts.
My current thinking is to only post about stones that complete a whole journey, like this, and keep all those details together in one post. Perhaps a summary post of “catch-up” stones is all that is needed for those other stones that get taken out of their original batch and have a re-do at a later stage. What do you think?
Batch 11 | 3lb tumbler 2 | 600grit only | Stones from holding box | 12 November – 26 November 2022.
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