Stone
Tumbling (2) - Methods Used
Are
you thinking of becoming one of those mad rock hounds, going
out in all weathers to find those wonderful stones? OK, so
I am not an expert by any means and I am still learning which
methods are the best to use for the stones I have obtained.
Please feel free to contact me if you know something I don't
(more than possible!) or if I am doing something wrong or
....
The
first thing you need if you are going to tumble stones (apart
from a tumbler that is) - is patience, and yet more patience.
The
first thing I do after washing the stones is to sort them
out into various sizes such as small, quite small, medium,
etc. I purchased a set of 10 plastic freezer containers for
£2.99 and put the stones in there. Quite a handy space
saver as they can be stacked on top of the other.
I kept a diary of events for the tumbling and it reads something
like this for the first batch of stones I tumbled.
14 July: Medium/small stones. Mainly quartz. 850 grams
in weight. 82 grams of (220) medium grade grit added.
21
July: Stones cleaned and washed carefully. now 750 grams
in weight. 75 grams of fine (400) grit added.
28
July: Stones cleaned and washed carefully. 700 grams
in weight. 35 grams of polish added together with some washing
up liquid and rubber bands to make up mass up to 60% of
drum again.
31
July: Not happy with results so far. Re-washed stones
again and added new 35 grams of polish / washing up liquid
/ rubber bands.
6
Aug: Stones seem polished now - removing and putting
in another batch of 'good' stones.
Something
I started to do with later batches of stones was to put in
some finished/polished stones into the tumbler with just washing
up liquid (after the polishing grit). Doing that really seems to finish off the
polishing process!
Some explanations - and if my reasoning, understanding of
processes are wrong, please do let me know.
I
did not use coarse grit to start with, as according to most
books, if the stones have been polished by the sea and are
smooth, this should not be necessary. However, in retrospect,
I do have some stones I am not really happy with and they
will have to undergo the process again - so perhaps using
course grit may save time and will certainly be used on some
of the rougher stones I have collected or those with deeper
pits in them.
I checked the stones on a daily basis in order know what the
liquid looks like and to make sure that the stones were being
correctly tumbled (or rather, that they were getting smoother).
The
picture to the left shows the first batch of stones I had
tumbled in the foreground and stones that have been collected
and washed only in the plastic container.
The
tumbling of stones initially used the 'trial and error'
method. But I am now think that it is probably better
to have a mixture of stone sizes .. ranging from the small
to medium (but not too large!). I feel (instinct) that
the smaller stones help to fill up the gaps made by the larger
stones and a better polish is obtained.
There
are more
pictures on the ‘Results’ page.
